Actions of Play

In this episode of Actions of Play, Heather Jackson continues her exploration of play schemas with a closer look at trajectory, the repeated patterns of movement that reveal how children investigate the world around them.

From rolling balls down ramps and dropping objects from different heights to throwing, jumping, and watching things move through space, trajectory play is so much more than repetition. It is an opportunity for children to explore gravity, force, speed, direction, and cause and effect.

Through a Reggio-inspired lens, Heather invites educators to recognize children as capable researchers, using movement as one of their hundred languages. She explores how intentional environments can support these investigations, how educators can respond with curiosity rather than interruption, and how pedagogical documentation can make children's thinking visible.

This episode is a reminder that when we slow down, observe, and trust children's play, we begin to see the extraordinary learning happening in everyday moments.

BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS

Books

Actions of Play by Lisa Agogiliati and Heather Jackson

Children’s books

Love is a ball by Amy Novesky and Sara Gillingham

From Head to Toe by Eric Carle

Oscar and the Cricket by Geoff Waring

Roll, Little Line Roll by Ella Bright

The Roll Away Snowman by Julia Wonders and Daniela Volpari 

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Heather Instagram: @thesunflower_studio

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Book: Actions of Play

In this first episode of a new Actions of Play series exploring play schemas, Heather Jackson introduces the fascinating world of enclosing and enveloping.

From building forts and surrounding objects with blocks to wrapping materials, hiding treasures, and covering creations, children are continually investigating the world around them through their play.

Drawing on Reggio-inspired practice and the ideas explored in her book Actions of Play, Heather examines how these recurring patterns can offer educators a deeper understanding of children's thinking, curiosity, and developing theories.

Throughout the episode, Heather shares practical examples, thoughtful material invitations, children's literature recommendations, and ways to use pedagogical documentation to follow children's investigations without taking over.

She also explores how families can contribute valuable perspectives on the patterns of play that extend beyond early learning environments.

This episode begins a weekly series dedicated to exploring play schemas, shifting how we interpret children's actions, and discovering the possibilities within everyday moments of play.

This week's invitation: Observe a moment of enclosing or enveloping. Notice what children are doing, document their actions, and remain curious about the thinking behind their play.

BOOKS MENTIONED 

Not a Box 

Not a Stick

Not a Box City

Forts

A House Is a House for Me

The Mitten

Extra Yarn

The Napping House

Where's Spot?

Dear Zoo

Peekaboo Baby

Where Is Baby's Belly Button?

Who's Hiding on the Farm?

Where's the Giraffe?

Goodnight Moon

Big Box, Little Box

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Heather Instagram: @thesunflower_studio

School Instagram: @thesunflowerschool

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Book: Actions of Play

In this special episode of Actions of Play, Heather Jackson is joined by Dory Kashin, daughter of beloved early childhood educator, professor, mentor, and advocate Dr. Diane Kashin.

Dory shares the story behind The Good Mess Project, a family fundraiser created to honour Diane’s legacy while bringing together many of the things she valued: children, families, play, materials, community, connection, and, of course, a good mess.

Heather also reflects on her friendship and professional journey with Diane, from their early travels to Reggio Emilia to years of collaborating, learning, laughing, and contributing to the early childhood community together.

The Good Mess Project takes place November 1, 2026, from 12:00–3:30 p.m. at the Kortright Centre in Vaughan, Ontario. Families, educators, friends, and community members are invited to explore, create, connect, and help support an important cause while celebrating a legacy that continues to influence early childhood education.

The Good Mess Project

November 1, 2026

12:00–3:30 p.m.

Kortright Centre, Vaughan, Ontario

Instagram: @thegoodmessproject

 Tickets and donations:https://www.zeffy.com/en-CA/ticketing/the-good-mess-project-a-family-fundraiser-in-honour-of-diane-kashin

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Book: Actions of Play

In this episode of Actions of Play, Heather explores the Reggio Emilia concept of the Hundred Languages of Children and what it can teach us about the many ways children communicate, investigate, build theories, and make meaning through play.

From movement and construction to clay, storytelling, light, sound, gesture, and even silence, Heather invites educators to look more closely at what children may already be telling us.

This episode explores the educator’s role in listening, documenting, responding, and creating environments where children have more than one way to explore an idea.

Because sometimes the learning isn’t in the finished product. It’s in the tower that keeps falling, the repeated movement, the mark in the clay, or the idea a child returns to again and again.

RESOURCES

Book: 100 Languages of Children

NO WAY. THE HUNDRED IS THERE- Reggio Children publication.

Blog Post:  RobertapucciLab: The One Hundred Languages of Children 

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Heather Instagram: @thesunflower_studio

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Book: Actions of Play

In this episode of Actions of Play, Heather Jackson explores the image of the child through a Reggio Emilia lens and what that belief looks like in everyday practice.

Heather shares why children are not empty vessels waiting for adults to fill them with knowledge, but creative meaning-makers who learn through relationships, inquiry, play and many different forms of expression.

Through stories from her own practice at The Sunflower School, Heather looks at what can happen when educators resist the urge to step in with the answer and instead observe, listen, offer materials and give children space to work through their own ideas.

She also explores the idea of the “rich child,” the role of the educator as researcher and how the image we hold of children influences the environments we create, the questions we ask, the risks we allow and the possibilities we make available.

This episode is an invitation to reflect on the image of the child you carry into your own practice and how that image shows up in the choices you make every day.

RESOURCES

Book: 100 Languages of Children

Loris Malaguzzi — Your Image of the Child: Where Teaching BeginsAn exploration of how the image we hold of children influences the way we teach, interact and create learning environments. LINK

Carla Rinaldi — The Teacher as a ResearcherA deeper look at the educator’s role as observer, listener and researcher within the Reggio Emilia Approach.- LINK

Ontario Reggio AssociationResources, articles and professional learning related to the Reggio Emilia Approach.https://ontarioreggioassociation.ca/resources/

Reggio Children: Learn more about the Reggio Emilia Approach directly from Reggio Emilia, including the image of the child, the hundred languages, documentation and research.https://www.reggiochildren.it/en/

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Heather Instagram: @thesunflower_studio

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Book: Actions of Play

In this episode of Actions of Play, Heather is joined by Vicki and Emily from The Educator’s Table for a conversation about the relationship between early childhood educators and families.

They explore why that relationship can sometimes feel disconnected, what families may not see about the work happening in early learning programs, and why educators also need to understand the realities families are navigating outside of child care.

The conversation also touches on play, professional learning, educator burnout, and the importance of creating stronger connections around the children we all care about.

LINKS

Educator’s Table Podcast: https://educators-table.com/#podcast 

Educator’s Website: https://educators-table.com/ 

Educator’s Table Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/the.educators.table/ 

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CONNECT WITH HEATHER

Heather Instagram: @thesunflower_studio

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Book: Actions of Play

In this episode of Actions of Play, Heather Jackson explores the role of the teacher as researcher in Reggio-inspired practice. She looks at how observation, documentation, relationships, and reflection can help educators move beyond simply planning what comes next and instead pay closer attention to the theories, questions, and ideas already emerging through children’s play.

Heather also explores documentation as more than something we display on the wall and how it becomes a tool for revisiting learning, collaborating with colleagues, engaging families, and deciding how we might extend children’s thinking without taking over their play.

This week’s Action of Play invites you to choose one moment of play and approach it with the curiosity of a researcher: What might the children be trying to understand?

RESOURCES

From Teaching to Thinking by Ann Pelo and Margie Carter

Finding our way by Fiona Zinn and Anne Van Dam 

Actions of Play

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Book: Actions of Play

In this episode of Actions of Play, Heather is joined by Christine Murray, a DECE with the Simcoe County District School Board and Vice President of her local DECE association, for a conversation about play-based learning in Ontario kindergarten classrooms.

Christine shares how her own thinking about play has evolved over her 25-year career, why slowing down has changed the way she observes and supports children, and how educators can uncover rich learning without rushing to control or direct every experience.

They also explore the role of the ECE within the kindergarten team, responding to children’s interests, helping families understand the value of play, and why relationships need to come before academics, especially at the beginning of the school year.

A thoughtful conversation about seeing children as competent and capable and creating the conditions where meaningful learning can happen through play.

LINKS

Christina Murray- Simcoe County- https://www.simcoedeces.com/mobile/person.php?id=13 

Peter Gray's Book: Free to Learn: Why Unleashing the Instinct to Play Will Make Our Children Happier, More Self-Reliant, and Better Students for Life

https://link.amazon/B0j5xIRa3  

New Ontario Kindergarten Curriculum (2026/2027): https://www.dcp.edu.gov.on.ca/en/curriculum/kindergarten  

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Book: Actions of Play

Why does a child keep dumping toys out of a basket? Carrying objects from one side of the playground to the other? Throwing things across the room? Wrapping, spinning, lining up or taking things apart again and again?

What can look messy, repetitive, or even challenging may actually be telling us something important about how a child is learning.

In this solo episode of Actions of Play, Heather Jackson explores play schemas and how understanding these repeated patterns can completely shift the way we observe and respond to children's play.

Heather invites educators to move beyond asking, “Why does this child keep doing that?” and instead become curious about what the child may be investigating.

Because when we change the way we see the play, we can change the way we respond to it. When we reframe our thinking to an investigative mindset, we can reframe the child's play. 

This episode will have you looking at some of those everyday classroom moments with a very different lens.

RESOURCES

Books

 Actions of Play by Heather Jackson and Lisa Agogliati

Threads of Thinking by Kathy Nutbrown

Children’s lively minds by Deb Curtis and Nadia Jaboneta

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Heather Instagram: @thesunflower_studio

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Book: Actions of Play

In this solo episode of Actions of Play, Heather Jackson explores how research questions can transform the way educators observe, document and plan alongside children.

Rather than deciding in advance where learning should go, Heather invites educators to slow down, pay attention to the ideas already emerging through play, and consider how thoughtful questions can help us uncover what children may be trying to understand.

She shares how this shift can move planning beyond weekly themes and predetermined outcomes toward curriculum that is responsive, intentional and genuinely co-constructed with children.

If you've ever wondered how to take what you're observing in children's play and turn it into meaningful, longer-term planning, this episode offers a place to begin.

🎧 Listen to Planning with Research Questions in a Reggio-inspired School.

RESOURCES

The book of beautiful questions by Warren Berger

Children’s books about questions

Why by Nikolai Popov

What colour is a kiss by Rocio Bonilla

May I bring a friend by Beatrice Schenk de Regniers

Why by Laura Vaccaro Seeger

The three questions by Jon J Muth

Any questions by Marie Louise Gay

What can you do with a shoe? By Beatrice Scenk de Regniers/pictures by Maurice Sendak

What do you do with an idea? By Kobi Yamada

Are you my Mother? PD Eastman

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Instagram: @thesunflower_studio

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