The Hundred Languages of Children

The Hundred Languages of Children exhibition is a fundamental reference point for Italian and international pedagogical culture. With five European editions and a North American edition since 1987, showings all round the world, and hundreds of thousands of visitors of every nationality, the exhibition is rooted in the experience of Reggio Emilia’s municipal educational institutions, and still today bears witness to the extraordinary and original journeys of research that take place inside them. 

The exhibition was conceived by Loris Malaguzzi and his closest collaborators, and tells the story of an educational adventure which has always been a weave of experience, thinking, discussion, theoretical research, and the ethical and social ideals of children, teachers and parents. Loris Malaguzzi called it a ‘narrative of the possible’: an unceasing collective work of action and research which at its centre places children who are ‘competent at knowing and researchers into meanings’.

During its long journey, venue after venue, The Hundred Languages of Children created important opportunities for dialogue between Reggio Emilia and several other educational realities. It was an important tool for communicating and diffusing the Reggio Emilia Approach. Since 2008, this story has been continued with another exhibition titled The Wonder of Learning. 

IN DEPTH ANALYSIS

From If the Eye Leaps over the Wall to The Hundred Languages of Children

1981 

If the Eye Leaps over the Wall. Hypotheses for visionary didactics is shown in Reggio Emilia, testifying to the work of the infant-toddler centres and preschools. It is both a declaration of project, and a communication of what research into pedagogy and expression has produced – an important tool for professional development and growth for teachers, atelieristas, and pedagogistas.

1981

If the Eye Leaps over the Wall goes to Stockholm. Showing at the Moderna Museet, accompanied by a Swedish television documentary and the interest of educators, journalists, and writers of Stockholm, its notoriety extends to the other side of the Atlantic. This first encounter between different experiences and cultures represents a precious opportunity for reflection, and for revisiting the exhibit in terms of content and the structure of communication.

1987

The exhibition is re-designed and reproduced, and given the title The Hundred Languages of Children – Narrative of the Possible. Projects by Children of the Municipal Infant-Toddler Centres and Preschools of Reggio Emilia.
Two versions are made for Europe and North America, starting out on parallel journeys around the two continents. Each new venue is accompanied by initiatives for professional development, meetings, seminars and conferences.