Università degli studi di Modena e Reggio Emilia

Offering children multiple occasions and settings to approach new or least-liked foods has value both from a taste develop- ment perspective as well as a pedagogical one. New food experiences in positive atmospheres foster pleasure, curiosity and willingness to interact with these ingredients in multiple manners, not only eating or tasting them. This qualitative case study reports 4 and 5-year-old children’s articulation of their experiences in exploratory food ateliers at their preschool. During the study the children’s ideas and perceptions about their sensory experiences with food were documented, while keeping the children at the center of their explorations, in line with the Reggio Emilia approach. Results indicate that the chil- dren reflected on changes in their own attitudes and taste toward least-liked foods, as well as including meta-reflections on complex phenomena such as multisensory perception, cross-modal correspondences and taste development. Thus, by promoting multiple multisensory explorations, the study sug- gests that children can become more open-minded and self- aware, broadening the spectrum of food experiences.

Children are immersed in a world that is characterized by the continuous interplay of physical and digital dimensions, material objects and virtual realities. This article is centered on an experience with a group of 9-11 year old children where they worked on a shared project that they created together from the beginning, based on the constant flow of ideas and cooperation between individuals, small groups and the larger group, in dialogue with time, between real and virtual dimensions. The role of the adult as an attentive, participatory observer, resource and co-researcher with the children created an inclusive, child-centered atmosphere which kept the children’s relationships and collaboration with each other at the heart of the experience. The digital realm was a resource and a material that enhanced the children’s play, their ideas and allowed them to give shape to their project by broadening their range of action and the expressive possibilities. Using digital materials and tools and the effects they produced created a playful, immersive and narrative setting which inspired the children to interact with, play with, study, design and modify a hybrid reality which was both physical and digital at the same time.