Reggio Emilia approach in a typical kindergarten: the environment as the third teacher during free play with loose parts

In the Reggio Emilia approach, the environment acts as a third educator and plays an important role both in the development of the learning process and in the comprehensive development of children. It is not only the physical environment that hosts the educational process, but it is also one of the most important factors of learning (Kakana, 2018). In fact, when the appropriate loose parts are combined in an environment, children are given opportunities to experiment and formulate original ideas (Smith-Gilman, 2018). The aim of this research was to investigate the effect of space as a third educator during free play with flexible materials. The results showed the supportive effect of the space as a third educator, as well as its contribution to the social interaction of children.