Reggio Emilia and Storytelling: The Child as Co-Author

The Reggio Emilia approach to early childhood education is built on a simple but consequential idea: children are capable, curious co-constructors of their own understanding, not empty containers waiting to be filled with an adult's correct answers. Applied to storytelling, this reframes what a "good" story session actually looks like.

The child as an active participant, not an audience

A Reggio-influenced approach to story time treats a child's questions, alternate ideas, and interpretations during a story as valuable contributions, not interruptions to manage. If a child suggests the fox in the story should have gone left instead of right, that's not a distraction from the "real" story. It's the child actively engaging with and reshaping the material, which is exactly the kind of participation this approach values.

What this looks like in practice

In practice, this means asking open questions rather than testing for the right answer: "what do you think happens next?" invites genuine participation, while "what happened next?" as a comprehension check doesn't. It also means letting a child's interpretation stand, even when it diverges from what you intended, rather than correcting it back to the "true" version of the story. And it means treating repeated requests to retell a story differently each time as an opportunity rather than a chore. A child asking "what if the bear was scared instead of angry?" is doing real interpretive work.

Why this connects to imagination and self-direction

This approach dovetails with the case for stories that ask children to build their own mental images (see stories and imagination). In both cases, the child isn't a passive recipient of a finished product, but an active constructor of meaning. A story experience that leaves room for the child's own contribution tends to build more engagement and ownership than one delivered as a fixed, one-way performance.

A practical way to bring this into bedtime

Occasionally, let your child steer: "you decide what the fox finds in the forest." It doesn't need to happen every night, but building in moments where the child genuinely shapes the story, rather than just reacting to it, treats them the way the Reggio Emilia approach argues they deserve to be treated: as a real collaborator in their own story, not just its audience.