# Choosing The Right Play School For Your Child |Circles & Cycles Playschool **Creator:** Kidsstoppress **Platform:** youtube **Duration:** 15m **Source:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8tpJ2OUaMRo ## Summary Manzi, the CEO of Kidsstoppress.com, discusses the critical role of education in a child's development and the importance of choosing the right school. She emphasizes the Reggio Emilia approach, highlighting its focus on the learning environment, child-led exploration, and the significance of social-emotional stability in children. - Education is a crucial decision for parents, second only to choosing a partner. - The Reggio Emilia approach prioritizes the learning environment and child-led inquiry over traditional teaching methods. - Importance of social-emotional stability in children to prevent anxiety and foster healthy relationships. - Learning should be open-ended and driven by children's interests, promoting curiosity and exploration. - The role of parents is vital in supporting children’s transitions from alternative educational philosophies to mainstream schooling. - The approach encourages hands-on, organic experiences rather than reliance on screens or technology. - Manzi envisions Circles and Cycles as a center for excellence in early childhood education, fostering a community of shared experiences and innovative practices. ## Transcript [[0:00]](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8tpJ2OUaMRo&t=0s) good morning everybody I am man zi the CEO and founder of kidsstoppress.com a conscious parenting coach and an author and of course mother to my 16 and 12 year old from the first diaper we use from day one parents Aspire for nothing but the best for their kids and education obviously forms as a very very intrinsic part of it it makes us want to give the best to our child because we want our children to be like long [[0:30]](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8tpJ2OUaMRo&t=30s) Learners I think and I joke about it often that after choosing your right partner the school that you actually choose and the education foundations and principles you actually choose for your child are possibly the second most important decision you will make because you want your child to be a lifelong learner learning is one thing that should never stop but what happens when you're actually choosing a school how do you decide on a school just because everyone's going there just because it's [[1:01]](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8tpJ2OUaMRo&t=61s) the E thing is it the proximity Is it the infrastructure is it the philosophy of learning that the school actually follows the teachers everything is a decision that you must consider I had the pleasure of meeting namas Singh founder of circles and Cycles she walked me through the very beautiful space and introduced me to the philosophies of regia and surely what sets circles and Cycles apart we wanted it to be open-ended but important incorporate those things cooking is part [[1:31]](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8tpJ2OUaMRo&t=91s) of our curriculum so this is a hydroponic system here is our multi-purpose atellier so we kind of use it for stem cooking and also this is now our newly designed OT space and I think parents give such little importance to this because I don't think that they understand the importance of the grip right this forms your precursor to your writing skills so the gross motor skills this is slightly rough to help them have and that sensorial feel right which is [[2:03]](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8tpJ2OUaMRo&t=123s) so important so this is our parent toddler classroom and just toddler classroom you see the space is very intentional the walls are plain because this exudes the philosophy of regelia I also got the chance to meet the United Nations teacher and pedagogista Angela as we took a dive into reio media and all that it has to offer the child and the parents you know I love the fact that you mentioned about learning scaffoldings because I think that's so [[2:32]](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8tpJ2OUaMRo&t=152s) important for parents to understand that there will be days when your child will progress there will be days that you know one illness of one bout of coffin Cod and your child will regress yes if that first step of missing the social emotional stability in a child is missed how does that layer on there off like what's the worst case scenario I I I I'd hate to say that they develop a lot of anxiety they develop a [[2:57]](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8tpJ2OUaMRo&t=177s) lot of social um um anxiety try it's difficult for them to form relationships they don't trust people they don't feel like they've got the support so I've heard of high suicide rates yeah it's it goes to that extreme if a child thinks there's no other way for me to exist or learn what options do they have and if you have parents putting a lot of pressure on which I have seen here you know when you put [[3:26]](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8tpJ2OUaMRo&t=206s) your kids in a world off or a mon or reg approach school then how do you transition into mainstream education what is the role of parents in the reio approach the thing that makes Regio media stand out from the other philosophies is the environment but you will not see in the in montauri or wal of the importance of the environment and it's key it's where they come and learn mean how do you work with kids as [[3:54]](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8tpJ2OUaMRo&t=234s) co-learners instead of just being a teacher so that's where it comes down to inquiry yeah so as you can see when you've come into the spaces it's very open-ended uh one of the values is also listening and observing children very carefully a lot of the time our voices are off we want the children's voices to be heard or there's silence I think there's a misconception that if teachers are teaching they need to be talking all the time whereas here in our spaces you [[4:23]](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8tpJ2OUaMRo&t=263s) will notice that that our facilitators are listening and observing and they're writing down they may have their device to take take a quick photo so listening and observing is a a valuable part of of what we do the the comparison while we were speaking and I think that it's great that we we've got this opportunity to speak with you and understand the different approaches tell me what's the difference between the waloff and the reio approach Waldorf is a little bit more [[4:53]](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8tpJ2OUaMRo&t=293s) scientific you know they they like to do a lot about fantasy and play if you were to look at Waldorf montau and they were all created to invite children to experience peace peace within conflict uh to be able to communicate and talk to each other be aware of where you are in the world so montauri also is Italian Regio is from Italy I think it's a quest to find a more meaningful approach for children the thing that [[5:20]](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8tpJ2OUaMRo&t=320s) makes reia stand out from the other philosophies is the environment if you were to compare and we have we do that in our educator Workshop you will see a lot of commonalities with what we do open-ended play creativity stories but you will not see in the in montau or wal off the importance of the environment and it's key it's where they come and learn uh the learning space supports what we value for children so alongside what you see in Waldorf and montauri and [[5:53]](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8tpJ2OUaMRo&t=353s) resonating similarly to reio the space is is a huge add-on to that so how would the space be different by the intention the intention that it's created we we don't just randomly set up provocations thinking children might enjoy snow it's because it's come up from something from the child has stated uh and then that's where we work from so the environment is not just something that's decoration it's done with intention it's done with meaning um [[6:26]](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8tpJ2OUaMRo&t=386s) and it's done with connecting to children but we in the p and and playway versus reio how would that be different quite they're quite similar you know I think it's just that children learn through play um I don't know what they value but it's obviously they want children to learn and play uh learn through fun um maybe it's a mixture of structured and unstructured activities so a means to an end ours are not activities in Regio [[6:58]](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8tpJ2OUaMRo&t=418s) they we talk more about exploration provocation provoking curiosity right where is this provocation going to take the children what are they going to share with us we we we're inviting children to State hypotheses oh a caterpillar comes from an egg ah and not giving them that answer so how could we find out more what could we do so that's learning beside the child um so play is Incorporated in everything we do but we're just very intentional about it an [[7:29]](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8tpJ2OUaMRo&t=449s) approach that was developed soon after World War II which was almost 50 years ago over 50 years over 50 years how do you feel like it can still work with the 21st century kids where we're feeling like we're constantly being displaced by AI how do you think it'll still be relevant so regim Med is very much based on the relationships yes it's based on the people and even though AI is amazing if you put in a question and ask it's [[8:00]](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8tpJ2OUaMRo&t=480s) going to surf the net and find all the answers for you but it won't give you the process of yeah so this approach is very much about the process right the questions I can give an example yes if you want of uh being REO inspired means um when I was teaching at ASB and I was teaching with an amazing uh Visual Arts person we had created Visual Arts and Music Together so visual arts and Performing Arts we set up the space like [[8:32]](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8tpJ2OUaMRo&t=512s) you see here today uh we had a grade one class come in one little boy spoke no English he was from Korea so that's another system where there's a lot of pressure placed on the children uh he didn't know how to be in the space because his learning was very prescriptive but he went straight to the light table and he started rubbing two sticks together he started making dust then he started drawing patterns with within it the children saw this so [[9:02]](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8tpJ2OUaMRo&t=542s) consequently after sessions we brought out chalk pastels broke the chalk pastels the children said we need to make a chalk Factory so then we took them into the visual arts teacher said we're going to start building buildings what do we need and then they said no a chalk City what do you need in a city so then they started saying we need a bank we need a school we need a church we need a swimming pool so they started [[9:22]](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8tpJ2OUaMRo&t=562s) over the course of 3 months building these buildings doing woodwork working out what would you need to measure out on a map app so you're doing numeracy and literacy you're still doing art creative thought they created their own language they created National Dress they composed music they presented it on green screen yeah so all these different aspects of learning is because we believe the child learns in different ways uh and this is a REO inspired project so if you were to present that [[9:52]](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8tpJ2OUaMRo&t=592s) to parents and ask what learning do you see happening there then they'll be able to see it in action right also tell me when you're studying with and I think this is a question a lot of parents will have that you know when you put your kids in a w of or a montis or a Regio approach school then how do you transition into mainstream education and you know like you said in Mumbai schools are so competitive parents are so [[10:21]](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8tpJ2OUaMRo&t=621s) competitive yeah um how do you see that child transitioning especially someone who is quite socially and emotionally secure M so that's where my experience comes into play because I have worked at quite a number of IB schools I understand the themes or the overarching uh units that children are doing um I'm still teaching at at Unice and we have uh overarching units so we I [[10:53]](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8tpJ2OUaMRo&t=653s) bring that in to circles and Cycles it's not the same amount of depth as we would in ele school but parents and children start to hear a little bit of the language and they understand that uh we are doing sharing the planet and what does that mean we're going to look at this sentence or this line of inquiry which is pyp talk yeah um and I think parents would like to know that so that that their our preschool children are [[11:23]](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8tpJ2OUaMRo&t=683s) prepared for an IB School if they're to move into it but also they've learned in this way where they're valued and they're empowered right very interesting and again a need of the hour which is our kids are constantly looking at screens and it seems to be an obvious form of stimulation how would and how and what would you tell parents were battling with um screen time and how because one part of it is the school but the CH same [[11:53]](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8tpJ2OUaMRo&t=713s) child is going back home and is stimulated in a very different way so how would you help that parent yes we don't use it here we are very intentional with what we use like maybe it's just a video that's projected from the laptop onto a projector onto the wall but children are not engaging with devices here even though we're taking photos of them it's not like here have a look and then they get to see it it's [[12:17]](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8tpJ2OUaMRo&t=737s) just for our documentation purposes there is no need that they have a plethora of experiences outside and well as they grow in here it's more like organic experiences with the materials that we send out which is very much Hands-On no my children cried for 2 years 3 years straight because it is confined it's a little box and it's unfortunate that you know we don't have the space but then when I found this it was a gem because physical development [[12:45]](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8tpJ2OUaMRo&t=765s) is so hugely part of mental development it is a program that's fun but it's looking at the child through the nervous system and their development and it's all documented and it's all presented to you our feel is nice and warm I feel my kids really enjoy especially the tree house um I think that is nice and adventurous for my son I think he's going to have fun it overall very well done and it's very nice yeah I like the [[13:14]](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8tpJ2OUaMRo&t=794s) approach how Angela spoke about you know he is going to have that PO kill him but it's going to be as for each child so that that approach is you know we want our FS to be comfortable I was impressed by the flexible Co which I think was uh highlighted in doen house and uh Miss Angela uh very fly stays with that you know we will Design and go everything about it to your child so that child [[13:42]](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8tpJ2OUaMRo&t=822s) focus is there you're not stick STI you're not sticking to a g which more many USS do or what I heard of so that is something I'm keen on After experiencing the place for myself I say this with great confidence this preschool will Forge kids who are kind empathetic aare confident and all-rounders I'm looking forward to what circles and Cycles will grow to be and I feel parents should come here and experience this philosophy for themselves before we conclude love to [[14:12]](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8tpJ2OUaMRo&t=852s) know what's your vision for circles and Cycles my vision is that we become a center for excellence that people can come to us and we can just have a conversation of what is it that you're thinking you would like to do for for your child yeah we have people coming from Amad we have people coming who want to come from Goa they want to understand what is it that we're doing that's a little bit different and I embrace those [[14:39]](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8tpJ2OUaMRo&t=879s) people to come because we get to share experiences that they've had yes and we become like this ripple effect like I mentioned before we become a movement that creates change for younger children interesting parenting tips celebrity interviews recipes conversations with experts DIYs and lots more subscribe to kidstock press now