RIE Principle #2: Environment is physically safe, cognitively challenging and emotionally nurturing

“in RIE, we offer children a variety of actually quite simple everyday objects that they can explore in many different ways. We don’t want to offer them things that have only one kind of use or that have hidden mechanisms in them that are run by batteries. We take things from the kitchen. A small metal bowl will offer children many hours of play that they might not get from a busy box. A simple cloth napkin may give them the chance to learn peekaboo, and then later on, it can become a doll blanket or a washcloth or whatever they imagine it to be.”

1. Cognitively challenging
   1. Multi-dimensional resources: As Hammond suggests, “We don’t want to offer them things that have only one kind of use or that have hidden mechanisms in them that are run by batteries.” Look for resources that can be extended across multiple forms of play, like pretend play, small world play, building, creative arts, etc. – can they use the magnetic blocks to create homes for their animals?
   2. Get creative with household items: In the spirit of sustainability, affordability and gratefulness – use the resources that you already have at home in a creative way, such as a bowl with multiple cooking utensils – or a bag of rice for sensory exploration. Every parent knows that having more manufactured toys does not mean having an entertained, content child. Children inundated with many manufactured toys are often ‘bored’ and requesting more toys. Children who have less become content with less and use their imagination and evolving interests to manipulate the same resources in different ways.
   3. Remove battery powered toys: Save money and allow your child to exercise their naturally fantastic imagination – the child is the active player, not the toy – see Janet Lansbury’s podcast episode that includes information on battery powered toys, titled ‘Better Toys for Busy Babies’
2. Physically safe
   1. Add child safety mechanisms around the house – as Magda Gerber proposed, is the environment safe if something happened to you and you were locked out?
      1. Install child safe locks on any cupboards or covers on electrical outlets – remove, lock or make safe and any component of the environment that you often need to stop what you’re doing to run over and say ‘no’
      2. Janet Lansbury, RIE Associate, has a podcast episode titled, “No, No, No… (4 Tips for Keeping Your Baby Explorer Safe)” -“the most unproductive thing we can do is to say something from across the room. “No, no, no, don’t do that!” And that’s the thing that we do commonly do. It’s not only with 7-month-olds, but older children as well. Saying something to try to stop that behavior when the child is already in motion often does not work.”
   2. Create an enclosed ‘yes space’: Listen or read Janet Lansbury’s podcast episode on ‘Yes Spaces’ which involves encouraging a child’s long attention span and independent play by cultivating a space that embodies freedom – and does not interrupt the child, beginning as infants.
3. Emotionally nurturing 
   1. Assess the environment’s attitude: Hammond states, “it’s really a fact that our attitude is what sets the tone of the environment for the child. What is it that the air has in it? What – is it the air of freedom? Or is it the air of – I better be careful. Somebody’s going to tell me no. I don’t know if I’m allowed to do this. So creating a space in which children feel an expansive sense of themselves and what’s possible is what we want to do.”
   2. Provide a predictable environment: Children and parents flow together in the rhythm of each day through daily rituals and routines to allow children to feel safe, free and secure
   3. Nurture an environment that welcomes and acknowledges feelings: Children play contently when they feel emotionally supported and loved by their caregivers – caregivers label emotions and allow the child to express their feelings without becoming upset themselves