Chair and chairs

Chair and chairs | Fondazione Reggio Children - Centro Loris Malaguzzi ©

• Smartphone/tablet with Whatsapp (optional)

• Newspapers and magazines (optional)

• Scissors (optional)

Chair and chairsImagining improbable chairsage 3/11 y.o. (together with an adult)

Each activity proposed by the Reggio Children Foundation is designed for children and young people, together with teachers, parents, grandparents or babysitters who want to experiment with materials, thoughts and spaces at home in a relaxed but meaningful way.The duration is not given, the timing is open. These activities can last for an hour or an entire afternoon, they can be continued tomorrow or last for weeks, changing, mixing with other games and activities. It depends on you.

DESCRIPTIONThere are many objects in the house that are part of our life and that increase our well-being everyday, but we take them for granted. Knowing how to look at them with new eyes can help children and young people to discover hidden qualities and ask new questions about the body, space, the tangible world and the intangible world of the imagination. How many types of chairs are there? High chair, rocking chair, deck chair, folding chair, upholstered chair, armchair. Chairs made of wood, iron, transparent, soft, with armrests, with wheels. What elements make a chair? Is a chair without armrests always a chair?And in your home? How many different chairs are there? This activity is an adventure that starts from one chair and goes around the house, taking inventory, room by room, of all the possible chairs in your home environment, by drawing, describing or photographing them. Up to imaginary, invented, improbable chairs, where you can sit however you want, upside down, curled up or lying down comfortably.

MATERIALS AND TOOLS

• Notebook

• Pen/marker/pencil

• Different kinds of paper

COMPETENCEShand crafts, creativity, design, composition, drawing, narration, math, science, art

1. FROM DESIGNING TO SHARINGThis section is a guide for adults to orient and support children’s and young people’s projects. The children’s hypotheses, starting from some initial questions, will be verified and deepened during the activity.

> Questions to start with:

How do you usually sit in a chair? Cross-legged? On the edge? On your knees?

What does a chair look like? What elements does it have?

Watch the introductory video:https://youtu.be/64WG-fbro4I

Can you do without one element? Is a chair without a backrest always a chair?

What’s your favorite chair? What is it like? Why is it your favorite?

How many different chairs do you think there are in your house?

DESIGNING- Prepare your tools and space: a table where you can place your papers, markers or pencils.- Take your notebook and pen and go around your house (room by room) looking for all the kinds of chairs you can find.- Try each chair in different ways: sitting with your knees gathered up, lying down, squatting, etc.- Write down all your observations in the notebook (are they comfortable chairs? what are the differences between them? do they all have the elements needed to make a chair? etc.).- If you want, take a picture of the chairs in your house with your smartphone.

> Questions to support this phase:

How many ways can you sit on a chair?

Are all the chairs you found comfortable?

What are the differences between the chairs in your house? Do they all have the same elements (legs, backrest,

armrests)? Are they all the same size?

EXPERIENCING- Pick a chair and bring it to your work space.- Try drawing it from different points of view (from the front, from behind) or changing the position of the chair (lying down, upside down, etc.). Choose whether to use a black marker or colors and the type of paper: a white or dark sheet of paper, wrapping paper, etc. Draw your chair on different kinds of paper.- You can also make a completely new, “unlikely” chair (see “how to continue the search” section).- Give names to all the sketches of your chair with your name and date.- Look for geometric figures inside the chair (rectangles, circles, squares, etc.) and write them down in your notebook.- Now try to sit on the chair you have chosen in new ways that you have never tried before. For example, on the armrests, on the chair upside down, lying down, curled up. Invent new ways of sitting.- Make a list of all the ways you have found to use the chair with your body, either by making a list in your notebook, or a sketch of you and the chair in all the positions.

> Questions to support this phase:

Did you ever notice how many different chairs you had in the house?

What names could you give the different chairs?

How many objects in the house can be used to sit?

How does the design of your chair change if you use white or dark paper?

Sedia e Sedie | Fondazione Reggio Children - Centro Loris Malaguzzi ©

Chair and chairs | Fondazione Reggio Children - Centro Loris Malaguzzi ©

How does the design of your chair change if you turn the chair upside down or turn it over?

What comes to mind from sitting in a chair in so many different ways?

What special chairs from fairy tales or movies can you think of?

SHARING- You can send this activity to friends or classmates via Whatsapp or email. You can exchange the sketches you made of your chairs or the “unlikely chairs” you made.- If you like, send your drawings to online@reggiochildrenfoundation.org or share it on social media by tagging the Reggio Children Foundation page and using thehashtag #acasaconfondazione...

> Questions to support this phase:

What stories can be inspired by a chair?

How do you imagine the chairs in your friends’ houses? Can you try asking them?

What about the chairs of children who live in unfamiliar, faraway places, like in Japan or the North Pole?

2. QUESTIONS TO SUPPORT THE RESEARCH> Some open questions may be useful to support children’s and young people’s projects.

Was it a fun activity? What did you like the most?

What didn’t you expect to happen or what surprised you the most? Why?

Was it a difficult activity? What problems did you encounter?

What strategies did you find to solve the problems?

3. HOW TO CONTINUE THE PROJECTTo add to your project and continue your exploration you can:- repeat this exploration by changing the object (a box? a book? a bottle?).- download the activity “Imaginary Bicycles” and apply it to your chair, to design an “improbable chair”

4. ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

“Ricerca della comodità in una poltrona scomoda” by Bruno Munari, Corraini edizioni, 2013“La sedia blu” by Claude Boujon, Babalibri edizioni, 2011“Miiaau e le piccole sedie” by Sebastien Braun, Bohem Press Italia, 2010