SPACES AND MATERIALS
"Need creates form" (Kandisky)
The environment in which we work is the canvas through which we can capture the colors of our educational model, in coherence with our feelings.
We understand it as a living space connected with emotions, where our mission is to built a consistent bridge care between home and the educational center.
At Cucú you will find a warm, calm and safe atmosphere, which reinforces emotional security, which we believe is the foundation for growth.
Each space is designed to suggest actions and possibilities because it is the children who inhabit this space - with their exploration needs and with their right to transform it.
The various environments are connected and respond to different needs:
At the entrance we have beds to accompany rest, followed by the sink for diaper changes and the toilet, and our kitchen, which is integrated with the dining area. The free play room opens to the outdoor patio, a space we use for experimentation with plants, sand and water.
Open-ended and unstructured materials such as loose parts enhance a creative act, because they can experiment with each other in an infinite amount of compositions and connections. We offer children quality materials for manipulation, sensory experimentation and heuristic play. We like to think that each piece has a "soul", an internal message that comes alive in the child's play - especially the handmade pieces, such as the Waldorf dolls and handmade textiles.
Materials vary according to the seasons of the year (particularly the natural materials) and the growth of the children.
Pikler materials are the protagonist of the space and everything that invites gross motor skills: learning to climb, lower, slide, engage, climb, push, jump, enter, exit, drag ... and the use of everyday materials such as stools, fabrics and boxes.
We prepare our space with care and aesthetic sensitivity, and place the materials with order and balance as well as chromatic harmony and composition because our mission is to educate towards/with beauty.
In Cucú we draw a bridge between play and work: what matters to us is fostering the child's ability to give himself completely to whatever he is doing for himself (which can be defined as a "flow state").
The concept of reference used to describe how the 0-3 child plays is the image of "Calm chaos": Chaos has an evolutionary function because the child needs to reaffirm the "here I am”, dismantling and transforming the space he inhabits; while the Calm is necessary to learn and create new meanings that suit him/her.
We promote a work environment that values the specific actions of “adult work”, such as: sweeping, washing, weaving, sanding wood, watering plants, taking care of the communal space, creating game invitations, peeling and cutting cut fruit…and, a must, doing all with a good dose os joy.
As caregivers, we like to wear our “work” aprons because we are aware that learning comes by imitation and that children are constantly looking for role models.
We act responsibly, as an attentive and affectionate model. Worth being imitated.