The Image of the Child Loris Malaguzzi has painted an awesome, multi-faceted image of the child that is open to a multitude of interpretations. Reading his article, one would be entranced by the literary power with which he speaks about the child and the quality of education she deserves. For one, Malaguzzi has enlivened the image of a child as a living, breathing, interactive and perennially searching creature whose mind and heart are sensitive to thoughts and feelings she sprouts as well as those she receives from others, deliberate or not. She is not the dense, helpless, egoistic miniature adult people usually mistake her for, as she is an individual who is highly capable of becoming someone she chooses to be. As such, adults around her have the responsibility to cooperate with one another to provide her with a stimulating environment conducive to her learning so her talents, skills and knowledge are optimized to be the best person she can possibly be. Each person comes with a “piece of his life” attached to him and he brings this wherever he goes (Malaguzzi, 1993). It is the same with the child. She brings with her the family and cultural background she was raised with -the values, expectations, philosophy and life views imparted to her from home. On top of this, she is still very much open to more learning, as she has an insatiable thirst for knowledge. Being naturally curious, she is more at ease with the unknown and is willing to unfold its mysteries. Schools should preserve that value of wonder in their students and keep an element of surprise to further whet children’s appetite for learning. If a school becomes complacent and predictable, it will go against the nature of the children to be excited about learning and may end up bored and become passive learners. Children need to be surrounded with caring adults who let them be. Adults should be careful not to be too actively engaged in the child’s learning that they may not be aware that the child has already become passive in her own learning process. Instead, adults need to build environments where children can be autonomous and freely explore their learning capabilities and become authors of their own learning. They can do this with projects planned together with their teachers and peers. Such projects may be carried out over a period of days, or weeks or even months. They take the reins of learning from their teachers and carve their own paths to discovery. However, in the process of learning, they still need to have their teachers available to them for consultation. They want their teachers to observe them as they go through the learning process and not just see the end product of their hard work (Malaguzzi, 1993). For children’s learning, the process is more important than the product. Children do not want to be judged with their products. They want to be observed of their process in deriving the product. Much learning ensues when children interact together with the least adult intervention. The adult must refrain from dominating children’s social interactions and just be in the background as she continually observes the children’s behaviors, actions and language while in the process of learning from one another. When learning is not inhibited, children freely engage in it with the use of all their senses. They crave for sensorial stimulation and expression that is why the expressive arts are offered in early childhood programs. In actively engaging in the arts, children get to explore their world an