Beautiful Stuff is a resource you will want to have! It is written by Cathy Weisman Topal and Lena Gandini.  It is a delightful book where you will find approaches to nurturing the innate creativity of children that you can adapt to any teaching situation. These two teachers were inspired by educators from Reggio Emilia, Italy who observed and recorded what would happen when the focus is on process rather than product. This resource provides tons of suggestions for collecting, discovering, organizing and exploring materials. It even includes a letter that can be sent home to parents to assist in the collecting process! There are great observations to glean from the children as they explore the materials. Some children are interested in design and setting up a pleasing composition, others use the materials to tell a story! It’s amazing what we can learn about children as we document the children’s process of discovery!