Reggio Emilia Part 4: The Restaurant Model: Rethinking Meals in Early Childhood

Dr. Cynthia DiCarlo, Louisiana State University

This six-part blog series highlights a visit to the Cinema School in Bologna, Italy and explores the shifts early childhood educators might consider when rethinking choice in their own programs. The school, directed by Beatrice Vitali, was toured in collaboration with ECEI researcher Marcella Terrusi of the University of Bologna. While many classrooms emphasize child choice within centers or activities, this school demonstrated what it looks like when choice is embedded into the design of the entire environment. Across this series, key structures—from movement across spaces to flexible routines—are examined with consideration for how these ideas might translate into practice in early childhood settings.

The Restaurant Model: Rethinking Meals in Early Childhood

In many early childhood classrooms, daily routines are highly structured. Meals, in particular, tend to follow a predictable format: children eat at the same time, sit in assigned spaces, and move through the experience as a group. While this approach supports efficiency and consistency, it may also limit opportunities for children to engage in decision-making during one of the most meaningful parts of the day.

An alternative approach considers how routines, such as meals, can be intentionally designed to support autonomy.

In the Cinema School, the dining environment operates more like a restaurant than a traditional cafeteria. Rather than eating at a single scheduled time, children are able to enter the dining space within a designated window, approximately two hours, allowing them to respond to their own sense of hunger. Within this structure, children also make decisions about what they eat from the available options and where they sit, with multiple seating configurations that support both small and large group interactions. As illustrated below, the dining space is intentionally organized to provide children with meaningful choices within a structured routine.

A restaurant-style dining environment allows children to choose when to eat, what to select from available options, and where to sit, supporting autonomy within a structured routine.

This structure reflects a broader shift in how routines are conceptualized. Rather than viewing meals as a transition between instructional periods, they become opportunities for children to practice decision-making, social interaction, and independence. Children are not simply participating in a routine; they are actively shaping their experience within it. Importantly, this approach does not remove structure. The window of time, the available food options, and the adult oversight all provide clear boundaries. Within those boundaries, however, children are given meaningful opportunities to make decisions. This balance between structure and autonomy is critical. Research on structured choice suggests that when children are provided with clear parameters alongside opportunities for decision-making, engagement increases and participation becomes more meaningful (DiCarlo et al., 2012).

This also raises important consideration for how children experience control within the classroom. When routines are entirely adult-directed, children have limited opportunities to make decisions during large portions of the day. By contrast, when routines are designed to include choice, children are able to exercise agency in contexts that are both familiar and significant.

This leads to an important question for practice:How are daily routines currently structured, and what opportunities do they provide for children to make meaningful choices?

In Reggio Emilia–inspired environments, everyday experiences are viewed as central to learning, rather than separate from it (Malaguzzi, 1993). Meals, in this context, are not simply about nutrition; they are about relationships, participation, and autonomy.

Teachers might consider how flexibility can be incorporated into existing routines while still maintaining necessary structure. This may include offering seating choices, allowing staggered participation, or rethinking how transitions into routines occur. Even small shifts can change how children experience these moments. When routines are intentionally designed, they can support not only children’s development, but also their sense of agency within the classroom.

Reggio Emilia Tenets in Practice

The restaurant-style dining model reflects the image of the child as capable and autonomous, as children make decisions about when to eat, what to select, and where to sit (Santín & Torruella, 2017; Willemsen et al., 2023). Social relationships are central, as meals become opportunities for interaction and community building. Negotiated learning is also present, as children participate in shared routines that require communication, decision-making, and collaboration.

References

DiCarlo, C., Baumgartner, J., Schellhaas, A., & Pierce, S. (2012). Using structured choice to increase child engagement in low preference centers. Early Child Development and Care, 183(1), 109–124.

Malaguzzi, L. (1993). For an education based on relationships. Young Children, 49(1), 9–12.

Santín, M. F., & Torruella, M. F. (2017). Reggio Emilia: An essential tool to develop critical thinking in early childhood. Journal of New Approaches in Educational Research, 6(1), 50–56. https://doi.org/10.7821/naer.2017.1.207

Willemsen, A., Wiggins, S., & Cromdal, J. (2023). Young children’s mealtimes and eating practices in early childhood education and care: A scoping review of 30 years of research from 1990 to 2020. Educational Research Review, 38, 100503. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.edurev.2022.100503