Interaction Imagination

Dela

The Original Learning Approach - where play, learning, teaching and understanding are interwoven. My (2022). Springer International Publishing. Lärarförlaget.

Children's rights to education is something I feel strongly about, but equally I think it is vital that the education we are providing children is relevant and appropriate. The Original Learning Approach has evolved from my many years of working with children in educational settings - of being Reggio Emilia Inspired, my masters in ECE and my constant reflecting over on my blog Interaction Imaginat

ion that I started in October 2012 as a place to pedagogically dialogue with myself when I felt alone. I no longer feel alone, but still value the space my blog provides to share my thoughts. I am a mother of three children - identical girls and their younger brother... they have taught me many things over the years... All three are autistic, two with ADHD as an added bonus, or hinder (depending on the day)

The more I learn, the more I realise there is left to learn. The more I change, the more I see how the system is unwilling to change. In the last two years I have been walking in the forest as a way to learn from the forest - learning to listen, daring to get lost, trying out ideas, playing with possibilities. These thoughts are collected in a separate blog called Arboreal Methodologies - a term Jayne Osgood and I wrote about together in 2021. It's not so easy to find that blog, as it's mostly for me... but sometimes I share a post and you might find it. When I am not writing I work part time at the Department of Child and Youth Studies at Stockholm University, I hold lectures, presentations and workshops for schools, preschools and others (contact me if you are interested) and time allowing, I substitute at preschools when they are in need of an extra teacher - so I can both offer help, but also still get to work with children. I post here my blogposts, plus other things that catch my eye. Over on Instagram under Interaction Imagination you can check out the photos I share there, they don't all make it to this page... just as everything I share here doesn't make it there. I can also be found in books...
The Original Learning Approach (to be published Autumn 2022) Redleaf. Lek, Risk och Undervisning (to be published in Swedish 2023) Lärarförlaget. Chapters in books -
"Play in Sweden" in King, P. & Newstead, S. Play Across Childhood: International Perspectives on Diverse Contexts of Play (1st ed.). "Farliga Lekar" in Linda Linders (2021) Pedagogiska Miljöer i Tanke och Handling. "Inspiration Not Cloning". in Edita Slunjski (Croatian 2022, to be published in English 2023) What Does Reggio Teach Us? Routledge. "Arboreal Methodologies: the promise of getting lost" co-authored with Professor Jayne Osgood in Varga, Monreal and Christ (2023) Toward a Stranger and more Posthuman Social Studies. Teachers College Press..

12/08/2026

The second cohort of the playarista training is now open.
Check my stories for an easy link to the application page on Instagram.

There are two time slots - 9am CET and 6pm CET in order to cover as many time zones as possible.
There is a max of 20 people per group... as dialogue is a major part of our learning together, in order to make it relevant and meaningful to every participant.

https://sallyhaughey.typeform.com/to/JUlfWnHx

07/08/2026

The International Fairy Tea Party map is live!!!

Come and join the fairy fun

www.google.com

Photos from Interaction Imagination's post

20/07/2026

I have been sorting through my office/storage of stuff room and found three notes that have fallen out of a book I was reading. I don't remember which book either... and I can see it was some time ago...
But I thought I would share the reflections I made while reading. And as you will notice, my reflections are often questions.
Each reflection is found on a different photo - so scroll through these photos I took in Uppsala last week...

Is play the way for children to access their own subjectness. That adults who "safeguard the space" of play are enabling children to be active agents in and with the world?

Schools as a bridge between home and the world.
What should such a bridge provide?
What does a child need to navigate the world?
What does the world need from the child?

The problems of ensuring everyone gets what they need in a society that "promises" people getting what they want.
Want and need are not the same.

19/07/2026

This is something that concerns me... that we are teaching children to perform being happy in order to be liked, to appear successful and to have the right to belong.

Children have the right to all their emotions.
The need our co-regulation to help the navigate their emotions, regulate them enough to be able to enjoy flow and interact respectfully with others AND enjoy respect from others.

This post is about normalising all our emotions - NOT about allowing children to feel lost in all their emotions.

It is a post to remind us that making children happy now might work in creating "successful classrooms" but it will probably not help children, or democracy, in the long run.

https://suzanneaxelsson.substack.com/p/has-happiness-become-performative

18/07/2026

We often talk about democracy and the importance of democracy but I am concerned that we don't fully understand what democracy is - and that this allows anti-democratic people to slowly dismantle democracy without us realising.
Democracy is a way of living, it is deeply relational and it's in our everyday doings not voting in governments.
Education is a vital part of democracy - it is highly political (despite many people saying it's not) because it is wholly dependent on what a current government invests, allows and limits.
Book and subject banning is anti-democratic - thinking carefully and with consideration about the books and subjects we offer children is imperative - because we cannot teach everything, read all books - we have to make choices - and they should be about telling ALL the stories and not one sided accounts that avoid accountability.
There is a need to focus on care, connection and empathy to be able to sustain democratic relationships that include everyone.
Play is an important part of the democratic classroom - from early childhood to adulthood.

Text is in English and Swedish
https://suzanneaxelsson.substack.com/p/how-can-we-defend-democracy-if-we

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