There is a simple, universal gesture that crosses generations and cultures: sinking your hands into a soft material and transforming it. It is a gesture that speaks the language of childhood, made of curiosity, freedom and discovery. And it is precisely from here that the experience of DidòLabimmersive workshops that are involving families and children in some of the most important Italian educational spaces.
Al MUBA, the Children’s Museum of Milan, and at the City of Science of Naplesthe game transforms into an educational path that focuses on relationships, manual skills and creativity. Here, large tubs filled with colored modeling clay welcome children and parents in a shared experience, where every gesture becomes an opportunity for learning.
It’s not just about fun. Numerous studies on child development highlight how free manipulation activities promote coordination, stimulate cognitive abilities and help the little ones express emotions and thoughts. In DidòLab all this happens naturally: modeling, crushing, creating becomes an immediate language, accessible to all.
The initiative, promoted by FILA (Italian Lapis and Related Factory), it is part of a broader path of valorisation of the game as an educational tool. It is no coincidence that it finds space in organizations such as MUBA and Città della Scienza, which have been committed to dissemination and experiential education for years.
The laboratories will be active in Milan from April 28th to May 3rd, while in Naples they will take place on the weekends of April 25-26 and May 2-3. A calendar designed to welcome families and offer quality opportunities to enjoy together, away from the daily frenzy.
«In a context like ours, where learning comes through direct experience, manipulation becomes a fundamental tool», he explains Alessandra Bocchi, MUBA Education Manager, «materials like Didò allow each young participant to explore freely, without patterns, activating imagination, autonomy and expressive abilities. It is an immediate language that puts doing at the center.”
Daniela GiampaoloCoordinator of Exhibition Spaces Città della Scienza, adds: «At the center of this collaboration is creativity, which we consider a fundamental lever for the learning and growth of the little ones. The DidòLabs fit perfectly into our educational proposal, which combines science and experience. Through manipulation, girls and boys can explore senses, emotions and creativity, transforming a simple gesture into a discovery.”
A particularly significant element is attention to sustainability: the maxi tanks used are in fact born from the creative recovery of the pasta produced during color changes in the FILA factory in Rufina, near Florence. A concrete gesture that educates, even implicitly, about the value of resources and respect for the environment.
«DidòLab was created to bring creativity and play to the center of an immersive and shared experience, in which modeling becomes an opportunity for relationship and collective discovery», he explains Orietta CasazzaMarketing Director of FILA “The large tubs of colored pasta allow you to experience Didò in a completely new dimension, also born from the recovery of the pasta resulting from color changes in production, giving new life to the material within an educational context. The multi-year collaboration with MUBA – active for over 10 years – and with Città della Scienza – since 2019 – allows us to develop coherent and continuous initiatives in the cultural field”.
In a time in which family relationships often risk being absorbed by fast pace and the constant presence of screens, experiences like the DidòLabs bring the simplicity of being together back to the center. Hands that meet in the same material, glances that meet, shared laughter: small moments that build deep bonds.
Because, ultimately, growing also comes from here: from playing, from discovery and from the beauty of doing things together.
