All Sweden´s preschools are part of the schoolsystem and, according to the School Act, must follow the Curriculum for Preschool: Lpfö18 (2018), whether they are independent, municipal or have different orientations. However, the curriculum does not contain specific goals about what the children should have achieved at a certain age or what knowledge they should have developed during their time in preschool but should be seen as a basis for planning the activities. With this, the curriculum can be perceived as interpretable and different areas of pedagogy become possible.

The purpose of this literature study is to find out how the pedagogical orientations of Montessori pedagogy, Waldorf pedagogy and Reggio Emilia philosophy create prerequisites and opportunities for preschool children to be involved and influence the environment and the educational material. What similarities and differences can be learned based on scientific texts by Swedish authors?

The child is seen as the central point when it comes to the environment and material placement in the various configurations. Participation and influence are created by the child being able to reach and take care of himself. Therefore, the child does not need to ask for help, which increases the child´s power to take care of the material that is desired to be used. The fact that the play is important can be deduced that the different educational orientations agrees at. Likewise, the material should create and stimulate the imagination and creativity. Differences that emerged during the study are the type of materials and toys found within the various configurations.

Common to the results of the studies is that it is about the teachers' attitude and approach to the children's perspectives. The adult holds the power to decide how much influence and participation the children have, and everything has to do with the teacher's interest in creating meaning and a shared reality.