Malka Haas

Malka Haas (1920-2021) was an Israeli educator and a researcher of child development.

She made changes in the Kibutz educational method and among other things, she developed “the junkyard”.

Her educational method was built on two main principles:

1. The child’s development needs to go through practical experiences.

2. Children need to contact with real materials.

That is why she promoted the concept of the junkyard.

The basic idea of the junkyard was to involve the children in the work being done by their parents.

She believed that playing with scraps helps children to develop their personalities, creativity, and independent work.

I chose Malka Haas because every step she took involved outside-the-box thinking, changing the conventional method of education, and exploring new fields.

When she asked what made her become who she was she responded: “curiosity, the search for meaning in everything and ability to make of everything meaningful”.