If You Give a Kid a Pebble....
Offer children a pile of pebbles, with no expectations or instructions, and creativity abounds. One youngster uses the rocks to form letters and write her name. Another tries stacking the stones, and others join in to compete for the tallest tower. A third grader flicks a pebble toward a small pile in a makeshift game of marbles. A kindergartener examines each stone carefully, collecting only those with stripes. Her friend pushes pebbles into a crack in the table, then uses a pencil to dislodge them. A group runs off to another activity, then returns to use the rocks as coins in pretend play. Math, science, literacy and more were addressed by children at play with loose parts: no worksheets required.
Loose Parts OutdoorsOur sand play area resembled a ghost town. Children used it only as a soft landing for a flying leap, or a path to reach the playground equipment. It sat alone as kids swarmed up the climbing walls and down the slides.
That all changed when I introduced loose parts. I gathered pine cones, seed pods, river rocks and driftwood from the neighborhood and beach. I added secondhand kitchen and garden implements, such as mixing spoons, bowls, measuring cups, hand shovels, flower pots and artificial flowers. Soon gourmet restaurants popped up. Plastic animals found amazing habitats. Buckets full of water inspired children to concoct soup, plant gardens and construct cities out of sand. |
"Children really enjoy loose parts, which they can move about, use for their own self-selected construction projects, and incorporate into a wide variety of dramatic play activities." Loose Parts IndoorsWhen loose parts are made available for open-ended play, students use them for many creations. Felt pieces, plants, sticks, plastic bugs, paper towel tubes, and rocks are magically transformed by children's imaginations into small worlds and mandala designs. Children wander over from other areas to borrow landscaping and game pieces from the loose parts collection.
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