What are loose parts?

Loose parts simply means moveable materials that children can use in their play. They might be bought materials, upcycled from the recycling bin or found natural objects. There’s a printable list of some loose parts ideas below, but really anything goes: boxes, feathers, marbles, wrapping paper, fir cones, water, sand, twigs, hats, drinking straws…..

What loose parts free play offers children

I think stocking your play space with loose parts offers children

:: daily inspiration

:: endless possibilities

:: a chance to think

:: encouragement to be creative

We’re not only talking about creative play from an artistic point of view – although loose parts do provide great materials to sculpt and build – but creative play that encourages brain development, scientific experimenting, mathematical thought, risk taking, and trial and error learning.

Through this kind of free play children are really creating: using what they have and what they already know, and combining that to create a whole that’s greater than the parts. Just like Einstein, Da Vinci and Jobs. Loose parts and free play in childhood develops the creative genius of the future.

You can see this in practice in the marble run B built a while ago. I’d introduced a new resource for the children to explore that week : the marbles. On offer as always on the craft shelves was a variety of loose parts. To make her marble run B had to imagine her end product and carefully select the right materials that allowed her to build what she’d intended.

Things didn’t always go to plan - things broke or the marble didn’t move along the right chute – so she had to analyse, problem solve and persevere until she’d managed what she set out to achieve. This kind of hands-on learning is what we encourage and it helps children hone really important thinking skills that will help them throughout their lives.

Four ways to promote loose parts free play

To promote this kind of creative learning you can:

:: have loose parts on offer in your play setting all the time, so the children get used to what’s available and can pull them in to their play when they get an idea

:: add in new materials from time to time, to spark fresh thinking (you can use our list for some suggestions)

:: make sure the children have lots and lots of time to investigate, explore, daydream and make use of the loose parts

:: have other children and adults available to help problem-solve, add in twists to the play and to admire creations and inventions

Great ideas for materials to have in your play space

The great things about stocking your play space with loose parts is that anything goes (so long as the materials are suitable for your children’s ages and stages) and they’re mainly free. Natural materials, recycled items and donations from friends, families, and local businesses are all great places to get your materials.

You don’t need to think about how the children might use the materials – leave that to the kids. Provide the loose parts, step back and let the children play. They might surprise you with their imaginations and create things you would never have dreamed up!

We’ve been chatting over on NurtureStore’s Facebook page about what kinds of loose parts to offer and we’ve come up with some suggestions. You can click the image below to print off a copy of our list, to keep handy for when you need a few ideas. Let’s be clear: these are just ideas. You don’t need to provide all of these! Offer what you already have and use this for suggestions of extras to add in over time.

The Magic Three formula

I like to use a Magic Three formula when we need an injection of ‘new’. Simply pick three items from this list and set them out as an invitation to play. Remember you don’t need to think the three materials match or work well together. The idea is to offer something different, perhaps unusual, to spark the children’s thinking.

Yarn, curtain rings and play dough….

Water, feathers and plastic cups…

Tin foil, sticks and buttons…

Who knows what the children will come up with using the Magic Three!

 {small world fairy garden using the Magic Three of sand :: scoops :: plants}

 More free play with loose parts reading

Try these blogs for great ideas about loose parts play.

How to use outdoor play spaces :: Let the children play

The Theory of Loose Parts :: An Everyday Story

Learning at Full Capacity :: Teacher Tom

Play logs :: Happy Hooligans

Share your loose parts play

Are you offering loose parts in your play space? What are your children playing with this week?

We would love to see your photos. You can share them with us on NurtureStore’s Facebook page, or use #looseparts on Instagram. Let’s celebrate this important play and swap ideas that we can all borrow to try with our own children.

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The process of making the art is the best thing here as the colourful bubbles grow and grow, but the end product is rather beautiful too. You could hang your finished picture up in your kid’s own art gallery, or you could cut it up to make gift cards or even bunting.

Bubble painting

{Before you start you need to make sure your child understands the concept of blowing not sucking through the straw!}

We started by getting our materials ready: some white paper, a plastic tray (big enough to hold our paper), paint, washing up liquid, drinking straws, water

We filled our tray with some water, paint and washing up liquid so it was about 1cm deep and mixed it all up. We made up two different trays so we could use two colours.

Then, using the drinking straw, we started blowing our bubbles. This bit was great fun!

We gently put a sheet of paper over the bubbles to make a print of them. Don’t press down too hard or leave in for too long or you will end up with soggy paper and the bubble print will be lost.

We let the first colour dry (which didn’t take very long) and then re-dipped in the other tray to produce our final picture.

Have you tried bubble painting with your kids?

More kids art ideas

If you like this bubble painting idea I think you will love our kids painting ideas with no paint brushes allowed! With 52 ideas to try, you could have a whole year of exploring different ways to paint. Ever tried painting with toothbrushes, potato mashers, forks, bubble wrap, spaghetti…..?

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Printable sea creatures for ocean play dough

We have four kids – twin girls aged nine, a five year old boy and a two year old boy – and I am always amazed at how much they all love playdough. Playdough is one of those rare activities where all our kids happily play together.

It is such an open-ended activity that it lends itself to intricate creations made by the nine year olds, as well as basic manipulation from the toddler, and everything in between. It allows for lots of cooperative play, negotiation and social skill development, but it is also just as easy to give each child their own lump if they are not ready to play together right now.

We have commercially made playdough accessories coming out our ears which have all been well loved, but the best playdough accessories are always the ones that we make ourselves, the ones that really spark my kids’ imaginations or follow their interests. Cathy first inspired me to make printable playdough accessories when she had the wonderful idea to use our bunny cup cake toppers with playdough. Genius! Since then we have made some printable playdough garden accessories, and after a recent trip to the beach collecting rocks and shells I knew that sea creatures would be my next playdough set.

My kids waited, not very patiently, for me to finish creating the images and then the girls helped cut them out, laminate them and then cut them out again. Meanwhile the boys and I set about making our favourite microwave playdough – blue of course! Then we all collected some extra bits and pieces – glass pebbles, stones and shells. The rest was up to the kids…

All four kids loved creating under the sea scenes. Elaborate stories were played out, sharks ate fish and a star fish got tangled in an octopus. The playdough became waves, and lagoons, and even a deep sea diver!

Download the sea creatures printable

You can print your own under the sea playdough accessories by downloading the sea creatures printable pdf file. Then just print, cut, laminate (or cover with self adhesive paper), cut again, and play!

An early childhood educator and Mum of four, Kate lives on a small property called ‘The Pickle Farm’ in rural Australia. Kate’s blog, picklebums, has articles about gentle parenting, gardening, family food, activities for kids, free printables and anything else that pops up in her crazy life. You can also find Kate on facebook, twitter, and pinterest.

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Lego math games

Building chains of Lego in repeating patterns, with the same sequence of colours going along the line, is very good mathematical patterning and are early steps towards addition and times tables. L loves spotting repeating pattens and she’s started to add more complex elements to the patterns she joins together. Last week she presented me with this symmetrical combination of Lego and we decided to build this into a matching game.

Lego symmetry challenge

We took it in turns to build half a picture and then see if the other person could complete it. This is a butterfly but you can just make patterns rather than specific pictures. You can make this as simple or complex as you like, to suit your child’s level – and I bet they’ll try and make the pattern you have to complete as difficult as possible!

Make sure you have enough spare Lego blocks to complete the other side of  the pattern and then see how long it takes you to find all the right pieces. This lets you play and learn, working with ideas about colour, shape, size and orientation.

More lego math games

There are lots of fun ways to use Lego for maths games. You could…

:: use lego to measure and graph your results

:: use lego to add and subtract

:: use lego to classify and sort colours

:: use lego to follow patterns and shapes

Love to make learning fun? Get your copy of our Play Planner!

Our weekly Play Planner is packed full of play ideas for every day of every week.

Pop your e-mail address in the box below and I’ll send you your own copy.

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Play Planner and a quick survey

Would you be so kind as to help me out this week and give me some feedback about NurtureStore and the Play Planner?

This week’s Play Planner includes are 10 {super} quick questions. Could you please fill them in and let me know who you are and what you like about the Play Planner. All feedback is very welcome and I hope to use it to make NurtureStore an even better resource for you.

Thank you! Cathy

Please click through here to see this week’s Play Planner activities and have your say in the survey.

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