Loose Parts Play
We love setting up loose parts play for our children mainly because the learning that happens during one of these activities is so valuable but also because it is so quick and easy to set up and tidy away. Loose parts play provides experiences for children to be creative, imaginative and curious. My son enjoys loose part play because he loves looking at how things work. Especially anything with wheels. So instead of taking apart the dishwasher, he can now safely build and take apart the loose part resources instead.
So, what is loose parts play?
Simply put it is a collection of any materials which can be moved, combined, put together, taken apart, lined up, stacked. It is open ended play and ideally there should be no adult direction or intervention in how and what a child does with the collection of materials. This bit is hard for the teacher in me that is itching to teach and impart some knowledge. What the child creates doesn’t need to look pretty or functional. It’s all about getting the child’s imagination flowing.
what skills can you expect your child to learn during a loose parts play?
1. Loose parts play is wonderful for developing and enhancing a child’s vocabulary and language. During a loose parts play session with my son I will often narrate what he is doing with the loose parts - for example, “Oh I can see that the green felt ball is balancing on the wooden cube.” Modelling language is one of the best ways for a child to build their vocabulary and develop their sentence structures.
2. Through the actions of grasping and picking up different shaped and sized objects, our children are strengthening those muscles in their fingers (fine motor skills) which are needed for writing.
3. As a teacher and a soon to me Mummy of a child that attends school, I hate a work sheet. In fact, I’m not a big fan of a colouring page either. They have their place but not only are work sheets dull but they also stifle a child’s creativity because there is always a right and wrong way to complete a work sheet / colouring in sheet. In loose part play there is no expectation of what an end product may look like, therefore a child is completely free to create whatever they want. Trains can be built using wooden blocks, cinnamon sticks, buttons and flowers. This builds their independence, their creativity and their imagination.
4. From a very young age, babies are learning to problem solve through cause and effect - for example, if I cry, my Mummy will pick me up and respond to me. This then builds to curiosity when a baby starts knocking down a tower of bricks or pressing a button to see what happens. Loose parts play is an extension of this type of early play but now using different more ‘grown up’ and ‘real’ resources. Problem solving and curiosity are key skills which we need to be effective and lifelong learners, so as educators we need to give our children more opportunities to play like this.
5. Within schools our children have to follow someone else’s agenda. Activities need to be designed to suit the majority of the class and this can sometimes affect a child’s motivation and their belief in themselves. We all have different interests and strengths and it can be demoralising if we aren’t ‘allowed’ to follow those interests and instead have to learn at the pace of the majority. Loose parts play allows a child to play at their own pace and they are free to follow their own interests. They can choose to build a unicorn from some marbles, corks, screws, string and felt balls and then destroy it if they want. It may not look like a unicorn to the adult but it will to them. They can play in a group or by themselves. It allows a child to play and learn with freedom and without the perceived prying eyes of an adult. The adult’s role is to listen to and hear the child’s experience if they wish to share. A child can be completely free during loose parts play. If you have a child who struggles with their self-esteem, loose parts play is fantastic to rebuild their confidence because it allows them to play with freedom and follow their interests without the fear of making a dreaded mistake.
