How to Use Loose Items for Your Child? Part 1

Have you ever taken your child to the toy store and felt overwhelmed looking at the many shelves of different of toys? You find yourself standing in the middle of a tall, towering isle, pondering to yourself what is the best option and where you should begin to look. You start to feel all the toys blending into one image that becomes a blur of bright colors, made up of objects created to be played with. Instead of being overwhelmed at the thought of toy shopping, we should acknowledge how traditional toys are only one of the many ways that allow children to learn and play! Let us investigate Loose Parts Play.

Loose parts are defined as materials that can be used or manipulated in different ways. Any item a child has interest in using as part of play can be used in an open-ended way, meaning a child can create, imagine, explore, problem solving etc. by using just a single material. This type of play helps to foster social, cognitive, perceptual, emotional, verbal, and physical development.

Let’s dive into an example of how loose parts are implemented. Imagine a child picking up some grass and putting it into a bucket filled with water. The child begins to mix the grass and water with a stick. As it appears, this child is collecting grass in a bucket. However, to the child, what is actually happening is they are using ingredients to create a cake and utilizing a stick as a mixing spoon. This child not only using their imagination in play, but they are also recreating a situation that they have come across in their lifetime as a social aspect they are connecting to. This child is developing motor skills when grabbing the grass, mixing with the spoon, and walking around the playground looking for materials. This play is not only using imagination but encouraging exploration, problem solving, physical development (motor skill development), intellectual growth, and social development. This is a scenario most parents have encountered while raising their child, but might not have realized the full extent of learning through play.

Benefits: encourages discovery, exploration, problem solving, trial and error, investigating, different play opportunity with a single item, building, using recyclable items, low-cost activities, open ended materials etc.

Examples of loose parts outdoors: water, sand, sticks, grass, leaves, shells, seeds, bark etc.

Examples of loose parts indoors: blocks, measuring spoons, cups, buckets, toilet paper rolls, lids, ribbon, straws brushes, box, etc.