Loose Parts Play

You can find loose parts just about everywhere, from your kitchen to your garden. Here are just a few ideas for play:

• Create faces using leaves, twigs, and flowers

• Make a river with a blanket and build a bridge with sticks and string

• Create a track for cars using boxes, bricks, and toilet roll inserts

• Design mosaic with pasta, washers, beads, and shells

• Celebrate the season from things foraged from the garden

The list of materials is virtually infinite as are the creative ways they can be used. The only limit is your child's imagination.

The beauty of loose part play is that you can encourage your children to do it at home or in the classroom. But before you begin, consider the age of the children you are playing with, so that you don’t give them materials that they might present a choking hazard.

You might choose a selection of materials with a theme, such as the weather, a holiday at the beach, a favourite pet. Alternatively, you can let your child loose with their imagination and see what they come up with. Once you’ve set out your materials, you are ready to go. You’ll always be in for a pleasant surprise.

Whether your child is a budding artist or engineer, loose part play is of value to all because it helps to develop skills across all areas including creativity, spatial learning, colour and shape awareness and it certainly fosters the development of your child's imagination.  What’s more, because loose part play is child-led, it allows little ones to develop their sense of self and strengthen their independence. Loose part play never gets boring.

You can surround your children with the same materials day after day and they will always find a new way to play with them. Children see so much possibility in these objects. For example, they may find some coloured stones in the garden that suddenly become bird eggs, the next day the same stones have magic powers and the next day they might be treasures to be buried. So, as you see, loose part play is a creative and healthy way for young children to explore the world around them.

At My Happy Helpers, we have carefully selected some of the best resources to encourage your child's open ended play journey. Substituted with what you may find along your day to day travels, these resources will be sure to spark your little ones curiosity and interest.