Try It Out!

In loose parts play, the materials are simple and open ended. This makes the possibilities for play limitless! Educators set up the environment to include materials that are often found, free, or upcycled, such as cardboard, leaves, acorns, napkin rings, and more! We will explore more about loose parts and give examples in the Digging Deeper section below. Children follow their imaginations and interests to decide how to use them. Learning spaces filled with open-ended loose parts bring incredible joy and satisfaction for children and adults alike. Let’s look at ways to set up our littlest scientists for success and let our imaginations loose!

Be intentional in your exploration.

• Make a plan for how you will introduce loose parts. Start slowly by adding a few loose parts options at a time. If possible, start with larger loose parts to support easier use and cleanup.
• Introduce loose parts throughout the day in large groups, small groups, or with individual children. Talk about how the parts feel and what they look like. Ask older children how they might use them and model possible uses with younger children.
• Scaffold children’s play by setting up loose parts near areas where they could be used. For example, include boxes in dramatic play or acorns and pine cones in a science area.
• Set up parts in ways that suggest possible uses. For example, place a wooden track in the block area or wooden rings partly stacked on a stacking board.
• Describe what children point to, see, and do (for example, label objects, actions, and possible feelings).
• Encourage children to predict what will happen with materials, such as:
  • How high could they stack objects before they fall?
  • What happens when they add materials to water?
  • Which materials are heavy or light?
  • How will an object sound if it falls?
• Use loose parts play to help children connect language, objects, and actions to create stories and engage in pretend play.
• Encourage children to use loose parts for representation in pretend play. A box could be a train, pirate ship, car, castle, doghouse, or so much more!
• Use math talk as children play with loose parts. Discuss and describe how parts, like upcycled game pieces, can be:
  • Patterned
  • Compared
  • Ordered
  • Classified
  • Counted
  • Measured and more
• Help children use loose parts play to develop social skills like social problem-solving. Encourage children to ask each other for ideas or help during play, like arranging large objects or creating pretend play scenarios.
• Provide children with opportunities to explore different textures like sand, shells, rocks, fabric scraps, or corks using sensory tables or trays. Place similar, safe items on the floor for sitting or crawling babies.

Gather materials to support loose parts exploration.

• Plan with your teaching team or families. Brainstorm ideas and collect materials to support loose parts play. Talk about what you would like to accomplish and how loose parts support program goals.
• Make sure all materials are safe for appropriate age and developmental levels of children. Review for choking hazards, potential for children to mouth items, and smooth edges. Adults should closely monitor children’s use as they begin engaging with all materials to support safe engagement.
• Include many types and sizes of new or upcycled loose parts! Here are a few examples:
  • Natural — pine cones, tree cookies, seedpods, stones, seashells, acorns, leaves
  • Metal — tin cans with smooth edges, different sizes of washers, canning rings, pots and pans, napkin rings
  • Plastic — shower rings, bottle caps of various sizes, film canisters, cups, bowls, shower liners, hair curlers of different sizes
  • Wood — smooth scrap wood, clothes pins, wood rings, game pieces, blocks, pegs, empty wood boxes
  • Paper — cardboard boxes, cardboard molding or pieces, postcards, envelopes, scrap paper, paint swatches
  • Textiles — fabric, yarn, carpet squares, scarves, ribbons, soft rope, cloth napkins
• Match loose parts with known toys and materials to support children’s early exploration. For example, place canning rings near art materials to use as stamps, to support tracing, or to decorate. Use safe loose parts near shape sorters for infant and toddler use.
• Talk to community organizations and businesses to request donations or purchases of loose parts. Programs can get many items for free or at a big discount!
• Provide loose parts that encourage different small motor skills.
  • Stacking stones supports pincer grasp practice, lifting, and balancing.
  • Placing small parts like acorns in a sensory table could encourage pouring, scooping, and sensory exploration.
  • Using muffin tins to do more contained fine motor work.
• Supply materials that produce different sounds or vibrations. Educators or families can create a sound wall by attaching different donated pots and pans to a wall or fence outdoors. Children can use metal, wood, or plastic sticks or spoons to explore sounds and vibration.

Consider adaptations that help everyone engage.

• When planning to explore loose parts, allow ample time for all children to explore materials. Some children may need more time to figure out how to manipulate materials and decide what they want to use.
• Make sure there is enough space between furniture and materials for crawling children as well as wheelchairs, walkers, or other mobility devices.
• Place loose parts on trays and empty picture frames to support fine motor movement and contain them during play on tables.
• Describe the parts for children who need communication support. Name it, if possible. This is helpful for infants or toddlers just developing language skills. Support nonverbal communication for materials and actions by supporting children using American Sign Language or creating visual materials to help children ask for loose parts.
• Provide materials with different sensory attributes. Use materials with distinct smells like cinnamon or materials of different textures like textiles or sandpaper.
• For messy materials, offer plastic gloves to children who have sensory processing challenges.
• Provide materials, including heavy ones, to use large motor skills. Many large loose parts can help children to develop balance and spatial orientation, a sense of their body in space, and social cooperation skills.
• Have children sort the materials by shapes, size, colors, or other features. Provide divided containers for placing sorted materials. Offer tongs of various sizes for older children to grab and sort.
• Provide materials of a variety of colors and brightness to support children with vision-related disabilities. For example, using materials with strongly contrasting colors and light tables can support exploration for children.

Look for connections to the Head Start Early Learning Outcomes Framework (ELOF) goals shown below. Adapt this activity to connect with any domain.

• Infant/Toddler Cognition 12. Child uses objects or symbols to represent something else.
• Infant/Toddler Approaches to Learning 6. Child demonstrates emerging initiative in interactions, experiences, and explorations.
• Preschool Approaches to Learning 10. Child demonstrates initiative and independence.
• Preschool Mathematics 10. Child explores the positions of objects in space.

Connect and Extend

Create a culture of inquiry by asking great questions.

One great way to extend conversations with children is by asking meaningful questions like, “What do you think will happen next?” Open-ended questions allow for many possible answers. This lets children to express their ideas, explain their thoughts, and make predictions. For some children, especially infants and toddlers, this may mean asking a question and watching for their nonverbal responses. You can then prompt them with gentle cues and label or respond to gestures to help guide the conversation. Some example questions include:

Infants and Toddler Questions

• Can you shake the seed pod? What sound does it make?
• What does the tree bark feel like? What does the leaf feel like?
• What happens when you drop the roller?

Preschool Questions

• What are you pretending this shell is?
• What could you use this for?
• If this feather was magical, what would it do?
• How did you decide to use this stick?
• Where do you think this acorn came from? What can you do with it?

Develop creative connections and be a “good relative.”

What does it mean to be a good relative? In many American Indian and Alaska Native cultures, being a good relative is a way to describe treating others, the land, and all living creatures with care, kindness, and respect. It is a practice we want to encourage in all children and adults.

We are all related and connected. How does this idea of connection show up in loose parts play? As children explore found, free, or upcycled materials, they learn to keep these items from landfills. This makes a positive connection to the health of Mother Earth. Educators can extend positive connections through cooperative play with:

• Friends
• Their imaginations
• Engaging questions
• Honoring how children learn through play

Through intentional planning with children and families, collecting loose parts can support the importance of upcycling materials. It can help make positive connections of found items and their many possibilities.

Here are some strategies to help foster creative connections and encourage the practice of being a good relative:

• Let families know about the concept of loose parts. Ask for their help in collecting items.
• Honor children’s ideas by introducing new items to children and asking for their input. For example, “Jacob’s mom collected these thread spools. What center should we put them in?”
• Together with children and families, share ideas around recycling and upcycling.
• Encourage children to make collections of natural items in the outdoor learning environment.

Take a Look

Loose Parts on the Playground

Learn how to revive outdoor play spaces while sparking children’s creativity. In a few simple steps, staff can redesign their outdoor play spaces to add a variety of materials. Children can move, carry, put together, and take apart materials in many ways.

It’s Time for Play! Loose Parts

Learn how to make the most of loose parts play in the learning environment! Loose parts are collections of open-ended materials that can be used in many different ways. Playing with loose parts can help develop important skills. Research shows that when children create and build, explore, and pretend, they strengthen cognitive skills, such as problem-solving, and executive functioning.

Digging Deeper into Loose Parts

What are loose parts?

This is a phrase to describe a type of play and materials you may already be using! Loose parts include open-ended materials that children can use imaginatively in numerous ways. Close-ended toys often have a single purpose. This one purpose can limit children’s imagination and thinking. Open-ended materials allow children to explore and discover many types of outcomes. As adults, we may have preconceived ideas about how to use materials. When we step back and allow children to lead, they often have amazing ideas we would never think of. Children use loose parts to:

• Investigate
• Transform
• Manipulate
• Pattern
• Build in construction and creative arts
• Explore countless other possibilities

This flexibility, along with the availability, sustainability, low cost, and attractiveness of loose parts make them an outstanding materials choice for early childhood programs. Gather loose parts like leaves or pine cones in nature. Families or local businesses may donate materials, or you can purchase them for low cost at thrift or dollar stores. In fact, educators can find many recycled loose parts or recycled items like bottle caps, cardboard boxes, or carpet squares. Loose parts are often very attractive, as well. For example, they may include sea shells, sea glass, colorful buttons, or materials of many textures.

How and where can educators use loose parts?

Loose parts are useful in all types of settings and for all children except the very youngest. Educators in center-based, home-based, family child care, or socializations as well as families can all find ways to embed loose parts opportunities. Educators can transform all environments into amazing spaces that bring joy, curiosity, and learning to children, educators, and families alike.

It might seem overwhelming to consider transforming an entire space into a loose parts environment. Educators should be deliberate in their process, beginning with reflection and planning. These plans should include what materials they need, what tasks to complete, who will engage in the process, and what timeline to follow. Introduce materials a little at a time. Starting with larger loose parts can help with faster cleanup and are more straightforward to use. An example might include putting cardboard boxes in dramatic arts areas for pretend play.

What are the benefits of loose parts play?

Loose parts play offers opportunities for deeper play. Children can manipulate, explore, and try different methods of engaging with materials.

• Loose parts play connects to development in approaches to learning skills like:
  • Initiative and curiosity
  • Creativity
  • Cognitive development
• As children manipulate materials, they can:
  • Exercise small or large motor skills
  • Develop spatial reasoning, balance, and more
• Adults can also support children’s language and literacy skills as they:
  • Label
  • Describe
  • Ask questions about materials and how children are engaging in play
• Loose parts play can also support social and emotional skills as children:
  • Build confidence in their skills
  • Practice social skills
  • Work on collaborative problem-solving

How can loose parts help children with disabilities to engage?

Loose parts allow children to:

• Test abilities safely and build confidence in what they can do
• Participate in the same ways as peers, making children feel less alone and more engaged
• Participate with peers of typical development and develop relationships
• Engage in active learning with joy and imagination

Loose parts play is open and free of rules or stereotypes, so children can focus on their strengths and possibilities rather than deficits. Adults can observe how children welcome and engage in learning and how they can individualize for them. Using loose parts can help adults shift from the role of solving children with disabilities’ needs to following their lead and seeing them as competent learners.

How can adults prepare for loose parts play?

Loose parts play is a fun way for adults to connect with children and help them explore their creativity and imagination. When adults don’t have a specific idea of how to play, they’re more likely to follow the child’s lead. This can be a bit scary at first, but it’s actually a great way to learn and grow. When adults embrace this uncertainty and play the role of facilitator, the possibilities for joy and exploration are endless!

Here are some tips to make loose parts play even more successful:

1. Give children plenty of time to adjust to the new materials and open-ended play.
2. Involve children in all parts of the process, from planning to inventorying parts to reflecting on what they’ve learned.

Regularly reflect on the effectiveness of loose parts play in engaging children and meeting learning goals.

Read About It

Designing Messy Play for Infants and Toddlers

Open-ended activities like pouring sand or water, smearing foam, and making patterns with loose parts provide children with opportunities to experiment at their own developmental level and pace. Messy play has numerous benefits! Read on to learn information to answer three prompts:

• “What does research say?”
• “What does it look like?”
• “Try this!”

Find easy-to-try tips to help families offer messy play experiences at home.

Check Out These Children’s Books on Loose Parts Topics.

Not a Box by Antoinette Portis

This title is full of so many imaginative ways to use a box and encourages children and adults to think outside the box! Be sure to check out other books by this author, such as Not a Stick or Not-a-Box City, for more inspiration. These titles are also great for preschoolers!

See, Touch, Feel: A First Sensory Book by Roger Priddy

This picture book encourages exploration and curiosity of the pages. This book is great for a lap sit with one or two children so they can explore the many textures of this book.

If You Find a Leaf by Aimée Sicuro

This book encourages children to use natural objects in their tinkering. If You Find a Leaf shows many examples of creative ways to use leaves in their art and play. Be sure to check out If You Spot a Shell by this author too!

Stick by Irene Dickson

What can you do with a stick? This imaginative book shows all the amazing and creative things that you can do with a stick. Consider brainstorming with your group about the things they would do with a stick.

Joy for the Journey

Gears, twigs, leaves — little children love the world. That is why they are so good at learning about it. For it is love, not tricks and techniques of thought, that lies at the heart of all true learning. Can we bring ourselves to let children learn and grow through that love? — John Holt