Exploring Creativity and Loose Parts as Adults
While many of us think of the concept of
Loose Parts centered around children, the theory does not limit these
principles to the younger crowd. Simon Nicholson
asked, “Is society content to let only a very few of its member realize their
creative potential?” as he called for a need for more interaction with planning
and creating our spaces. Many adults enjoy exploring their creative side
through the use of variables. For many educators, that may include setting up
loose parts provocations, outdoor play spaces, etc. Doing this with the
children is even better.
Other
adults may explore variables through pushing the boundaries with art. When we
expand our definition of what a loose part is, we have even more options.
Nicholson wrote, “all children love to interact with variables such as
materials and shapes; smells and other physical phenomena, such as electricity,
magnetism and gravity; media such as gases and fluids; sounds, music and
motion; chemical interactions, cooking and fire; and other people, and animals,
plants, words, concepts and ideas. With all these things all children love to
play, experiment, discover and invent and have fun. All these things have one
thing in common, which is variables or 'loose parts'." Variables can be
magnetism, smell, fluids, music, fire, cooking and so much more—loose parts can
really be a part of any of our creative aspects of life!
I have been very impressed with the
creativity and call for action from the show, The New Creatives, on BYUtv. With a focus on creativity, the show highlights an artist,
gives a collaborative project, and ends with a challenge for us the viewers.
Each episode encourages us, “Don’t just watch stuff, make stuff” (Peterson
& Craig, 2017). One episode highlights Patrick Rochon, a light painter. Rochon uses
a variety of light sources like glow sticks and light wands, along with a long
exposure on a camera (or using an app on a phone) to capture the movement of
light over time. We immediately tried this and were able to bring the
experience of light as a variable to several festivals in our area. Adults and
children alike were mesmerized with their creations while also enjoying the
experimentation factor.
Another
artist on the show went back for an engineering degree and applied his artistic
bent to engineering concepts. He makes a ferrofluid (iron and oil) that is
responsive to both magnetism and movement. How cool is that? Once again, he was
playing around and having fun with variables or loose parts. Inspired by the
episode, we made magnetic exploration sets for adults in our family for
the holidays, creating ferrofluid in a jar, using iron filings in water, making
magnetic slime, and gifting strong magnets. The exploration factor was high on
each of these gifts! We shared the concept of magnetism as a loose part with others.
However
you choose to explore variables, be sure you are part of the creative process
as well, not just on the sidelines. Being creative feeds our soul and allows us
to support the children in our care as they experiment with variables as well. We all like to "play,
experiment, discover, invent and have fun"! As Nicholson defines
creativity, it is “the playing around with the components and variables of the
world in order to make experiments and discover new things and form new
concepts.” Have fun playing!
Resources:
Peterson,
J. (Writer), & Craig, A. & Peterson, J. (Directors). (July 26, 2017).
Patrick Rochon [Television Series Episode]. In Cook, J. R. & Cook, A. S.
(Producers), The New Creatives. Provo, UT: BYUtv
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