30 Plus Ways to Approach Loose Parts Play!

The term “loose parts” has grown in popularity recently as educators and parents have rediscovered this timeless approach to play. Loose parts play can be as simple as finding a stick and using it in play or it can take a more complex approach to open ended landscapes. The term “loose parts” became popular with the Theory of Loose Parts by Simon Nicholson.  He advocated for movable items in outdoor play settings in his work as a landscape architecture. Today, the term is fairly ambiguous with some guiding principles: open ended materials and lots of options. See a post about quotes about loose parts here and the basic premise and resources here.

Role of the Educator in Loose Parts Play

I met Chris Kiewra last year at the Leadership Institute National Conference, one of the collaborations Nature Explore puts together with the Outdoor Classroom Project. She is delightful and I was delighted to see this new research in the recent copy of IJECEE from the Natural Start Alliance I picked up at the International Children and Nature Network Conference.

What is the role of educators in loose parts play?

Caring, observant adults who support creative play and learning are an aspect of creativity that Kiewra and Veselack (2016) report, sharing a few key characteristics:
a. open-ended questions that further scientific inquiry
b. ensure long blocks of time for deep exploration
c. keen observers of children’s play to see and document learning
d. close observation of children’s explorations
e. strategically support children’s processes and thinking to enhance learning
f. physically in proximity of children
g. offer observations
h. follow children’s lead without taking over
i. trust children to make decisions
j. dialogue with children to promote taking other perspectives and learn about problem-solving
k. facilitate and scaffold children’s learning
l. model and support a sense of wonder
m. set up learning areas in outdoor classroom
n. make sure an abundance of loose parts are available
o. provide learning support materials (clipboards, paper, pencils, other loose parts)
p. freedom and flexibility to use spaces and materials in unintended areas or manners

What is our role as educators in promoting creative or loose parts play?

“The teacher’s role is critical to supporting children’s skill development in self-initiated experiences in a Nature Explore Classroom. The teacher needs to be physically in proximity of children, offer observations, ask thought-provoking questions, follow children’s lead without taking over, and trust children to make decisions.” (Veselack, Cain-Chang & Miller, 2010)

“Teachers bring a selection of equipment and play matierals outside from storage sheds and classrooms daily based on several factors: teachers’ observations of and response to children’s needs; children’s articulation of their needs or initiative in bringing items outdoors themselves; staff members consideration of the weather and other factors.” (Kiewra & Veselack, 2016)

Great article! Research coming out of Natural Start Alliance 

Read the full article here. Join us for discussions on the topic in Loose Parts Play on Facebook! 

Out on a Limb: Benefits and Risks of Tree Climbing

Tree climbing is such a fun and challenging activity for many children around the world. As I started noticing more restrictions on tree climbing in parks and other places, I brought the topic to my research team, Suzanne Levenson Goldstein and Tricia Rosengarten, to see if they would like to investigate the topic in more depth. They were hooked!

In February 2016, we started our journey. We did preliminary research, started contacting organizations, and developed a survey that launched in May 2016. What did we find? Study participants are really passionate about tree climbing! Below is a copy of our poster session used for the International Children & Nature Network 2017 conference. Our research paper is published at International Journal of Early Childhood Environmental Education.

Nurturing Nature: The Educator's Role in Nature Play

Chris Whitmire and I recently did a presentation on Nurturing Nature: The Educator's Role in Nature Play. We had three objectives for our training:

We started with a continuum. How much time are providers spending outside? 

We allowed educators to consider what is nature play, sharing their own definitions on the topic. We shared the following definition: 

"Natural Play challenges and fascinates children and teaches them about the wonders and intricacies of the natural world while they explore and play within it. It is intuitive and unstructured, constructive (or deconstructive), and timeless, encouraging interaction with natural materials, features, indigenous vegetation, and creative landforms. Natural Play is often a blend of materials and experiences to create purposely complex interplays of natural and environmental objects." 

                                                          – Oregon Natural Play Initiative Definition of Nature Play

Oregon Natural Play Initiative also shared 5 distinct types of nature play, including the following:

Think of playgrounds, activities with a specific end. 

Think of taking advantage of the moment, unexpected natural play, using the landscape as a partner in play. 

A child is building confidence in being out on their own, taking more risks, and judging safety measures. 

Through informal and more formal education, nature becomes the subject and tool for learning. 

Daily nature includes the general, every day learning that happens in our backyards, while running errands, and by noticing nature around us. 

There are many benefits to nature play, or outdoor free play, such as the suggestions listed in this info graphic from Caileigh Flannigan, an outdoor play advocate. 

Kenny Balantine from Nature Kids Institute recommends how often we should engage with the wild, advocating for daily outdoor nature play. 

We also looked at the barriers to nature play and brainstormed ways to get around these for outdoor play, with this infographic about Pathways to Play: Overcoming Nature Play Barriers.

This video by Nature Play (a beautiful film!) gives a good intro narrated by Richard Louv to the movement toward nature play:

We moved into developing a sense of wonder at this point as we debriefed watching the clip, sharing the following quote by Mary Paleologos. 

Once again another continuum to help us understand our staff better. 

The definition of wonder!

How comfortable do educators feel in facilitating nature play?

We moved into direct experiences and inquiry based learning as part of nature as an educator.

We had an experience to first just describe what we saw in the picture. Later we passed sweet gum balls out and investigated them up close! What a richer experience to have real experiences with real nature!

Rachel Carson's Sense of Wonder is a great example of a knowledgable person who could set aside her own agenda in order to explore the natural world to explore nature with her nephew. A new version of her book is coming out, though I've also enjoyed the earlier copy.

At this point, we watched this video by Eastern Connecticut University on inquiry based nature investigations. Great modeling as nature as educator. They have a whole archive of good quality videos  on outdoor investigations and such.

What are the teachers doing in this picture? We all may have been here at one point. Becoming more engaged through our various roles as educators can yield a more fulfilling experience for us and the children. 

What are the roles of educators in nature play? We have many varied roles that will depend on the type of nature play. 

As educators, we are the gatekeepers for children experiencing the outdoors and nature in general. Enhancing our spaces can make a huge impact. I like the natural playscape or outdoor classroom approach to this, though also promote finding some time with wild nature as well. 

Additionally, having a few tools and resources can really enhance our experience. A first aid kit is usually a basic that we should always have as there is a risk in all our learning. Guide books, magnifying glasses, ideas for nature hikes, marking tools (colored pencils, paper, clipboards, etc.), and more can quickly add to our experience outside. 

There are many ways to document the learning that happens through nature play. Dimensions Foundation, a partner of Nature Explore, provides training on nature notes, like the example in the left. Many use Facebook or other social media posts to detail the learning that is happening like the example on the right from the Natural Beginning Program. They have a wonderful nature based early childhood program! I also will take out a clipboard with labels or sticky notes for notes on individual children that can be transferred to their files later. Inquiry based books have observation sheets in the resources often as well. Here is another video that looks at documenting learning. Video and photos can be an important part of this process. There are more apps moving toward an easier flow for documenting learning in early childhood. 

Facebook Groups:

Loose Parts Play 

ICAN Learn Outdoors

IN Nature

INPAWS

Birding in Indiana

Teaching Resources:

Growing Up Wild

Project Learning Tree Early Childhood Environmental Experiences

Nature Explore

Fostering a Sense of Wonder During the Early Childhood Years

Natural resources providers- state, county, and city parks, birding groups, SWCD, EEAI, IMN, etc. 

Ruth Wilson really delivered with the Fostering a Sense of Wonder during the Early Childhood Years. While a bit older of a resource, she has a new book out called, Learning is in Bloom. She is a great inspiration in this field. So great to meet her in person last year! This can be a way to assess where we are in our journey as a classroom to encourage nature play, inquiry, and wonder in early childhood!

Throughout the presentation we had time to share examples, converse, and work toward inspiring solutions for more nature play! 

Feel free to contact Chris or myself with any questions or comments.

This may contain affiliate links. 

Questions and Answers for Using an Outdoor Classroom

I recently worked with a great group of educators in a beautiful outdoor space. We worked on cultivating our own sense of wonder, mapmaking of the space, and briefly looked at planning for the use of the Outdoor Classroom. They sent me these questions before our time together. I'd love to hear how you might answer these questions as well, as there are always many "right" answers for a situation. I like seeing a variety of perspectives. 

Research Articles on Loose Parts Play

I decided to work smarter, not harder! I'm researching academic articles on loose parts play and realize that many of you are also are curious about this topic. Why not document some of what I am finding here so it is easier to find? I'm not going full APA formatting for you yet, but here are some useful studies and articles. If you look at these in Google Scholar, you can also see what articles cited these, which is helpful in getting the full breadth of the topic. I went through 35 pages of results for "loose parts" to find some we can all access online. As I read through these, I will try to update with information relevant from each, strengths, etc. I chose to organize this list by recency, with more recent articles up front. There are more available, but I am trying to choose ones people can actually access. :-) If you find others that may be applicable, please share!

Houser, Roach, Stone, Turner, and Kirk. (2016). Let the children play: Scoping review on the implementation and use of loose parts for promoting physical activity participation.

Fairy Wings and Wild Things

What fun is it to have a fairy festival?!? We enjoyed our day this last May, though we were working with a pretty enchanting space to begin with. Any woods or natural spot will work! Photo by Amanda Gobble--she has a great eye and good technique!

A family that owns Pop-Up Handicrafts and Dynamic Audio Design in The Old Bag Factory in Goshen adopted a secluded spot on Wild Things Way to invite the fairies, gnomes, and little people that may enjoy the space. I loved their ingenuity, knowing it took tremendous effort to pull it all together. They made swings, ladders, signs, doors, a pond, little houses and more! 

The repurposing was great, using many recycled items from The Depot and other spots. This spot was available to the public for many months, with slight adjustments and changes each time visited. We chose a spot on a less used trail, keeping it a little quiet to protect it a bit.

They also used existing elements to blend it into the surroundings. We cleared the area, pulling out or moving plants, lining the area with logs to define the space. It took a fair amount of work on their end to pull it together. We decided to bring some delicate items in the nature center on a check out system to help protect them a bit more.

I LOVED all the details of this labor of love! 

We had a couple of work days prior to the festival, with great helpers pulling it together. We planned a few basic activities, including dress up opportunities. We had fabric from a nature preschool momma and some felt from my momma. We made these into simple tunics with a neck hole and rope or a sash for a belt. As families arrived, they could make fairy wands or wild thing sticks, with ribbons, yarn, and more readily available. 

Inside the center we had several activities such as face painting, making flying fairies, and create your own fairy or wild thing. For the wind tunnel, we had straws, pipe cleaners, tissue paper, feathers, coffee filters, and glue. They could created and experiment to their heart's content. 

We had baskets of pinecones, clothespins, feathers, raffia, popsicle sticks, goggly eyes, acorn caps, fabric, and other materials, appreciating the donations from Joyce and others. Each fairy or wild thing ended up unique and different, just as the creators are!

 

Outside, we had a fort building spot with tulle, outdoor fabric from Nature Explore, clothespins, clamps, rope, and lots of sticks. This is always a favorite spot with fort making and creating a private space. 

We also had a fairy soup station--I was a bit surprised how much into it the boys were; however, it did involve mud! I admit that I actually had a taste of the soup as they were so proud of the concoction. It was a bit gritty! :-) 

Nearby, we found a tree frog! :-) 

We had a nature art section with inspiration from Chelsey Bahe from Nature Play Nanny. I contacted a few local florists and was so appreciative of Camille's Florists in Bristol for donating some odds and ends over Mother's Day weekend. It was perfect!

 

I loved see in what all they created! 

 

The digging area is always a hit, too!

 

We took a parade walk in our fairy and wild thing costumes (prizes for costumes, too!) out to Wild Things Way, complete with music instruments. We also had a scavenger hunt finding the bejeweled flowers Amanda donated along the trail. 

We checked out the fairy house and gnome hut entries, finding dragon dens, too! 

Everyone was so creative--we really enjoyed these! 

What cool details!

We even saw fairy spots in our block building area and in chalk! Loved it! What a fun day! I appreciate all the help of Amanda, Amanda, Joyce, Linda, Teresa, Vicci, Julissa, Sasha, Clover, and others who made this day possible! Long live fairies and wild things!