Take a look at our amazing Year 1 Architects in action! What a variety of creative bridges, palaces, campfires, tepees, hotels, resorts, homes and dens they have built!
One afternoon, Ms Shara brought in 3 big tubs of wood for the children to use to create structures. Working alone, in pairs or in a group, they thought, planned, explored, made decisions, built, changed their plans, started all over again and finally built a structure that they were proud of.
As you will see in the photos below, a selection of small and large wooden pieces, patiently balanced with precision, can create all sorts of wonderfully creative designs.
Coming soon! Watch out for the loose parts in our developing play area and don’t forget to ask your child about their experiences with them.
What exactly are loose parts, we hear you say?
Loose parts are materials that can be moved, carried, combined, redesigned, lined up, taken apart and put back together in multiple ways using imagination and creativity. They are materials with no specific directions that include items such as sticks, stones, logs, rocks, shells, buckets, pipes, sand, gravel, fabric, bark, pebbles, baskets, crates, cardboard, tubes, Popsicle sticks, tyres, ropes, boxes, containers of various shapes, etc….
Children are free to use the loose parts in any way they like. Children don’t always use equipment in the way the adult world expects them to – meaning that teachers and parents must be flexible in their expectations of the process and the outcome of the activity.
It has been found that children will choose loose parts over fancy, expensive toys. You may have seen this when your child opens birthday or Christmas presents and chooses to play with, or in the box for hours.
Loose parts were first proposed by architect Simon Nicholson in the 1970’s who believed that they empower our creativity and encourage open ended learning.