Loose Parts
Students should be able to explore their interest and creaivty with a variety of materials. Loose parts allows children the ability to do was they please with no expectations and no restrictions. Towards the end of my practicum I offered children a variety of loose parts to explore their interest.
Students had many different loose parts avlible to the whiel they made their self- portriats. Students were given no directions or expectations, just different materials to explore,
Tori made different faces at the mirror while she played with the different loose parts.
Lola used blue felt to represent water for her creation of a beach.
The different loose parts offered at the table for children to use to create their own ecosystems.
Troy compared the different materials offered. He used his five senses to compare the objects. He said, "this one feels scratchy."
“This is scratchy.” Troy said holding a loose part. “A loose part is an environment will empower our creativity” (Better Kid Care). Loose parts hold opportunities. Loose parts allow children the ability to explore their what their environment has to offer.
Children come in contact with pine cones every single day and they never seem to explore the pine cone’s features, but when children come face to face with a pine cone in an unexpected environment children seem to be captivated by the features. Children use their sense to test the material they are faced with. Loose parts are a great opportunity for children to test their creativity.
During my practicum I offered a few mirrors and a variety of loose parts. The idea was for children to create their own self-portraits with the guidance of the mirror but the children took it to a different place. The children compared the materials and made pictures with the materials. Lola made a beach using the felt as water, yarn fish, buttons as sand and shells as shells. Lola was able to explore her creativity with random objects. She compared the items textures, shapes and sizes to label them as objects they could represent. After Lola created her beach I took the opportunity to extend her thinking by later offering her paper to draw her thoughts on the beach she created. Lola said, “the soft ball is the water.” She was referring to the blue felt she used as the ocean water.
Loose parts come with no rules, no expectations and no restrictions. Loose parts don’t require much and are simple to acquire. As a teacher, it is important to offer random items with no label. Think of the possibilities each item can be when they are place in an environment they typically aren’t in.
Loose parts: What does this mean? (Better Kid Care). (n.d.). Retrieved from https://extension.psu.edu/programs/betterkidcare/early-care/tip-pages/all/loose-parts-what-does-this-mean