Loose Parts for Active Play & Learning

The theory of loose parts was first put forward by Simon Nicholson in the 1970s, and states that the creative potential of an environment increased with the number and variety of flexible materials within it. Loose parts are defined as materials that can be moved, carried, combined, redesigned, lined up, and taken apart and put back together in multiple ways. Loose parts can be natural or synthetic and manufactured. They are materials with no specific set of directions that can be used alone or combined with other materials. Loose parts can include a variety of simple equipment pieces. Think balls, hoops, ropes, cones, parachutes, scarves, bean bags. You can enrich your existing play environment with the addition of mobile and low cost active play equipment.

We traditionally use simple equipment to play structured games with rules, but I want you to think about letting the children use these open-ended materials for unstructured play, creating and designing their own challenges and games. What if you put out some balls, hoops, scarves, bean bags…

The children may become curious about what the materials are and how to use them.  They will then begin to explore the materials in different ways using their imaginations and strengthening their problem-solving skills. This leads to discovering that the materials can do many things. Discovery results in pleasure.  Pleasure results in repetition. This process of curiosity, exploration, and discovery is the cycle of learning.

Now, I could give you an awesome list of what the children came up with, but I’m not going to do that. I want to suggest that you observe and acknowledge their creations, celebrating their discoveries and experiments. Perhaps the next day add another loose part (i.e., a rope). The ideas of loose parts you can use is only limited by your and the children’s imaginations.

Benefits of Loose Parts:

• Enables children to manipulate their environment, to experiment, and to interact with materials
• Helps children actively construct knowledge from their own experiences.
• Encourages interaction among children and cooperative play
• Increases risk-taking, conflict resolution, and communication
• Deepens critical thinking and problem solving
• Promotes divergent and creative thinking
• More symbolic and imaginative play
• Supports gross and fine motor skills
• Developmentally inclusive

Give children the time, space, and an ample variety of loose parts to discover and create with.

Loose parts are all about active play and learning!

Product Recommendations:

High-Bounce Play Balls Set of 6 (BOUNCE)

Excellerations Brawny Tough Rainbow Parachutes (P6)

Brawny Tough Activity Hoops (HOOPSET)

Zebra Hoops Set of 6 (HULA)

Nylon Jump Ropes (RPST)

Rainbow Movement Scarf Classroom Pack (SCARFSET)

Excellerations Super Sensory Beanbags Set of 12 (COOLBEAN)

Colored Beanbags Set of 12 (CBB)

Colored Cones Set of 10 (SETC)

It’s Screen-Free Week! Let’s Play Outside!

April 29 – May 5, 2013 is Screen-Free Week, an annual national celebration coordinated by the Center for a Commercial-Free Childhood (CCFC), a national advocacy organization devoted to reducing the impact of commercialism on children.  Children, families, schools, and communities spend seven days TURNING OFF entertainment SCREEN media (TV, video games, computers, iPads, smartphones) and “TURN ON LIFE.”

Did you know that–

1. Preschool children spend “an astonishing average of 32 hours a week” in front of screens—and it’s more for older children. CCFC writes, “Excessive screen time is harmful for children—it’s linked to poor school performance, childhood obesity, attention problems, and the erosion of creative play (the foundation of learning) constructive problem solving, and creativity.”
2. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that children under 2 should watch NO TV and children age 2 and over should watch less that 2 hours per day.  But, on any given day, 29% of babies under the age of 1 are watching TV and videos for an average of about 90 minutes.  Twenty-three percent have a  television in their bedroom.
3. TV watching “rewires” a child’s brain, leading to attentional issues by the age of 7.  The “pace of TV is sped up” leading the young infant to believe that the “quick scene shifts of video images” is normal.  TV watching may over stimulate the child’s brain, “causing permanent changes to developing neural pathways.”  As a child is staring at the TV, these hugely important neural pathways are not being developed.
4. Developers of children’s apps for phones and tablets restrict screen time for their own children.  More than one of these developers said, “We have a rule of no screen time during the week, unless it’s clearly educational. On the weekends, they can play.  I give them a limit of half an hour and then stop. It can be too addictive, too stimulating for the brain.”
5. Some toddlers are becoming so addicted to iPads and smartphones that they require psychological treatment.  “They can’t cope and become addicted, reacting with tantrums and uncontrollable behavior when they are taken away.”  Young technology addicts (some as young as 4 years old) experience the same withdrawal symptoms as alcoholics or heroin addicts and are enrolled in a “digital detox” program that weans children off computer games and mobile phones.

This information is disconcerting, to say the least, and needs to be taken seriously.  I worry about our children’s social emotional development, ability to interact with others, language development, and their communication skills.  Research shows that children learn one-on-one from people, not from videos and television!

“The skills children will always need to thrive–deep thinking, the ability to differentiate fact from hype, creativity, self-regulation, empathy and self-reflection–aren’t learned in front of any screen. They are learned through face-to-face communication, hands-on exploration of the world, opportunities for silence and time to dream.”~Dr. Susan Linn, Director, Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood

Screen-Free Week reminds us to go outside and play.  How about committing to 30-60 minutes of active play each day.  Disconnect from all things electronic and do one of the following–

• Fly a Kite
• Chalk up a Hopscotch Game
• Take a Walk
• Kick a Ball
• Run, Jump, Climb
• Play Frisbee
• Ride a Trike
• Plan a Treasure Hunt
• Play Tag
• Shoot Some Hoops
• Set up an Obstacle Course
• Have a Dance Party

Discount School Supply® Product Recommendations:

Decorate a Kite, kit for 12 (KIDSKITE)

Colorations® Washable Sidewalk Chalk, 50 pieces (SIDEWALK)

Shapes Walking Rope (WALKROPE)

Kickball Kit (KICKBALL)

Flying Discs (FLYD) and Soft Flying Discs (SFDISC)

14′ ClassicRider® Trike (REDRDR14)

Excellerations™ Junior Hoop Ball Goal (HOOP3)

Obstacle Course Activity Set (OCSET)

Rainbow Dancing Wrist Bands (RNBW)

I Am Moving, I Am Learning!

This month I attended the “I Am Moving, I Am Learning” (IMIL) Facilitator Training in San Jose, CA. As a play and physical activity specialist, I totally embrace the IMIL program. It is a proactive approach for addressing childhood obesity in Head Start children and one of the BEST models I’ve seen for implementing a literal “call to action” on a very serious issue impacting our country. The program is also consistent with the objectives of the First Lady Michelle Obama’s “Let’s Move” initiative. While at the training, I thought, “I am learning (and moving!) so much!” and I wanted to share a few of my ah-has with you:

• Our children inherit more than our genes. They inherit our lifestyles. We need to be healthy and consistent role models for physical activity and nutrition. We have the first generation of children who will have a shorter life expectancy than their parents.

• “Approximately one in five children are overweight or obese by the time they reach their sixth birthday…” (White House Task Force on Childhood Obesity report to the President, May 2010.)

• As little as 10 minutes of physical activity (short bursts of moderate to vigorous physical activity) is beneficial to children and adults. It yields improvements in blood pressure, waist circumference, mood and attention span.

• Many children can be the “boss of their body” and “tell their muscles what to do.” In other words, they can self-regulate their movement behaviors and motor activity. We just need to provide the space, time and opportunities!

• There are many motor milestones (i.e., hopping, skipping, throwing, catching) in early childhood. We should make a career of celebrating early childhood milestones with children.

• We need to be intentional about how children play; we need to provide quality experiences facilitated by informed adults.

• Make physical activity FUN and children and adults will COME! (Plan and participate in the activities or games that you are facilitating.)

• Here are two great resources that I look forward to tapping into: http://www.choosykids.com/, http://www.headstartbodystart.org/

Physical activity and play is receiving a great amount of attention that we should all take to heart and body! Now, let’s get moving! Remember to keep checking back here to see the many games and activities that will be featured in this year’s Sharin’ with Sharron Blog on Movement, Play and Physical Activity!