Coming back from christmas holidays, we decided we need some changes. Everything changes in toddlers class, we become older and our needs change, too.

So, we decided to accordingly adjust our surrounding, thus our classroom. At first we added more loose parts. Loose parts like wooden blocks, ribbons and clothes, items that can be used to create anything children may imagine.

Everyone got excited with this decision. Children immediately became interested in new material.

Elvira used two wooden blocks to ski and then put them together to form a skateboard! I was so excited by the way she adjusted her movement, depending on the sport she was supposed to perform!

Eleni turned ribbons into the big tongue of a whale.

Moreover, Bill turned to be a superhero with magic glasses made out of ribbons, too.

I think loose parts’ play introduced toddlers into a new way of thinking and playing, and I observed that from the very first day, in our “New classroom”!

(by Evangelia Nteka, teacher in toddlers’ class in Athens)