loose parts

Marker-cars

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Babies enjoy playing with cars or with anything else bearing wheels.

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One day they found in class their favorite toy cars, having markers taped on their bumper! They also found a large paper roll on the table. Kids instantly took the cars and started drawing on paper!

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By doing this, babies enjoyed playing but also improved their finger skills. Now, we maintain a permanent spot for this activity in class and our marker cars are always ready to take action!

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(by Anastasia Kouroubali, teacher in babies’ class in Athens)

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We are the robots (II)

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Everything started with Christos’ idea for a “rain-robot”. But what is the robot; Our hypotheses were verified by watching videos with robots in school ‘s projector room.

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We copied the moves of the robots

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We made the faces of the robots from recycled material

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We became the robots by wearing tin uniforms

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We split into groups and played a board game, cutting parts for a robot’s body

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We rolled the dice, found the corresponding member of the robot’s body and stuck it on the paper

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And so we made our robots!

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(by Eleni Triantafyllopoulou, teacher in post-toddlers’ class in Athens)

Not just a pizza box

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“Hey, what are you doing, again?”
Me: “I’m not doing anything, yet. I’m trying to think of what to do”.                                               “I know!!!! Why don’t you make something?”                                                                                                 Me: “Like what? It would be nice to make a table game. Any ideas?”

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“Yes! We can make streets, and pavements and street lights”!

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“Oh, and we can make a football field”!

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“And we can make a jungle!!!”                                                                                                                             Me: “A jungle?! Really?!”

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“Yes! We will paint in on the box! And we can put our animal toys in there and we can play in the jungle”!

So, now we’ve got three new table games in pre-K class!

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Always think twice and do not throw anything! Just let it to children’s imagination…

(by Spyridoula Patouna, teacher in pre-K class in Athens)

Our “new” toddlers’ classroom

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

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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.

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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!

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Eleni turned ribbons into the big tongue of a whale.

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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)

Creating a loose parts’ springboard!

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Andreas, a kindergarten kid, had the brilliant idea to create a springboard using loose parts, particularly old tires arranged in a pile and a pallet, serving as a ladder).

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First step was to collect all the items needed for his idea. Second one was setting up his construction and testing, while the final step was…. the actual game!

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In a few minutes, all pre-K and kindergarten class formed a long queue in order to jump off this makeshift springboard!

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Its one more time I see waste material (items with no practical use from an adult’s point of view) to become the center of children’s outdoor play. Kids only add imagination and ingenuity- so easy for them!

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(from Chrysa Vaitsi, cross-class projects’ coordinator in Athens school)