Free play in the yard for kindergarten kids by using loose parts….
loose parts
Our “new” toddlers’ classroom
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)
Creating a loose parts’ springboard!
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).
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!
In a few minutes, all pre-K and kindergarten class formed a long queue in order to jump off this makeshift springboard!
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!
(from Chrysa Vaitsi, cross-class projects’ coordinator in Athens school)
Life-derived Learning 