Let loose your imagination!

Loose parts for learning

Keeping with the flow of refreshing our spaces, we decided to upgrade our loose parts area outside. Whilst bringing the new loose parts out to the play area, the tamariki were very intrigued by what materials there were and what they were going to be used for.

  

What are loose parts?

  

They are materials that can be used in a variety of ways. They are open ended resources that have no specific purpose and children make them into whatever they can imagine.

 

Daly & Beloglovsky state loose parts are “Beautiful found objects and materials that children can move, manipulate, control and change while they play. Children can carry, combine, redesign, line up, take apart and put loose parts back together in almost endless ways” (2016).

 

 

Torben: "We're builders aye Joe." 

The value of loose parts…

Children, especially in their early years, are highly creative and full of imagination. Having an environment with loose parts allows children to invent, create and test their ideas develop their working theories.

Kace: "I'm trying to balance it."

Kace: "I need that there."

Kace: "Now a car seat, that's finished, now I'm making a car seat."

Bringing in new pieces has and will continue to allow the tamariki to explore the objects in a new way. When we offer loose parts these objects and materials allow children to be engineers and to be enveloped by their creativity and imagination.

“The unprescription nature of these loose parts in combination with children’s inventiveness and creativity results in them using the items in lots of different ways, enabling all ages, genders and abilities to find ways to play and socialise together” (The Childrens Scrap Store, 2018).

 

Alongside creating engineering opportunities it has also allowed for a lot of discussion and negotiations to occur, whether that is through what pieces children want to use or in how the structure will be created.

“The structures children create in Loose Parts Play are not permanent but are essentially fluid in their evolution: the process of designing, problem-solving, discussing, negotiating and building and talking is far more important than the finished product” (Perth and Kinross Council, 2009).

 

               Torben: "I got a robot arm."                            Alessia I: "This is the road."

                                                             Aiden: "I'm a Christmas tree."

“Children use loose parts to acquire, organize, and apply learning. By physically manipulating loose part, they learn about the objects and the relationships between them while developing problem-solving skills” (Daly & Beloglovsky, 2015).

Torben: "We can tie the wheels onto the board. We can attach that to the back. You can twist it under."

Isabel: "Some wheel cars have tyres."

 

Carter: "I'm making a go cart. Maybe if I twist tighter, maybe it will hold it cause it stick. This is gonna take long!" 

Children's thoughts on loose parts…

“Really good because when they are really good they stay together in harmony. I use them to build some things; I’ve been building a fashion show, I’ve been using them for a car” - Alessia I.

“It’s so cool, I builded a car with Torben. We had some wheels and wood and we had a steering wheel” - Isabel.

"I was just making something. I liked making triangles and they are prickly. They good for bending" - Aiden.

"I made a go-kart last time. Well it was too hard. I'm gonna build a go-kart now" - Carter.

Arohanui

Lauren.

What's the problem?

Problem Solving workshop 

Encouraging children to become great problem solvers.

A big thank you to parents today who took time out of their busy schedules to sit, eat cake, listen and share...we really enjoyed the opportunity to develop shared understanding of ways we can encourage children's problem                         solving strategies.

Problem Solving framework

1. What is my problem?

2. What is a solution?

3. What are more solutions?

4. What are the consequences?(in terms of safety, fairness and good feelings)

5. What is the best solution or choice?

6.  Am I using my plan?

7.  How did I do?

"Young children first need to develop a broad repertoire of possible positive solutions to choose from.  Then they can begin to understand that some solutions may have more satisfactory outcomes than others" (Carolyn Webster-Stratton).

 

Pulley system...fostering curiosity

Cordahl was playing with the window blind.  Watching the roller end as he pulled on the cord to make the blind roll up.  Then pulling on the opposite cord to watch the blind roll down.  Over and over, up and down, again and again.

I could tell by the look on Cordahl's face, the way his eyes lit up, that this was fascinating stuff for him.  The way that he repeated the action spoke of his need to work it all out.  

Cordahl is such a joy to watch in action...he is a real tutu fingers...he wants to know, he wants to understand and he's hands on and in there.  We describe this as a disposition of curiosity and this is important in terms of learning.

Carr describes dispositions as patterns of learning: patterns of behaviour, thinking and interaction.  Dispositions describe the child as a learner and supports children's own thinking to see themselves as "someone who...tries new things...keeps going when it gets hard...knows when to stop and ask...learns from making mistakes" etc. 

Introducing pulley systems as a provocation to foster curiosity...

            The allure of buckets hanging on pulley's from the rafters within the kindergarten were a temptation too irresistible for the children to pass by.                                                                                

Max is in a state of awe! 

 

This play and learning experience both excited and challenged children's thinking.  With encouragement they

showed persistence with a difficult task as they trialled ways to be successful with the challenge at hand.  They gained considerable satisfaction from their efforts too! 

Trying alternative strategies and pushing the boundaries of thinking...it is possible to overcome obstacles, work it out and achieve goals.

A look of wonder on the girls face as they work out how to raise the buckets using the ropes and pulley system.

Te Whariki states the importance of providing children opportunities to experience an environment where they learn strategies for active exploration, thinking and reasoning.  That children develop confidence in using a variety of strategies for exploring and making sense of the world...the confidence to choose and experiment with materials, to play around with ideas, and to explore actively with all the senses (Ministry of Education, 1996). 

Cordahl and Olivia are just loving the challenge of working it all out.

"The fundamental purpose of education for the 21st Century, it is argued, is not so much the transmission of particular bodies of knowledge, skill and understanding as facilitating the development of the capacity and the confidence to engage in  lifelong learning.  Central to this enterprise is the development of positive learning dispositions, such as resilience, playfulness, and reciprocity" (Claxton and Carr, 2002) and of course curiosity!