LATEST STORIES
Creative Thinking With Loose Parts
In the Tupu classroom (2-3.5 years) we have been exploring new approaches to the resources that are available to Tamariki. We have shifted towards more loose parts, which are predominantly open-ended, have no defined purpose, and can be everyday objects. These items can be used individually or together for a variety of play including role play and schematic-based play.
With these resources, tamariki have been encouraged to explore their creativity and imagination as they use trial and error to discover new ways to play with these resources. We have been introducing this play in many different areas of the curriculum, with items such as pompoms and stones, replacing wooden food in the whanau area, random items of different shapes, colours, and sizes added to the construction area, and unusual combinations of resources added to the water trough outside.
With each addition, tamariki have engaged in spontaneous play that has involved lots of imagining, inventing, and experimenting as they express their many thoughts and ideas with each other and make discoveries in their learning. With many opportunities each day to revisit this play and learning, tamariki have been growing complexity in their play and challenging their ideas of the world.