Luminaries and other indoor "loose parts"

Over the last couple of weeks, I have seen a surge in children's use of our classroom's loose parts.  I wanted to share some of what we have in our classroom. "Children can learn literacy, science, and mathematics joyfully through active play with diverse, open-ended materials." Loose parts offer a creative process that is the perfect venue for children to discover aesthetics, representation, create stories and explanations,  experience balance, explore patterns, and discover their own sense of self through the expression of their own interests and inspirations (among other things!).

I always think of outdoor stuff when I think of "loose parts".  Loose parts, to me, are any open-ended materials that can be defined by the children in their play.  Loose parts in our outdoor environment include plywood, tubing, tires, sticks, stones, pine cones, bottles and buckets, ropes, scrap wood, pool noodles.

Indoors, we try to include some loose parts as well.  Luminaries, dried oranges, pine cones, sticks, rocks, scarves.  Luminaries might be my most favorite-ist indoor material. Candle light brings a sense of calm and serenity and centeredness. I've used real candles at circle time before (for holidays, birthdays, and just because).

Here are some other loose parts in the classroom:

dried oranges in baskets

silicon muffin cups

felted stones, felt shapes, and empty drawers from jewelry boxes (all on a home-dyed scarf)

We have an entire shelf of natural items for use by the children: pine cones and pine cone animals, felted stones, gourds, dried magnolia buds, dried oranges, felted people and shapes, sticks, and rocks.  For a couple of weeks after setting up this shelf, I thought it was sort of a waste of space because the materials on it literally went untouched. However, one day, seemingly all of the children discovered how to use these completely open-ended materials in their play, and from that day forward, these items have been a staple in the children's dramatic play.

They made me a house

I. Love. Loose. Parts.

Having loose parts in the yard allowed the children to be guided by their imagination and inspiration to collectively build a house...for me!

It started with some bricks and a piece of plywood

When the frame was complete, that's when the ideas...and teamwork...really started to blossom

They built steps

and designated areas for rooms

Lots of dirt was intentionally spread to create a "yard"

And they did some container gardening as well

Inspired by all of the greenery, they made a "real" garden in the "front yard"

They made sure my dogs would have a great selection of dog toys in their new house

And the toys were sprinkled with dirt...

as were the stairs, for a very important reason, of course. I don't know what that reason was, but I trust that there was a good one.

They were busy children that afternoon.  

Extremely focused, cooperative, intentional, productive children.

I linked up at:

Foam tubes

Every now and then, I score at Home Depot.

Ever since swimming season has ended, the long foam pool noodles are nowhere to be found.  So I purchased pipe insulating foam for a few bucks and those things have brought hours of fun.

microscope

binoculars

predator eyes

handlebar extenders

And then there's the good old pool noodles, used here as elephant trunks and baby bottles:

I linked it up at:

Felted Stones

The inspiration and a tutorial

Ever since I saw the post about felted stones on I'm a Teacher, Get Me Outside Here, I have wanted to make some for our classroom.  I found orange and green wool roving at the fabric store and the children who were interested helped me make soft wool covered stones. I thought these would make great pumpkins!

I am loving natural open-ended props in the classroom.  We do have lots of children, especially girls, with a gatherer instinct (you know the ones who like to gather and hoard lots of things in boxes or bags). I believe there is something innate about this drive because it seems to repeat itself with various groups of kids.

In the photo below, they were still wet three days later.  Why? Because the children, after we made them, thought that the way we use them is to get them wet and soapy. They took the felting activity very literally...and I must not have explained it very well!

Using a felting needle, I added the pumpkin leaf and vine on top, although they look more like persimmons to me!

(Notice the playdough-filled balloons in the background? These are a great focusing tool for the kids who are wiggly at circle time, and they are a great therapeutic tool in general.)

More reasons to love PVC pipes

(as if you needed any!)

Define your mud play kitchen dining area:

A makeshift water spout:

Create an atelier:

As a wonderful "loose part":

And, of course, blowing bubbles:

I linked up with: