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Loose Parts and Learning on the Playground

by Anne-Marie Spencer
May/June 2013
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Article Link: http://exchangepress.com/article/loose-parts-and-learning-on-the-playground/5021170/

Have you ever given a child a gift, and then watched as they put the gift aside and played with the box, wrapping, and ribbon? If so, you have witnessed the power of loose parts in play, and the imaginative empowerment they can yield. The idea of loose parts and their unique benefits has begun to influence play space designers, manufacturers, and facilitators in a big way, although the concept is not a new one.

Loose parts as play terminology was first proposed back in the 1970s by architect Simon Nicholson, who believed that it is the loose parts in our environment that empower creativity. Nicholson suggests the beach as a great example; with sand, pebbles, shells, and water, children can play imaginatively for hours along the shore. The concept of loose parts in play dates back even farther, to the 1930s when Danish landscape architect Christian Sorenson imagined a ‘junk playground’ where children could shape and create their environment, and to the 1940s when he observ­ed that postwar children often preferred playing in dirt and lumber from post-war rubble, where they could design and build their own equipment.

What are Loose Parts?

Loose parts are materials that can be moved, ...

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