Loose parts - what are they?


Having a wide range of play materials enhances a child’s quality of play. We’ve created this simple checklist of natural or man-made materials that you might be able to salvage from local parks, shops or your own garage or recycling bins that you can add into their loose parts play. Why not ask the children and their carers to get involved? Encourage your little ones to use their own imagination and start to play in ways that ‘traditional’ toys do not allow.


Natural resources Man-made resources Loose parts checklist


Baskets Buckets Cardboard boxes / tubes Ceramic / glass marbles Crates Fabrics Flower pots Fluffy balls Foam tubes / squares Ice cube trays Kitchen utensils Kitchen pots and pans Pallets


Plastic bottles / tubing Pretend house / ice bricks Ropes Spools Tarpaulins Tyres Water channels Wooden buttons Wooden pegs


6 Shop Little Learners ypo.co.uk/earlyyears


Coal / charcoal Corks


Dried fruit Feathers Flowers Grass Hay/straw bales Leaves Logs Natural rope / twine Pebbles Pine cones Rocks and stones Sand


Seeds / nuts / conkers Shells Sticks Stumps Water Wooden pieces or blocks


Loose parts checklist


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