Loose parts magic

I've been looking for ways to enhance my students creativity and problem-solving skills in my outdoor-based preschool and kindergarden.  In my research amongst other blogs and educators, the hot way to do just that is through loose parts play.  Having collections of random objects, such as buckets, sticks, kitchen utensils, bowls, balls of different sizes, and planks and rounds of wood can be engineered and imagined into so many different things! 

I have to admit, I've used loose parts in the past.  I would meticulousely arrange them into little stations before the children arrived with my pre-determined ways that the children would use the objects.  There might be a music station, with an arrangement of buckets, bowls and utensils for banging, a building station with sticks, and a rolling station with balls of various sizes and halved PVC pipes.  But the children had little attention to give the parts and would wander between stations, and often resort to playing tag games. 

So I decided to change my tune.  I put out only one or two collections of loose parts materials, along with an art or craft project, to welcome the children as they arrived.  I also made clear that any of the materials at the side of the barn were available.  To my surprise, the ways that the children used the materials skyrocketed!  Here, two children making a delicious concoction in the "kitchen." 

 

Meanwhile, another two arrange wooden rounds and planks into their own obstacle course.   

 Just a few moments later, they shift their attention to building a tower. 

 They keep adding to it, and it's almost double the height of this child!

The preschoolers decided to use some planks and the picnic table as a makeshift slide. 

 With a little redirection, the used the plank of wood as a ramp for other objects, like this wooden round:

 a ping-pong ball,

 wooden block shapes

and round silver balls.  So much ingenuity!  And focus, too - look at the girl in the racoon mask, raptly watching the whole time.

First week of Forest Preschool!

I noticed two major signs of fall this week:  the temps were crisp and cool in the morning, and eager 3, 4, and 5 year olds started their first week of Forest Preschool!  Being outside the whole time, the children used their imaginations and took advantage of the forest to have a grand old time.

Our days always start with "Loose Parts Play."  As Forest Preschool teachers, we embrace the adage, "One man's trash is another man's treasure," and gather old kitchen utensils, sticks, rocks, old pallets, pretty much anything to see how the children will engineer them into new, creative uses and forms. 

Our sound wall.

Sorting, building and categorizing

Once we're out at Deer Camp, we eat snack and listen to a story.  On Thursday, we heard about the Green Man, who liked to leave mysterious pictures in the forest.  Often, these stories will influence our activity for the day. 

Snack and story

Collecting and counting apples for Green Man

Making our own Green Man

Taking a break and playing in the mud

We also looked for deer beds and, of course, had to make our own and sample them:

In the fields behind Deer Camp

Pine needle deer bed

Look!  I found a baby deer!

 A lot of fun can happen in the scope of the three hour morning.  We look forward to many more weeks of adventuring with these energetic explorers!

Poems by the river

Poems are big these days.  Montpelier's annual Poem City just wrapped up its amazing score of events, readings and poems in almost every storefront.  Recently, Vermont Public Radio highlighted poetry's ability to help kids learn to read.  (Click here for the full article.)  Poems have an ability to capture simple, sweet moments and complicated emotion in touching ways, and educators are tapping into this writing form with their students. 

We at Forest School are doing just that.  During the past two weeks of near-summer temps and sunshine, we Forest Schoolers have been taken refuge under a shady bridge on the North Branch of the Winooski River (our Nature Center's namesake!).  In between bouts of searching for shimmering rocks and sneaking up on crayfish and wood frogs, we wrote some poems ourselves!  Here are a few of our creations:

River Haiku, by SP
Flowing and growing
Is nice to put your feet in
Ducks love it so much

It's Low, by OS
And on the other side it's high
It's really slow
And its a bit warmer than last time
The sun hits it and it sparkles
It wooshes across to the other side
And the other side is really high
It's sandy and rocky
Can you guess who I am?
The river!

The River, by SP, OS, and LV
Flowing, gurgling and pretty designs
Cool and refreshing
Wooshing and rushing
Home for many creatures
Rippling and rocky, always flowing
It's big and long
It almost never ends
You can't swim in it because it's too cold
Music to my ears
My ducks would love to swim in it
When you step in the sand over and over,
you have to go in the water over and over

(Apologies for the lack of pictures - they'll be coming soon!!)