I thought I would share an adapted excerpt from my book the Original Learning Approach (pages 55-57)
If we stop looking at the loose parts as objects and start noticing them as active agents, we can begin to see the affordances, and the multiple relationships we can have with the stuff.
Wonder is one of the affordances.
When choosing resources to be used as loose parts, I feel it is important to spend some time reflecting on the sustainability of our choices. I want to take a moment to share with you the three pillars of sustainability, which are ecological, social and economic. Again, it is returning to the idea of multiplicity and complexity. It is not enough to just think of economic growth without thinking about the social and ecological impacts, just as it is not viable to make ecological and social changes without considering the economic reality. This thinking is needed in our early years settings, schools and homes too.
Resources need to be affordable but not at the cost of the environment or the social welfare of others.
Resources should be inclusive and not marginalise, exotify or add weight to negative stereotyping and othering.
Resources should negatively impact the environment as little as possible, taking into consideration how they are manufactured (energy used, materials used, and how those materials are sourced), how the resources are transported (how far, by what method), how resources are packaged, and how resources degrade, last, or can be reused..
Sometimes less is more, especially if it allows you to afford locally produced resources that last a long time and can be recycled, up-cycled and/or can decompose with minimal negative impacts on the ecosystem. I am not suggesting that you should get rid of all your resources that you have because they are not environmentally friendly, instead..
use what you already have,
reflect about future purchases,
be good enough, you don’t need to be perfect.
We also live in a time when consumerism is the norm and there is just so much, amazing, choice. And this is why it is so important to pause and take the time to reflect on whether the children really need this stuff? How will it contribute towards their play and learning? How will it impact the way you teach? What affordances do the resources have?
And then make an informed decision about whether or not to invest.
Here are some things to consider when selecting resources:
How does it connect to the children’s interests, research, explorations and play? (don’t just get stuff because you have seen others use it and it looks amazing - get stuff because it is relevant and meaningful in your own context)
What are the relationships between the stuff you want and the stuff you already have?- colour, shape, texture, size, weight, density etc (think about buying stuff that enhances what you already have rather than making fully functional stuff obsolete)
Does it allow heuristic (touch) explorations?
Does it allow other sensory exploration? Smell, sight, taste, sound?
What is the constructability of the stuff? Easy for everyone and all abilities/ages, multi-levelled, hard, for specific users? ( I think this is such a vital question to ask… because sometimes in our excitement we forget about whether stuff is inclusive or exclusive, or is yet another thing that is on the same level of difficulty as items already found. Actively seeking stuff that allows a wider range of exploration will open up the possibility for a diversity of abilities and disabilities)
What is the aesthetics of the stuff? How do we add beauty, wonder, harmony or creativity through the stuff provided? How does it inspire? (also think that the word aesthetic means feeling - as in anaesthetic is absence of feeling… so how does the stuff make the children feel, how do they contribute to the over all sense of the space?)
Does the stuff allow you to explore the ephemeral (lasting a short time)? For example, rainbows, ice, snow, light, shadows?
Does the stuff activate the whole body? Fine motor skills, gross motor skills, social, emotional and spiritual well-being. Big, heavy items that require collaboration and muscle building, not just small items easily managed by a single individual.
Does the stuff allow connections with the natural environment? Mud, straw, seeds, sticks etc
Is the stuff respectful? Not only from avoiding offensive and oppressive resources but also from the mindset of ableism - do the materials allow all children to play at their own developmental pace and follow their own interests?
This is far from an exhaustive list, and there are many great resources to find out more about loose parts, be inspired and to take the time to discover the wonder. When I was in Australia at the end of 2019 I learned as I visited settings together with Red Ruby Scarlet about the importance of not collecting natural materials to take back to use and instead to think that every single thing has it’s place in the ecosystem and that our consumption of nature means we are having an impact on the ecosystem. We should only take what we need and always leave a fair share for nature. Kimmerer recommends never taking more than half.
I am not suggesting that we should never touch or collect nature, but that we have an awareness of our impact on our local ecosystems. We want that balance of children building positive relationships with nature at the same time as building a string sense of responsibility. There are alternatives to collecting - such as taking photos and film, drawing on location, and creating small scale land art that does not interfere with the natural ecosystem and is respectful that the nature we use might be food, or home making stuff or… Things can be collected and returned at a later date.
The Myth of Material Rich Environments
Continuing with sustainability, I would like to bust the myth of needing to have a lot of stuff, loose parts, intelligent materials or however you like to frame the resources at your setting. As already indicated in this chapter, a material rich environment is not so much about the quantity of objects, or the number of different things you possess but about the vastness of the multiplicity. Fewer objects that give the children more options to access wonder, knowledge, risk and joy, that will engage their curiosity, imagination and permits the children to interact in a myriad of ways providing opportunities for listening to the materials and how they can challenge the children’s creative, cognitive and physical abilities, as well as time for reflection as to how the stuff can be challenged etc.
The richness comes from what the materials afford, not what you can financially afford.
As always - if you have a question, or something to add to the dialogue - please use the comment function