The Power of Loose Parts Play in OOSH Environments

Jackelyn Hewitt
Mar 24
3 min read

What Are Loose Parts?

Loose parts are open-ended materials that children can move, combine, redesign, pull apart, and use in endless ways. These items—whether natural or manufactured—are not bound to a single purpose, giving children the freedom to use them creatively and imaginatively. Whether it’s a pinecone, a piece of fabric, or a cardboard roll, each item becomes a tool for exploration, invention, and play.

🌈 Benefits of Loose Parts Play

Loose parts offer a wide range of developmental and learning benefits for children aged 5–12 years, especially when embedded meaningfully into play-based programs:

Encourages Imagination and Creativity: Children are empowered to invent, design, build, and problem-solve.
Promotes Collaboration and Communication: Shared materials naturally support teamwork, negotiation, and social learning.
Develops Fine and Gross Motor Skills: Through stacking, balancing, joining, and constructing.
Supports STEM Learning: Children explore mathematical concepts, scientific reasoning, and engineering principles in a hands-on way.
Fosters a Growth Mindset: Open-ended play supports trial-and-error learning and resilience.
Culturally and Age-Inclusive: Loose parts are non-prescriptive, allowing children of different ages, backgrounds, and abilities to engage meaningfully.
Enhances Sensory Experiences: Many loose parts invite touch, texture exploration, and kinesthetic engagement.

♻️ Sustainability and Loose Parts

One of the most valuable aspects of loose parts play is its deep connection with sustainable practice:

Many loose parts are recycled, upcycled, or found materials that would otherwise go to waste.
Using natural elements like stones, wood, and leaves helps children build a respectful connection to the environment.
Encourages children to become resourceful and environmentally conscious, recognising the value in everyday objects and reducing the need for mass-produced toys.
Promotes the 7Rs of Sustainability: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Respect, Reflect, Repair, Rethink—all through hands-on play.

🧺 20 Loose Parts Ideas for Children Aged 5–12 Years

Here are some versatile and engaging loose parts you can introduce to your program:

Bottle caps and lids
Shells and stones
Offcuts of wood
Bamboo rings and sticks
Fabric scraps and scarves
Cardboard tubes and rolls
Pegs and clips
Corks
Old keys and keyrings
Nuts, bolts, and washers
Pinecones, seed pods, and gum nuts
Metal jar lids
Small baskets and trays
Cable reels and string
Buttons and beads
Pieces of rope or yarn
Paper bags and cardboard boxes
Natural clay lumps or stones for sculpting
Ice cube trays, muffin tins, or plastic containers
Recycled CDs or DVDs

💡 Note: Always check loose parts for safety (no sharp edges, choking hazards, or toxic materials), and supervise accordingly based on children’s age and development.

🧩 Setting Up Loose Parts Across Your Program Zones

Loose parts can be embedded into every area of your service to enhance children's play, learning, and wellbeing. Here's how you can integrate them into each program zone:

🔨 Construction Zone

Expand beyond blocks by providing access to wood offcuts, nuts and bolts, bamboo tubes, rope, and tiles. Children can experiment with weight, structure, and balance—developing engineering skills through imaginative construction.

🎭 Dramatic Play / Home Corner

Enrich storytelling and role play using scarves, recycled keys, costume jewellery, baskets, fabric, and old phones. Children can transform these into props that reflect real life or fantasy—developing empathy, communication, and social understanding.

🎨 Craft and Art Zone

Offer corks, feathers, cardboard, buttons, and bottle caps alongside glue, scissors, and paint. These materials support open-ended art-making and creative expression while promoting sustainability through upcycling.

🔬 Science and Sensory Zone

Use seed pods, bark, shells, water-safe materials, and soil. Provide magnifying glasses, trays, and sorting containers to encourage observation, investigation, and classification—building early scientific thinking.

🌿 Outdoor Environment

Create a loose parts garden or nature kitchen with stones, mulch, pots, leaves, and water. Add larger parts like crates, pipes, planks, and tyres for physical construction. These promote collaboration, risk-taking, and nature connection.

🧘 Quiet / Reflection Space

Loose parts also have a place in mindful moments. Provide calming items such as smooth stones, sand trays, feathers, or patterned pebbles for mandala-making. This encourages regulation, focus, and creative downtime.

✨ Final Thoughts

Loose parts aren’t just “junk” or “extras”—they are powerful tools for supporting creativity, resilience, social skills, sustainability, and cognitive development. Whether you're enriching a construction area or creating a mindful reflection corner, loose parts provide endless possibilities.

Integrating loose parts into your program doesn’t require a huge budget—just an open mind, thoughtful setup, and commitment to seeing everyday materials as the building blocks of deep, meaningful play.