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Goal APL-1: Children show curiosity and express interest in the world around them.

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Goal APL-1: Children show curiosity and express interest in the world around them.

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Show pleasure in new skills and in what they have done. APL-1h

Watch what others are doing and often try to participate. APL-1i

Discover things that interest and amaze them, and seek to share them with others. APL-1g

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1. Patterns

2. Emotions

3. Expressions

4. Movement

5. Relationships

6. Laughter

7. Understanding

8. Mathematical Thinking

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1. What does this pattern or shape remind you of?

2. How does this material make you feel?

3. How many shapes could we make with these items?

4. How could this object change?

5. What other items could create this shape or pattern?

6. What do the colors of the objects remind you of?

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Leaves can be used to make patterns and shapes. For example: a green leaf followed by an orange leaf followed by a green leaf can create a pattern for the child to identify.

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Stones can be used to identify colors and create more complex patterns. Stones can also provide many versatile textures for the child to touch.

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Pinecones can help the child to relate shapes to other things in nature including things such as trees, triangles, porcupines, etc.

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Buttons can help a child identify colors as well as patterns. Buttons can also be helpful for demonstrating the circle shape and counting the holes in the buttons.

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Beads can be used for patterned bracelet making. The child can create a pattern of their liking and turn it into a beaded bracelet for them to wear.

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The child can used safety scissors with help and and create their own shapes with their favorite colors.

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Children can use these to identify shapes on their own or create their own shape or structure such as a bridge.

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Twigs can be great for children to feel and students can determine a pattern with twigs based on length or girth.

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Safety scissors would be used for the paper cut-outs.

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This is the same idea as the paper cut-outs but provides another texture for the child to use and feel as well.

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Children will explore patterns and sequences. They will be taught how they can fix problems easily and this will help them realize that problems are not as big as they may seem and there is always a way to figure it out.

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Message in a Backpack: Helping Your Preschool Child with Computational Thinking

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Use the following tips to build on your preschooler's math skills-including counting, pattern recognition, and sequencing to solve problems-to support computational thinking.

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Children will learn to find love by discovering patterns all around them. This helps them develop reasoning skills through identifying patterns.

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Pattern activities can easily be implemented into the day in natural ways with children.

Children love to find patterns in the world around them. Patterns help children understand change and that things happen over time. Patterns are things that repeat in a logical way, like vertical stripes on a sweater. They can be numbers, images or shapes. For example, a pattern can be made out of plastic animals alternating between two and four legged animals or animals that swim versus animals that fly.

Patterns help children make predictions because they begin to understand what comes next. They also help children learn how to make logical connections and use reasoning skills. Patterns can be found everywhere in our daily lives and should be pointed out to small children. "The sun came up and went down and then the moon came up and went down."

Do not underestimate what a child is capable of learning in all academic areas including math. Toddlers can act out patterns such as jumping to the left, then right, then left and then right. They can observe repeating patterns like a block standing, block lying flat, block standing, block lying flat, etc. They become able to copy simple repeating patterns, such as green, white, green, white and so on. Eventually, they will be able to make their own simple patterns.

Michigan State University Extension provides the following ideas to extend exposure to patterns with young children:

Use math talk: "Let's clap to the beat of this song." "Your sweater has stripes. Red, blue, red, blue, red, blue..."

Read books and sing songs and lullabies with words and phrases that repeat.

Have a consistent routine.

Describe what you see the child doing. "I put the blocks in the pail; you dumped them out; I put blocks in; you dumped them out."

Books that teach patterns:

"Ten Little Rabbits" by Virginai Grossman

"Max Found Two Sticks" by Brian Pinkney

"Close, Closer, Closest" by Shelly Rotner

"Nature's Paintbrush: The Patterns and Colors Around You" by Susan Stockdale

Other resources from the National Association for the Education of Young Children:
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Teaching patterns to infants and toddlers

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Pattern activities can easily be implemented into the day in natural ways with children. Children love to find patterns in the world around them. Patterns help children understand change and that things happen over time. Patterns are things that repeat in a logical way, like vertical stripes on a sweater.

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Engages the child in open-ended play and gives them opportunities to identify shapes, colors, and patterns with the objects they are provided with.

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Play is undoubtedly the basis of healthy development in children. The type of play preschoolers engage in dramatically impacts their future cognitive, social, emotional, and physical skills. Loose parts play, where children can manipulate various objects and materials, develops creativity and critical thinking, and problem-solving skills in preschoolers.

Educators and parents can support preschoolers' holistic development by facilitating loose parts play and incorporating activities that give children opportunities to create and explore new ideas. This guide will discuss the concept of loose parts play and its benefits in more detail and we'll also elaborate on activities that encourage loose parts play.
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What is loose parts play?

Loose parts play involves objects or materials that can be manipulated or moved and provide children with endless opportunities to build during playtime. Children who play with loose parts are encouraged to use their imagination and creativity.

Architect Simon Nicholson wrote about his theory of loose parts in 1971 which emphasized the idea that children naturally manipulate open-ended materials, or loose parts, during investigative play experiences, developing skills such as problem-solving and critical thinking. In the years since, many educators have incorporated the idea of loose parts play into their play-based curriculum.

Parents and teachers can provide objects and materials suitable for their children's age to encourage loose parts play. Children can use beads and pipe cleaners for an art project, explore a sensory bin with sand and shells, or use wooden blocks to build a tower.

What are the benefits of loose parts play?

Loose parts play is a fun and interactive way to engage children in learning. Below, we elaborate on the benefits of loose parts play for preschoolers:

Supports critical skills development

The various stages of play are very important to a child's overall growth and development, helping them learn essential skills they can build upon as they grow. The open-ended nature of loose parts play helps children develop cognitive skills, especially critical thinking and problem solving skills as they manipulate, explore, and experiment with different materials, objects, and shapes, either alone or in a group setting. Children can learn more about how the world works, try different solutions to problems, and explore new ideas. For instance, when playing with wooden blocks of different sizes, children can manipulate them any way they like to form towers or other structures.

Playing with loose parts also helps promote motor skills development . As children learn to thread beads on a string or scoop sand with a cup, they are strengthening their coordination skills and ability to control their muscles and body movements.

Encourages creativity and independence

When children are presented with various objects and materials to use in unlimited ways, they are provided with endless opportunities to be creative and use their imagination. Having no set rules to follow allows children to express their own ideas and plan out solutions to problems. This can also instill a sense of control and independence as they are in the lead, manipulating and combining objects in different ways.

Uses economical and easily accessible materials

Loose parts play utilizes everyday materials and objects you already have in your classroom like beads, pipe cleaners, and wooden blocks. This type of play also encourages the use of materials you might otherwise discard, such as cardboard boxes or empty toilet paper rolls, giving them new life as a play material. Loose parts can also be easily found outside in the form of leaves, pine cones, flowers, and sticks. These materials might seem simple, but they can provide countless possibilities for children to be curious and creative.

Loose parts play examples

There are plenty of materials you can use for loose parts play. Below are some examples you can consider:

Small loose parts examples

Buttons

Beads

Clothespins

Pebbles

Pipe cleaners

Straws

Bottle caps

Pom poms

Marbles

Corks

Flowers

Leaves

Sticks

Dice

Dominoes

Popsicle sticks

Shells

Feathers

Pine cones

Large loose parts examples

Buckets

Baskets

Crates

Cardboard boxes

Wooden blocks

Balls

Branches

Plastic bottles

Toilet paper rolls

Tin cans

Jars

Cups

Egg cartons

Ice cube trays

Kitchen utensils such as tongs or whisks

Rolling pins

Loose parts activities

Below are some loose parts play ideas you can consider when promoting this type of play for preschoolers.

Building towers or structures

Provide recycled materials like cardboard boxes, egg cartons, or plastic bottles that children can use to build towers or structures.

Painting with leaves
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Have children gather different leaves from outside to create a painting with different colors and shapes. Allow children to dip the leaves into different colors of paint and press the leaves onto white paper.

Seasonal sensory bin

Create different sensory bins based on the seasons as a way for children to explore using their senses. For a fall theme, add leaves, pine cones and small pumpkins to a bin. For spring, fill a container with green shredded paper and add different kinds of real or plastic flowers, and toy insects or bugs.
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Sorting sizes
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This activity is a great way to develop fine motor skills and cognitive abilities. Provide children with a bucket of different sized rocks or stones and have them sort the rocks by size into small, medium, and large piles.
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Making letters

Help improve preschoolers' letter recognition skills by having children form letters using loose parts like buttons or beads. This will not only help children learn the shape of various letters, but it also strengthens fine motor skills that children will need for future writing.

Grouping shapes
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Children can explore different 3D shapes through loose parts play. Have children sort small puzzle pieces or wooden blocks by shape. Start with easily identifiable shapes like squares, circles, and triangles and then move on to more complex shapes.

Creating art
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Provide beads, straws, toilet paper rolls, pipe cleaners, pom poms, and popsicle sticks and let your children freely create.

Adding loose parts to water

Let children discover what happens when you add loose parts of various shapes and sizes to a water table or container. You can explore topics like buoyancy and which items sink or float.

Incorporate loose parts play activities into your daily lesson plans. Download our daily lesson plan template and customize to suit your teaching style and children's needs.

Conclusion

Loose parts play is essential for children's development, as it helps to build important physical and cognitive skills and promotes creativity and problem-solving. Provide plenty of open-ended materials to encourage loose parts play and let children create and explore on their own terms.

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Loose Parts Play in Preschool: A Guide for Educators and Parents

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Loose parts play involves materials or objects that children can move and manipulate to learn about how things work. Discover the many benefits of loose parts play, including how it can help your preschoolers develop strong creative and critical thinking skills.

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Allows the child to discover shapes, textures, colors, and more through nature-based objects. This will broaden their senses and their minds.

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Sensory activities are a great way to enhance learning by introducing elements of play, discovery, and creativity into the classroom. Explore the world outside or bring the outside in with these nature-based sensory activities.

You'll find something for every discipline, from math to science to art. Continue reading to the very end to learn how to plan activities that meet the sensory needs of all students, including those with special or diverse needs.

If you plan to try some of these nature-based sensory activities, consider using the following activities found in PLT's Trees & Me: Activities for Exploring Nature with Young Children to help young learners ages 1-6 explore nature using their senses.

Activity 1: The Shape of Things - Children search for the shapes and colors that define both our natural and built environments.

Activity 2: Sounds Around - Children explore the sounds of nature and imitate them using their own voices and instruments that they make together.

Activity 3: Tree Textures - Children explore trees and their parts using the sense of touch.

Activity 4: Follow Your Nose - Children explore trees and tree parts using their senses of smell and taste.

Remember to look at the Group Experiences for each activity for ideas on how to get students exploring their senses through music, movement, and other activities that encourage conversation and interaction.

Adapting Activities for Students With Different Sensory Needs

There are ways for all children to enjoy nature, including students with special needs. Consider these tips to make these activities even more inclusive for every student:

Use sound-reducing headphones for activities that may be loud for kids sensitive to sound.

Adapt activities as needed. Some students may need more time or additional modeling to complete activities. Some may benefit from fewer steps. The objective is learning at each student's level.

Reward students with preferred sensory activities if they participated in a challenging activity. The reward could be time spent at a sensory wall or with a favorite classroom item.

Consider scaffolding ahead of activities that may prove challenging for students with sensory needs. Enlist the help of occupational therapists or speech-language pathologists at your school site if available.

Maintain a safe, inclusive space! Create opportunities for creative groupings. Students with classroom aides or paraprofessionals should be integrated with other student-led groups rather than separated.

Nature-Based Sensory Activities

Consider pairing these nature-based sensory ideas with these activities from PLT's Explore Your Environment: K-8 Activity Guide to engage students in exploring their environment and adapt activities for different learners with differing abilities:

Peppermint Beetle - Students explore their sense of smell and discover why smell is important to animals, including beetles and humans.

The Closer You Look - though students may be very familiar with trees, they may not have thought much about the actual structure of a tree. In this activity, your students will go explore the sensations of sight and touch while taking a closer look at trees and their parts.

Musical Forest

Make the forest sing with activities that bring classroom instruments and other materials outside for a nature concert. Create your own water xylophone that doubles as a STEM experiment and teaching tool about how water levels change sounds and pitch. Decorate a tree with small bells and cymbals, or tie the same to walking sticks that jingle when they are shaken. Get creative with ways to use nature as your instrument.

Exploratory Nature Walk

Take the kids on a scavenger hunt for different textures. Show them examples of items they may find that are rough, smooth, hard, soft, even spikey before sending them out to find some on their own. Differentiate between textures and shapes, as the concept can get confusing for younger children. The activity can turn into a fun sorting activity once you're back in the classroom.

Be sure to keep safety in mind when exploring by touch outside. Check areas for poison oak or ivy, thorns, or anything that could scratch, prick, poke, or cause harm to students.

Tactile Wall

Tactile walls aren't only great for sensory rooms as a tool for sensory stimulation. They're also a great way to display items found on nature walks for continued learning in the classroom! Use them for lessons on textures and senses and to create a space where touch and physical exploration is encouraged. Leave the wall open during free-play for students to participate at their leisure.

Nature Sounds

Take the students on a nature walk and record the different sounds you hear. Play the sounds back in the classroom and see if they can identify the birds, crickets, crunchy leaves, and babbling creeks from your casual afternoon field trip. It can also serve as background noise for in-class meditation activities or periods of transition throughout the day.

Smelling Bottles

Repurpose empty herb bottles or other plastic jars as smelling bottles. Put different objects in each jar, but make sure the students can't see what's inside. Tree bark, fresh and dry leaves, cut grass, and a variety of flowers would all work quite well. Use whatever can be found in their immediate environment. Ask the students what they smell using descriptive words. This is a great team activity if you're working with a larger group.

Flower Petal Painting

Blend lessons on color, texture, and shapes with art in a flower petal painting activity. Use flowers that are readily available outside your classroom. (This makes an excellent springtime or Mother's Day activity when flowers are more likely to be in full bloom.) Urge your students to get creative with patterns and color combinations to make art prints that are truly unique.

Nature Color Wheel

Create color wheels using paint samples and clothespins and have students match things they find outside to their color wheels. Make sure to choose colors that are represented in your environment, especially if you're working with a season that may not be as colorful. A fun twist is returning to the project again when the seasons change. See if the kids can find examples of items they found from one season to the next.

Mirror Exploration

Mirrors and reflective surfaces are already a great way to teach kids about self-awareness, multi-step directions, recognizing feelings, and light and reflections. Bring nature into it by placing a variety of items found in nature on sturdy, unbreakable reflective surfaces. Explore ideas like symmetry and differences with color and light with natural items.

Sensory Bags

Create sensory bags using leaves and other natural materials like wildflowers that won't poke holds through the sealed plastic bags. For your youngest set, fill them yourself, adding biodegradable glitter or larger chunks of confetti to add color to their sensory experience. Older students may want to create their own with items they've found themselves, or play an "I Spy"-style game with what they see inside.

Check out these ideas for more leaf activities.

Sensory Bins

Create sensory bins that inspire imaginative play, turn-taking skills, and motor development. Limiting play to bins keeps classroom spaces tidy, too, especially if you add dirt, water, or grass to these nature bins. Sensory bins are a great way to introduce little ones to the changing seasons, too. A nature sensory bin in the spring will likely look-and feel!-quite a bit different than a winter bin.

Sorting Activity

Tap into students' sensory skills and introduce them to basic counting and sorting concepts with these modified sensory bags. If the focus is on nature, substitute the frozen peas for seeds, small rocks, or any other objects found in their immediate environment. Mix them up for sensory sorting activities. You can even use small acorns with younger students just learning these concepts, as long as they don't poke holes through your bags.

Barefoot Sensory Walk

Large-scale sensory walks may require some additional buy-in from school staff, but you can create mobile walks using plastic bins or tubs. Bring them outside on a sunny day for a recess activity that explores your students' sense of touch. Traditional sensory bin materials include shaving cream, colored water, or water beads. Ditch the disposable plastic products often found in sensory bins and bump up the connection to nature with grass or turf, pebbles, sand, and wooden blocks. Have towels on hand if you're working with water!

Sensory Bottles

Many children are natural collectors. Tap into that instinct with these sensory bottles filled with items they find out in their natural environment. This can also be a good sorting activity before the leaves, rocks, sticks, and other items make their way inside the bottles. Little ones can use the finished project as a sensory tool, but older students can create mini-biomes inside to go with their science units.

Playdough Nature Art

Most classrooms have a well-stocked pantry of playdough on hand, even making their own from time to time. Inspire students to add elements of nature to their play with playdough nature art. Create leaf imprints, nature nests, or simply shape the playdough into things found in their natural environments.

Nature is the perfect classroom helper. Expose your students to activities that will get them excited about being outside, and learning more about their environment.

Check out our Pinterest page for even more ideas for fun activities for young learners.

Use PLT's Pocket Guide: Seeds to Trees to introduce young students to nature by encouraging exploration and discovery through the lens of trees and forests using their senses. Activities include:

Shape Hike - This is like a game of "I Spy" with a mission. Children explore how natural objects, such as leaves, rocks, or acorns, have different shapes.

Nature Sounds - By listening carefully, a whole new world of sounds is revealed.

Tree Parts - Through their sense of touch, children explore different parts of a tree.

Trees in Our Lives Children - consider the many products from trees around them, from the places they live to toys to apples.

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Expand Your Classroom With Nature-Based Sensory Activities - Project Learning Tree

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Sensory activities are a great way to enhance learning by introducing elements of play, discovery, and creativity into the classroom. Explore the world outside or bring the outside in with these nature-based sensory activities. You'll find something for every discipline, from math to science to art.

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Different building block activities can help children with things from problem-solving to expressing emotions and everything in between.

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Engaging and Exciting Blocks Activities for Preschoolers - Montessori Academy

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Blocks are one of the best toys children love to play with. They are reliable to keep toddlers entertained at home and school.