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Rusty's Outdoor Loose Parts List!    -book

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Rusty's Outdoor Loose Parts List!    -book

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Canadian Public Health Associations Policies!

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Learning objectives

Define the benefits of loose parts play

List the barriers to loose parts play implementation

Identify the benefits of a loose parts play policy from a legal and risk benefit assessment perspective

Identify factors to consider in the development of a loose parts policy and elements to consider in a policy framework

Learning outcome

Understand the benefits of a loose parts play policy and have the knowledge to initiate the development and implementation of a local policy

Introduction

Children need opportunities to be creative and inventive in their environment, manipulating and constructing their ideas through play. This result can be achieved through the introduction of unstructured play with loose parts. Loose parts are materials with no specific set of directions and that can be used alone or combined with other materials. They could, for example, include crates, tires, planks of wood, or even water, sand or mud. Combining a variety of these objects during play promotes development and the acquisition of various skills.

Important to Know: The benefits of loose parts play

The evidence concerning loose parts play indicates that this type of play promotes:

Problem solving and theoretical reasoning

Ability to think creatively

Excitement and adventure through play

Social skills and team work, including communication and negotiation skills

Physical activity

Improved behaviour in the classroom

Achievement of curriculum objectives

Given these learning and child development benefits, school boards generally want to implement loose parts play; however, factors that inhibit or limit implementation include:

1. A lack of direction from Ministries of Education and school boards on loose parts play mandates or policies;

2. A lack of standards that address natural elements or loose parts;

3. Risk management approaches that focus on complying with safety benchmarks that may limit access to loose parts and nature play.

These factors result in uncertainty during the planning and implementation for loose parts play. Without appropriate guidance, loose parts play elements may not be incorporated into children's unstructured play opportunities.

What is the Role of a Loose Parts Play Policy?

In Canada, there are few existing provincial or territorial Ministry of Education, or school board policies or guidelines on loose parts play, which can limit the presence of such experiences at school. School board policy supporting such play would be beneficial to schools that wish to implement loose parts play, but are unsure of the requirements to do so. Its development can also act as a reference tool when making and implementing school-based decisions for loose parts play. A loose parts play policy or guideline would identify measures to remove hazards, and balance safety with developmentally appropriate play materials and opportunities for risk taking. The goal would be to provide an approach that manages risks to a reasonable limit.

This type of policy could help streamline processes and be used as to support the inclusion of loose parts and promote compliance with safety practices. It could also be used as a basis for a legal defense as it could demonstrate that a reasonable approach has been applied to consider and mitigate risks by the owner/occupier. It could also support school boards and schools in implementing loose parts play.

Planning and Development

Collaborative Decision-Making

Development of a loose parts play policy should be done in collaboration with all parties who may be affected by the policy. When these parties work collaboratively, they have shared responsibility, accountability, and authority over its development and implementation. This process can help increase acceptance, obtain alignment among decision-makers, and support their shared understanding of the policy's purpose. Parents and children should also be included in this process, as it can work to address their concerns and enable tailored decision-making to meet local needs. More information on this process can be found in the tool entitled: Collaborative Decision-Making: Supporting a Balanced Approach to Unstructured Play.

Guiding Principles for Policy Development

A first step to developing a loose parts play policy involves consulting the core values that were established when the group's play policy was developed (More information on a play policy can be found in the tool entitled: Developing a Play Policy.). These values act as a reference point to support policy development that meets the needs of all stakeholders. All actions proposed in the loose parts policy should be described and implemented to reflect these underlying principles. This consistency allows the community to observe a direct connection between what is valued as important and what actually happens in practice. See the Collaborative Decision-Making Tool for examples of key principles to guide policy development.

Practical Considerations

Evidence-base. The policy should be evidence-informed and balance challenging play with safety, without removing opportunities for children to explore their own limits.

Acceptance. Gain top down and bottom up acceptance to strengthen the commitment to implementation, and for maintaining, renewing, and repairing the inventory

Avoid prescriptive play. Avoid a comprehensive, overly prescriptive policy that could result in structuring play that is meant to be unstructured, and avoid placing excessive limits on children's risk-taking during play.

Culturally appropriate materials. Consideration should be given to the context in which loose parts play will be implemented, and steps taken to include only culturally appropriate materials.

Costs. The cost of materials maintenance and replacement should be considered.

Education and training. Opportunities should be provided to principals and educators on how to effectively implement and develop loose parts play experiences. Education should also be provided to caregivers and parents on the benefits of loose parts play, as a means of responding to risk-averse perspectives.

Collaboration with insurance and risk management. An inclusive and collaborative process should be used to determine appropriate site-based procedures.

Inclusion of children's perspectives. The development process should be collaborative including the integration and implementation of children's and youths' perspectives.

An example of a loose parts play policy is presented in Table 1.

Table 1. An example loose parts play policy

Policy item

Guiding Principles

Details

The guiding principles of the loose parts play policy outline the core values that will support the development and implementation process.

Example

This loose parts play policy will be based on values of child-centeredness, inclusivity, and enhancement. These principles will be realized through engaging child-development experts and children themselves, by recognizing the diverse needs of all children, the training needs for staff and stakeholders, and by considering the effects and value loose parts add to play spaces.

Policy item

Vision Statement

Details

A vision statement outlines the overall purpose of having a loose parts play policy.

Example

This loose parts play policy defines our approach to loose parts play decisions and provides a framework for development of opportunities for this kind of play. It recognizes the importance and value that loose parts play adds to children's unstructured play experiences, and responds to the need to implement this kind of play with a risk-management lens.

Policy item

Policy Objective

Details

Describes the policy's vision and objectives by providing specific goals.

Example

This policy will:

Raise awareness about the developmental benefits of loose parts play and identify our commitment to providing this type of play experience

Guide the implementation of measures to remove hazards and balance safety with developmentally appropriate play materials and opportunities for risk taking

Guide a risk benefit assessment approach to this type of play and demonstrate that a reasonable approach has been applied to consider and mitigate hazards while considering the benefits of the activity

Streamline processes, provide a basis to require materials, and support compliance with safe practices that reduce hazards while allowing the child to set their own limits.

Policy item

Definition of Loose Parts Play

Details

A clear definition of loose parts play is necessary. Information should be drawn from child development research and exemplar loose parts play policies to provide a concise, evidence-informed definition.

Example

Loose parts play occurs during children participate in unstructured (freely chosen, intrinsically motivated, and personally directed) play with materials that can be moved, carried, combined, redesigned, lined up, and taken apart and put back together in multiple ways. Loose parts are materials with no specific set of directions that can be used alone or combined with other materials. This type of play can occur indoors or outdoors.

Policy item

Play workers, educators and other key players roles and responsibilities

Details

Clear expectations of those who facilitate children's play opportunities can support high quality play provision by outlining the responsibilities of the key participants and providing links between policy goals and delivery. This section should describe the responsibilities and expectations of those who facilitate and manage risks of loose parts play.

Considerations:

Determine supervision ratios: how many facilitators will be needed based on the size of the play area and number of children. This should be included in educator supervision agreements.

Define the role of the play facilitator: include the need to avoid directing, structuring, or policing play, while facilitating play in an environment where children are empowered to direct their own actions. Outline the role, responsibility, and expectation of a facilitator. This expectation should include that direction to only interrupt play when it is necessary for the safety and welfare of a child.

Provide training for educators regarding the organization of play spaces and delivery of play. Identify those responsible for, for example:

Inspection schedules

Item replacement

Informing the students of their expectations

Policy item

Children's roles and responsibilities

Details

Children should have roles and responsibilities concerning the loose parts, as a means of supporting child-centeredness while reducing the likelihood of prescriptive play. Children should be encouraged to lead their own play, while providing them with the opportunity to manage risk.

Considerations:

Determine what responsibilities and expectations will be explained to children about using loose parts.

Determine how, and how often, children will be reminded to identify risks and hazards.

Policy item

Evaluation

Details

The policy should be monitored and evaluated at regular intervals and the findings used to inform improvements in both the policy and play opportunities. Organizations should review existing evaluation procedures and/or specify new procedures as necessary.

Considerations:

Recognise that the implications of a loose parts policy should be tested and evaluated, and allow for adjustment (i.e. materials and their uses). Evaluation approaches should be developed and applied before implementation (baseline measurements), during, and after they policy's implementation. Subjects to consider could include accident report logs, child reviews of play-time, taking pictures or videos, and inventory counts of first-aid supply.

Risk Benefit Assessment Elements

The following items should be outlined within a loose parts play policy. Documentation that provides thoughtful justification for why materials are included or excluded, processes for takeout and storage, how hazards will be assessed and addressed, how and when materials will be replaced, and how to implement loose parts play during various environmental conditions can help to demonstrate application of a risk benefit assessment approach.

Policy item

Determine appropriate materials

Considerations:

Sourcing materials: set guidelines for how parts will be collected or obtained, including specifications for acceptable donated or recycled items. Cultural and community factors should be considered.

Consider appropriate types of materials, sizes and weights, as well as consideration of choking hazards, finger entrapments, durability, chemical properties and toxicity, splintering of wood, sharp metal or nails, and unsafe electrical or flammable parts.

How often new parts will be introduced to keep play fun and creative.

Age appropriate materials to support progressive learning (graduated challenge) practices, e.g., age and grade appropriate introduction of materials such as hammers and nails.

Consider accessibility and usability of parts within the space, with consideration given to different sensory and tactile elements.

Policy item

Take-out and storing processes

Considerations:

The number of materials to be taken out should be based on the size of the play area, and age and number of children.

Consider the zoning of the play space for loose parts play to occur.

Determine how items will be taken out and put back after play, including their proper handling and organization, and the responsibilities of children/youth, play workers, educators, and principals in this process.

Consider how much time should be allocated to the put-back and take-out process.

Determine with the facilities team where loose parts should be stored.

Consider environmental conditions that could expose materials to mold or bacteria when they are stored.

Policy item

Checking for Hazards

Considerations:

How should items be inspected for hazards (i.e. dangers that a child could not identify or a broken item)?

How often should items be inspected (e.g., at every take-out and/or put back)?

Are there processes to support maintenance of the equipment?

Do procedures exist for checking the outside play environment for hazards (glass, nails, needles, and other dangerous items)?

Is there a process for identifying hazards and removing or mitigating them?

Policy item

Replacement of items

Considerations:

Define the conditions that will result in disposal of an item.

Determine processes for safe disposal.

Policy item

Environmental considerations

Considerations:

Which materials should be used during various weather conditions?

Consider designating an indoor, alternate space when outside play is not appropriate.

Consider how the take-out and storing processes could alter with seasonal or weather considerations.

Resources:

For evidence-informed selection of equipment consider:
Ragen J, Bundy A, Engelen L, Perry G, Wyver S, Naughton G, et al. An Innovative Program for Promoting Active, Creative and Social Play at School: The Sydney Playground Project, 2015.

For play worker values, consider adopting Play Work Principles from the UK and Wales:
Play Wales. Play work Principles, n.d.

For the benefits of loose parts in children's play spaces:
Flannigan C, Dietze B. Children, outdoor play, and loose parts. Journal of Childhood Studies, 2018;42(4):53-60.

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References:
Last modified: January 14, 2019

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Define the benefits of loose parts play List the barriers to loose parts play implementation Identify the benefits of a loose parts play policy from a legal and risk benefit assessment perspective Identify factors to consider in the development of a loose parts policy and elements to consider in a policy framework Understand the benefits of a loose parts play policy and have the knowledge to initiate the development and implementation of a local policy Children need opportunities to be creative and inventive in their environment, manipulating and constructing their ideas through play.

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The following are books in our Lending Library

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The following are books in our Lending Library

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Contact us if you see one you like!

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Loose Parts are materials that can be moved, carried, combined, redesigned, ligned up, taken apart, and put back together in multiple ways.

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What items do you currently have in your outdoor program? What is your favourite? What can be added? Is there an item you didn’t think of using as a loose part?

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What items do you currently have in your outdoor program? What is your favourite? What can be added? Is there an item you didn’t think of using as a loose part?

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- kitchen items (pots and pans etc)

-Tarps, parachute, skipping ropes, sheets

- items found in nature, dandelions, pinecones, rocks, antlers

- spare boards, wood

- tires, inner tubes

- gems

- piping pvc

- Doorknobs, screws, nuts and bolts

- Vcr/DVD players, old appliances

- Mirrors

- Rope

- Magnifying glasses, paper, pencils

- old keyboards

- recycle lids, containers

- baskets. Placemats, frames

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Where can we access the different materials?

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Where can we access the different materials?

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-Local businesses (Kelly lake -pallets, Lowes/ Home Depot, -boards, recycled items, Hyland Carpet -carpet, floor pieces and recycled rolls, Walmart/Tim Horton’s/McDonald’s/Dairy Queen -ask for bags, containers, vests)

-Parents-invite parents to see in action so they know what to provide (monthly collections ie. June, recycled lids, July, buttons)

- Have children write a letter to local businesses (if they can’t write, have them draw it)

- Outdoor stores -Bike /go kart tires/inner tubes

- tree cutting businesses

-Restore, recycling center, yard sales

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How  can we store loose parts in creative ways?

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How  can we store loose parts in creative ways?

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- Milk crates

- blue boxes

- children are responsible to put items back in proper area when finished

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‘Mother Trees’ Are Intelligent: They Learn and Remember

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Few researchers have had the pop culture impact of Suzanne Simard. The University of British Columbia ecologist was the model for Patricia Westerford, a controversial tree scientist in Richard Powers's 2019 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Overstor y. Simard's work also inspired James Cameron's vision of the godlike "Tree of Souls" in his 2009 box office hit Avatar. And her research was prominently featured in German forester Peter Wohlleben's 2016 nonfiction bestseller The Hidden Life of Trees.

What captured the public's imagination was Simard's findings that trees are social beings that exchange nutrients, help one another and communicate about insect pests and other environmental threats.

Previous ecologists had focused on what happens aboveground, but Simard used radioactive isotopes of carbon to trace how trees share resources and information with one another through an intricately interconnected network of mycorrhizal fungi that colonize trees' roots. In more recent work, she has found evidence that trees recognize their own kin and favor them with the lion's share of their bounty, especially when the saplings are most vulnerable.

Simard's first book, Finding the Mother Tree: Discovering the Wisdom of the Forest, was released by Knopf this week. In it, she argues that forests are not collections of isolated organisms but webs of constantly evolving relationships. Humans have been unraveling these webs for years, she says, through destructive practices such as clear-cutting and fire suppression. Now they are causing climate change to advance faster than trees can adapt, leading to species die-offs and a sharp increase in infestations by pests such as the bark beetles that have devastated forests throughout western North America.

Simard says people can take many actions to help forests-the world's largest terrestrial carbon sink-recover and, in doing so, slow global warming. Among her most unconventional ideas is the pivotal role that the ancient giants she calls "mother trees" play in the ecosystem and our need to zealously protect them.

[ An edited transcript of the interview follows.]
People may be surprised that you grew up in a logging family-not exactly a bunch of tree huggers. How did your childhood in rural British Columbia prepare you for life as a scientist?
Spending time in the forest, as I did as a child, you know that everything is entwined and overlapping, things growing right next to each other. To me, it was always this incredibly connected place, even though I wouldn't have been able to articulate that as a child.
In British Columbia today, loggers sacrifice birches and broadleaf trees, which they see as competing for sun and nutrients with the firs they harvest. As a young government tree scientist, you discovered that the birches were actually feeding the fir seedlings, keeping them alive.
That's right. I was sent in to find out why some of the firs in the tree plantations were not doing as well as the healthy young fir trees in the natural forest. One thing we found is that in the natural forest, the more the birch trees shaded the Douglas fir seedlings, the more carbon in the form of photosynthetic sugars the birches provided to them through the mycorrhizal network belowground.

Birches are also full of nitrogen, which in turn supports bacteria that do all the work of cycling nutrients and creating antibiotics and other chemicals in the soil that counter pathogens and help to produce a balanced ecosystem.
But aren't the soil bacteria creating the antibiotics for themselves, not for the trees? How do we know that they help the trees?
Birch supplies carbon and nitrogen to the soil, exuded by the roots and mycorrhizae, and this provides energy for bacteria in the soil to grow. One species of bacteria that grows in the rhizosphere of birch roots is a fluorescent pseudomonad. I conducted lab studies to show that this bacteria, plated with Armillaria ostoyae, a pathogenic fungus that attacks firs and to a lesser extent birch, inhibits the growth of the fungus.
You also found that birches give sugars to fir trees in the summer through the mycorrhizal networks and that firs return the favor by sending food to birches in the spring and fall, when the birches lack leaves.
Isn't that cool? Some scientists were having trouble with this: Why would a tree send photosynthetic sugars to another species? And to me, that was so obvious. They are all helping one another to create a healthy community that is of benefit to everyone.
Are you saying that forest communities are in some respects more egalitarian, more efficient than our own society? Any lessons here?
Right, they foster diversity. Studies show that biodiversity leads to stability-it leads to resilience, and it's easy to see why. Species collaborate. It's a synergistic system. One plant has a high photosynthetic capacity, and it fuels all these soil bacteria that fix nitrogen. Then there's this other deep-rooted plant, and it goes down and brings up water, which it shares with the nitrogen-fixing plant because that nitrogen plant needs a lot of water to carry out its activities. So suddenly the whole productivity of the ecosystem goes way up.
Because the species are helping one another?
Yes, this is such an important concept that we all need to learn about and embrace. It's one that has evaded us.
So cooperation is equally important to, if not more important than, competition. Do we need to revise our views about how nature operates?
I think we do. [Charles] Darwin also understood the importance of cooperation. He knew that plants lived together in communities, and he wrote about it. It's just that it never got the same traction as his natural-selection-based-on-competition theory.

Nowadays we look at things like the human genome and realize that a lot of our DNA is of viral or bacterial origin. We now know that we ourselves are consortiums of species that evolved together. It's becoming more mainstream to think that way. Likewise, forests are multispecies organizations. Aboriginal cultures knew about these linkages and interactions and how sophisticated they were. Humans haven't always had this reductionist approach. It's a development of Western science that led us to this.
Do you mean that Western science has focused too much on the individual organism and not enough on the functioning of the larger community?
Yes, but I also think there's been a progression of the science. We started very simply: we looked at single organisms, then we looked at single species, then we started to look at communities of species and then at ecosystems and then at even higher levels of organization. So Western science has gone from the simple to the complex. It's changed naturally as we've become more sophisticated ourselves. It's become more holistic.
Your use of the word "intelligent" to describe trees is controversial. But it seems like you are making an even more radical assertion-that there is an "intelligence" in the ecosystem as a whole.
You used the word "controversial." That comes from me using a human term to describe a highly evolved system that works, that actually has structures that are very similar to our brain. They are not brains, yet they have all the characteristics of intelligence: the behaviors, the responses, the perceptions, the learning, the archiving of memory. And what is being sent through those networks are [chemicals] like glutamate, which is an amino acid that also serves as a neurotransmitter in our brain. I call the system "intelligent" because it is the most analogous word that I can find in the English language to describe what I am seeing.
Some people challenge your use of words like "memory." What evidence do we have that trees are actually "remembering" what happened to them?
The memory of past events is stored in the tree rings and in DNA of the seeds. The width and density of the tree rings, as well as the natural abundance of certain isotopes, holds the memories of growing conditions of previous years, such as whether it was a wet or dry year, or whether there were nearby trees, or if they had blown over, creating more space for the trees to grow faster. In the seeds, the DNA evolves through mutations, as well as epigenetics, reflecting genetic adaptations to changing environmental conditions.
You write in the book, "I had learned so much more by listening instead of imposing my will and demanding answers." Can you talk about that?
Being a scientist, we get really strongly trained. It can be quite rigid. There are very rigid experimental designs. I couldn't just go and observe things-they wouldn't publish my work. I had to use these experimental designs-and I did. But my observations were always so important to me in asking the questions that I asked. They always came from how I grew up, how I saw the forest, what I observed.
Your latest research effort is called the Mother Tree Project. What are "mother trees"?
Mother trees are the biggest, oldest trees in the forest. They are the glue that holds the forest together. They have the genes from previous climates; they are homes to so many creatures, so much biodiversity. Through their huge photosynthetic capacity, they provide food for the whole soil web of life. They keep carbon in the soil and aboveground, and they keep the water flowing. These ancient trees help forest recover from disturbances. We can't afford to lose them.

The Mother Tree Project is trying to apply these concepts in real forests so that we can begin to manage forests for resilience, biodiversity and health, recognizing that we've actually pushed them to the brink of collapse with climate change and overharvesting. We are currently working in nine forests that span a 900-kilometer range from the U.S.-Canada border to Fort St. James, which is about halfway up British Columbia.
Patricia Westerford, the character in The Overstory who was inspired by you, becomes despairing at times. Do you also sometimes get discouraged?
Of course I do. But I don't have time to be discouraged. As I started studying these forest systems, I realized that the way they are organized, they can recover really quickly. You can push them to the point of collapse, but they have a huge buffering capacity. I mean, nature is brilliant, right?

But the difference right now is that with climate change, we're going to need to help nature along a bit. We're going to have to make sure the mother trees are there to help the next generation come forward. We're going to have to move some genotypes that are preadapted to a warmer climate into more northerly or higher-elevation forests that are rapidly warming. The velocity of climate change is far faster than the velocity at which trees can migrate on their own or adapt.
Isn't there a risk in moving seeds from one integrated ecosystem to another?
Although regeneration of locally adapted seed is the best, we have changed climate so rapidly that forests will need help to survive and reproduce. We have to assist in the migration of seeds already preadapted from warmer climates. We need to become active agents of change-productive agents instead of exploiters.

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‘Mother Trees’ Are Intelligent: They Learn and Remember

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Few researchers have had the pop culture impact of Suzanne Simard. The University of British Columbia ecologist was the model for Patricia Westerford, a controversial tree scientist in Richard Powers's 2019 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Overstor y. Simard's work also inspired James Cameron's vision of the godlike "Tree of Souls" in his 2009 box office hit Avatar.

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During our Outdoor Network, we had a little bit of fun! We had two minutes to search for Loose Parts around our house and create a face. I really loved seeing all the miscellaneous materials that were used for this activity.

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sketching pencils, sketch book and eraser