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"Clay is soil, and soil requires fostering and nourishment".

As quoted in Encounters with materials, "movements are not intentionally performed: they emerge".

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The loose parts play concept was founded by British architect, Simon Nicholson in the early 1970's. They are moveable and can be pulled apart and put back together in a variety of ways. It allows children to be creative and use their imagination.

As stated in Exploring Materials (Topal & Gandini, 1999) "Each material has unique characteristics. Exploring gives children and adults a vehicle for discovering those properties. Exploring also means figuring out what a particular material can do. Can it bend? How much? Can it hold its shape? Stack, stand up by itself?".

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Toilet roll balancing on a piece of wood

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Exploring the sounds that the tiles and stones made shaken in the shoebox.

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Touching, feeling, twisting and pulling the twine. 

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"In any environment, both the degree of inventiveness and creativity, and the possibility of discovery, are directly proportional to the number and kind of variables in it". (Nicholson, S, 1971 by Play Scotland)

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A mix of different loose parts from around my home.

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I went around my house and found some loose parts that I could experiment with. I found some left over crepe paper, toilet roll, shoe box, piece of wood, ball of twine, some small rocks, mosaic tiles and some packaging paper. At first I didn't know what to explore and touch first. My hands ended up going for the mosaic tiles first. They were slightly cold and felt smooth against my skin. I then found myself going for the shoebox, I opened and closed it which made a bit of a noise. I instantly remembered keeping my old shoe boxes as a child and making little beds and houses for my dolls and teddies. I then went to the ball of twine and it felt rough and scratchy against my hand. I stood the piece of wood upright and watched if it could balance. I then places the toilet roll on top of it. to my surprise, it didn't fall off. The twine was very strong, I pulled it and twisted it and it didn't break or split. I then put all the rocks and tiles into the shoebox then shook it. It made a loud rattling like a musical sound. I noticed while I was gathering all the loose parts and exploring them by daughtier looked very intrigued and was watching what I was doing and I knew she wanted to join in. This then made me think to myself. Children don't need heaps of toys, they actually find joy in boxes and left over rubbish. It gets them to be creative and use their imagination and explore. I asked myself, if I was to make something out of all this what would I make? I came up a body and a face using the tiles, shoebox and twine.

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Manipulating the mosaic tiles and stones 

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Making shadows with a torch at home on the blinds. 

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"Playing with light and dark creates magical experiences that both adults and children will enjoy. Light and darkness hold fascination and intrigue, as well as an element of risk and challenge". (Teaching Expertise 2013)

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Coloured magnetic tiles with a torch shining through made a projection onto the blind. 

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I found a torch at home and went exploring to see what I could use to explore light and shadows. Firstly I came across our colour magnetic tiles, I built a tower, closed the blinds and experimented with the torch. I was excited to see how it projected onto the blind and it was a complete mirror of the tower. I then started experiencing with a lamp and different hand movements. I put my hand inside the lamp and tried making different movements. After experimenting with torches and lamps and I looked around the house looking for natural light. I noticed the sunlight coming through the glass door, which left a shadow on the wooden floorboards. I then looked up and admired our big rake ceilings that have windows that let in natural light. Its not harsh on the eyes, its a soft natural light. This is my favourite type of light, soft natural, slightly overcast.

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Trying to make a dinosaur with my hand using exploring with the lamp and making shadows. 

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Natural light coming in through the glass sliding door making a shadow on the wooden floor. 

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Natural light coming through our high ceilings in our family room. 

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Note: from Klagyivik (2013 February 21), Moon over mountains stock photo

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I have fond memories of laying outside on the grass as a child looking up at the moon and stars. I remember being mesmerized by how bright the moon was and how much light it gave.

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Shared by Racheous on Pinterest care of Racheous.com 

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Light is a form of energy

Light is a wave

Light travels at a finite speed

Different wave lengths of light have different colours

Shadows are the absent of light

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When I opened the clay it was cold. It felt smooth and calming. It was easy to move and manipulate with my hands. It left a powder residue on my hands after touching it. When I picked it up to smell it, it had a slight earthy smell to it. I found it was easy to pull apart and then put back together. Playing and using clay automatically reminds me of high school. Being in year 10 in ceramics class, trying to make vases and pots. It made me think and realise how opened ended it is, and that it can go from being soft to hard when put in the kiln. I then decided to get a bowl of water and placed the clay into the water. The clay automatically went slimly and gooey. When I picked it up with my hands it slipped straight out and landed back in the water. The water in the bowl turned white and the clay started to become softer and easier to break apart. It made me think of all the things I could try and make and how I would do it.

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Manipulating with the clay and breaking it a part.

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My hand after touching and playing with the clay

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The clay once it had been wet by the water

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Clay is plastic when wet and becomes hard and durable when fired.

Clay is a natural, biodegradable material and is environmentally friendly.

Clay is formed from the weather.

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Clay Stories (2018) – Jock Puautjimi at the Tiwi Design Ceramic studio Bathurst Island – photo Tiwi Design.

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While researching clay, I came across Clay Stories online. Its about how it brought 22 ceramicists together from established and emerging Indigenous artists who work from remote Australia to showcase their art. I loved looking through all the different pieces and admiring the time and effort and the skill that went into making each piece. (Miekus, T. 2018).

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When the water turned black from all the crepe paper 

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Crepe paper is a type of tissue paper, which is generally made from recycled paper pulp and wood pulp.

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After taking the crepe paper out of the water. 

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This art by Wendy Copley (2012) was inspired by Eric Carle

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As I was researching the different types/styles of paper I read how children's author, designer and illustrator Eric Carle used tissue paper. Eric used plain white sheets of tissue paper then used acrylic paints, using various techniques to create patterns. " My painted papers are like my palette" - Eric Carle

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The first type of paper used in history was papyrus which ancient Egyptians extracted from the papyrus plant bark around 5000 years ago. Approx. 3000 years before the invention of paper in china. - Strathmore Artist Papers.

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I got two paper bags and took them outside. They didn't really have a smell. They had a relatively smooth texture to touch. When I picked it up and touched it, it was loud and crunchy. I opened the bag it up and stuck my hand inside. I then scrunched it up tight into a ball then undid it. The paper bag was wrinkled all over. I threw it in the air and it floated sideways to the ground. I then ripped it all apart and watched it move in the wind outside. I then made them into little crunched up balls and threw them in the air watching them land straight on the ground.

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It is slightly a rough texture to touch. When I ripped it, it made a slight crunching, rustling noise. When it was folded together it was quite thick to touch, almost looked like a napkin/serviette. I broke off little pieces of the different coloured crepe paper and then let it fall from my hand. I watched as it slowly floated down to the bench, not making much noise. The crepe paper was easy to scrunch up and it stayed that way. When I blew on the pile of scrunched up crepe paper, it easily moved with not much force. I put the the ripped up crepe paper into a glass of water. I was very surprised to see it sink to the bottom of the glass. It then soon after changed the water to black. When I took the crepe paper out of the water, all the colours merged together and it was soggy and all joined together and looked like wet paper towel.

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"Movement with paper is both rhythm and repetition—the doing and undoing—filling, emptying, sweeping, covering, uncovering". (Pacini-Ketchabaw, V. & Kind, S. & Kocher L. L. M. (2024)

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You were once a beautiful tree, standing tall, moving in the wind. You were then made into paper. Your role changed, you became creative, versatile and used in so many different ways all over the world. Thank you tree for all that you give.

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An example from Art Guide of clay art - Spear pole 2017 - Jock Puautjimi  (words by Miekus, T. 2018) 