Loose Parts
"The mind of a child is a fire to be kindled,
not a vessel to be filled." Plato
2019
Loose Parts NatureTime 90 min K-2nd graders March 9, 2019
For Simple Activities on Snowy Hill: Offer some quiet, active, cooperative opportunities
“Loose Parts” is about Sharing experience, not controlling it,
It is not an Art Class. No techniques or skills are being taught. Not clear Outcomes.
It allows for Discovery! And changes of plans. It allows various Needs to arise:
Time for quiet awe/wonder, Time for Active Energized Engagement (Feral),
Time for Making, Time for Stories/Sharing
Just Trust The Hunt of the Moment AND a few Loose Parts:
30 Birch Bark Bracelets put name and “Nature Name”
12 Glass Jars for hunting/collecting
2 Tarps for making Sails, ground cover
20 Tree Cookies in Bags that can be used as snow slides Bag of Yarns
Roll of Butcher Paper for Group Mural with mud,
Cardboard/Feed Bags to sled on snow with…
15 Minutes Introductions to Loose Parts approach
Ask each child about a favorite experience in Nature,
Why they like Nature Play.
Ask about a range of Activities: Movement: Run, Blow Around, Dance, Yell
Give out Birch Bark Bracelets have them write Names on them…
25 Minutes
GO Outside, Explore Elements: ID Folo Tracks/Scat
Hunt nature materials with Empty Jar/BK cup
Show/Tell a Story about what you found, why it interested you
40 Minutes
Choose What to Do Next: Just Play! Loose Parts Activities with
Make up Games with the 20 Tree Cookies,
Tie Ropes to the Tarps and Catch The Wind
Unravel Yarns in the Snow
Make Paths in the Snow, Snow Angels, Snow Huts
Object Making Birch Bracelets, Yarn/Stick Wands, People to take home
Group Project: on Butcher Paper with Mud, Snow, Markers
Report
from Teacher:
2017
Thursday, May 11, from 2-4 pm
Playtime at Dan's Warwick Studio/Property
... for all ages $50 per Parent/Child or a Playful Lone Adult
Loose Parts is the opportunity to construct and direct your own activities from the many materials, tools and environments Dan offers:
Make Stools, Benches, Sculptures, Troll/Fairy Houses. Small Bark Creatures; draw with mud and make squishy mache animals; stones for stacking and shovels ready for digging holes.
Exploring: on the property there are things to see and find: piles of stone, shells, animal dens, tracks, nests, buried objects and dangling wands. If you like casual wandering, seeing and discovering, this is it. “Did You Find…”
Secret Hiding in forsythia bushes There are piles of sticks to build new hiding places and Big Nests.
WHY PLAY??
- WE MUST! For our health: The opposite of play is not work, it's depression
- To Remember our shared 90,000 year experience as Hunters and Gatherers
- To Encounter other living beings: trees, birds, waters, plants, people
- To Experience the not-work, not-sports, not-chores model of spending time
- To Enjoy NOVELTY, exuberance, Discovery, Surprise, finding the unexpected
- To Get in The Zone, Drug-Free ASC
We are using natural materials as a portal into a pre-conscious state of mind where we then "say" something. As yoga teacher, Patty, puts it: "Express and Release" and friend Judd, the fishing guide, puts it: "Catch and Release".
We are not making "art" but looking to catch and express and release something. We are looking for materials from the natural world to help us say something about the interior world, something about the very current state of nature and your human nature:
NaturePlay is like being in a pool. This is not a lap pool, or an Olympic pool; Actually, it's a swamp. It requires patience with your self, with all your voices. It may require a accidental or coincidental contact with someone, some place, some thing... that scratches you into a new awareness... We are looking for portals that are never in the same place. Alertness is your ally.
WHEN? Play every day!
Just a walk allows you practice being alert, Curious, Mindful... the Hunter! not the Warrior
There’s not a set agenda. It’s about discovery, accident, coincidence. There are several areas for activity: Three particular ones:
Branches and materials for Woodland Tools... newly found objects bound together to create something more than the sum of their parts... that’s sculpture? a wand? I’ll have bases to mount them on. So that’s the plan.
This approach is inspired by Magda Gerber's RIE, Resources for Infant Educarers, and her elaborator, Janet Lansbury.
RIE is dedicated to allowing the child to initiate and direct the discovery and play.