Natural Materials for Loose Parts Play

loose parts in wood bowls, such as pinecones, leaves, clothespins, popsicle sticks, buttons, rocks, napkin rings, seashells and a coconut shell.

In Early Childhood Education, loose parts are a manipulative toy which can be used in open ended play. Loose parts can be anything at all, and they can be used in an endless number of ways. I love to use natural materials in our loose parts play, and it has become somewhat of a collection for me. Now I look at anything in my home and hoard it in our loose parts box before throwing it away.

Loose parts that are derived from nature can be multi-sensory. This means that they stimulate more than one sensory system. A natural loose part can be stimulating to your sense of sight, smell, taste, sound and touch. Let’s use a pinecone as an example. Visually, you can observe the natural spiral pattern that it makes. You can stamp it in play dough and notice the spiral impression that it makes. You can notice it’s earthy smell, and feel its small pricky sides.

Here are some examples of some affordable, or even free (reduce, reuse, recycle) loose parts that you can easily find in nature or laying around your home.