The Theory of Loose Parts
27 March 2024 | 1:56 pm

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In 1971, architect Simon Nicholson wrote an article for a magazine called Landscape Architecture entitled “How Not to Cheat Children: The Theory of Loose Parts.” Perhaps it wasn’t the first time that the phrase “loose parts play” was used, but it was this manifesto that in many ways kicked things off. In the half century years since its publication, the idea has grown, first slowly, and then suddenly in recent years as more and more early childhood educators have embraced Nicholson’s theory a part of their play-based programs.

That the theory emerged from architecture is fascinating to think about. It echoes the work of Reggio Emilia founder Loris Malaguzzi who was at about the same time postulating that children had three teachers: adults, other children, and the environment, the environment being the primary purview of architecture. Nicholson’s theory, as he phrased it in that original article:

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 was not talking exclusively about early childhood, but about educational environments in general. He included playgrounds and classrooms in his discussion, but also places for all ages, like museums and libraries. His big idea was that we are most inventive and creative when allowed to construct, manipulate, and otherwise play with our environments. He argued that when we leave the design of spaces to professionals, we are, in effect, excluding children (and adults) from the most important, and fun, part of the process. We are, in his words, “stealing” it from the children.

Even if we haven’t consciously adopted the theory of loose parts play, every early childhood professional, even those working in otherwise highly structured environments, knows this to be true. None of us would, for instance, build a block structure for the children, then expect them to learn anything by merely looking at it and listening to us lecture. We know that the children must take those blocks in hand, must both construct and deconstruct, must experiment, test, and manipulate. We also know that their play, and therefore their learning, is expanded as we add more and varied materials to their environment.

The theory of loose parts applies the principles of the “block area” to the entire environment (which is, not coincidentally, the focus of my 6-week course, Creating a Natural Habitat for Learning) encouraging us to let go of our ideas of how a learning environment is supposed to be and to instead fill it with variables, things that can be moved, manipulated, and transported. This, as Nicholson points out, is where creativity and inventiveness live. It’s important to remember that his theory continues to be a radical one, even as aspects of it are becoming more mainstream. This is about more than tree cookies and toilet paper tubes and clothes pins. It’s about more than old tires, shipping pallets, and planks of wood. At its core, the theory of loose parts is a theory about democracy, about self-governance, and the rights and responsibilities of both individuals and groups to come together to shape their world according to their own vision.

The world is always ours to shape and when we are not shaping it, it is shaping us. Nicholson’s insight was that our environment is too often a kind of dictator, one that is restricting rather than expanding our possibilities. As we work with our “third teacher” it’s important that we keep this in mind and always ask ourselves, “Is this stealing the fun from the children?”

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If you're interested in transforming your own space into this kind of loose parts learning environment, you might want to join the 2024 cohort for my 6-week course, Creating a Natural Habitat for Learning. This is a  deep dive into transforming your classroom, home, or playground into the kind of learning environment in which young children thrive; in which novelty and self-motivation stand at the center of learning. In my decades as an early childhood educator, I've found that nothing improves my teaching and the children's learning experience more than a supportive classroom, both indoors and out. This course is for educators, parents, and directors. You don't want to miss this chance to make your "third teacher" (the learning environment) the best it can be. I hope you join me! To learn more and register, click here.


I put a lot of time and effort into this blog. If you'd like to support me please consider a small contribution to the cause. Thank you!
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Why Do Orcas Sink Boats? The Same Reason Kids Put Underpants on Their Heads!
26 March 2024 | 2:04 pm

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For the past few years, orcas off the coast of Spain and Portugal have been ramming and often sinking smaller boats. Back in the 1980's, pods of orcas in the Pacific Ocean made a fad of wearing dead fish on their heads. The leading theory for these behaviors is play.

The orcas don't need to ram those boats and bite at their rudders, although I imagine them cheering one another on. There's no apparent reason for orcas to wear a dead fish on their heads, and the same can be said for young children laugh themselves silly while sporting, say, underpants on their heads. 

In my course Creating Natural Habitats for Learning, one of the key things we will be exploring is how our classrooms, playgrounds, and homes can become the kind of environments in which young children know they have permission to play.

It's far easier said than done because so much of what school is about, so much of what playgrounds are about, is proscribed activities. You can climb this structure, but not that tree. You may slide down, but not climb back up. You can build with those blocks, but nothing higher than your head. 

And most manufactured toys come with "scripts" designed right into them. The fire truck is, well, a fire truck. That doll is from a Disney movie. Princess costumes, vehicles, action figures, tools, weapons, and pretty much anything made for kids "instructs" or "directs" the child's play. A creative child will, of course, find other ways to play with these toys . . . That is, if there isn't an adult nearby to tell them they're doing it wrong. 

But even when the adult stays out of it, researchers find that young children tend prefer the boxes the toys come in. The wrapping paper. The twist-ties and rubber bands and other packaging material. This tendency, what we call "loose parts play," frees children from the scripts and expectations, allowing them to fully engage in the deep, genuine learning that takes place from exploring without artificial constraints.

The best habitats for learning are those that embrace the promise and genius behind loose parts learning. There is far more learning in the recycling box than the toy box.

If this sounds like the kind of learning environment you want to offer to the young children in your life, please consider joining the 2024 cohort of Creating Natural Habitats for Learning.  This 6-week course is a deep-dive into the impact of the environment on how and what young children learn, including the theory and practice of loose parts. It’s a course for early childhood educators, directors, and parents of young children who are interested in creating environments that inspire self-directed learning. 

Meanwhile, if you find yourself in a small boat off the Iberian coast, just hope the orcas are playing the dead fish on the head game that day, because otherwise it's liable to be a bit rowdy!

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If you're interested in transforming your own space into this kind of learning environment, you might want to join the 2024 cohort for my 6-week course, Creating a Natural Habitat for Learning. This is a  deep dive into transforming your classroom, home, or playground into the kind of learning environment in which young children thrive; in which novelty and self-motivation stand at the center of learning. In my decades as an early childhood educator, I've found that nothing improves my teaching and the children's learning experience more than a supportive classroom, both indoors and out. This course is for educators, parents, and directors. You don't want to miss this chance to make your "third teacher" (the learning environment) the best it can be. I hope you join me! To learn more and register, click here.


I put a lot of time and effort into this blog. If you'd like to support me please consider a small contribution to the cause. Thank you!
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Change the Environment, Not the Child
25 March 2024 | 1:59 pm

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I was recently leaving a downtown store. When I came to the exit door, I saw that it had a handle. I grabbed and pulled. The door didn't budge. I then, counter-intuitively, pushed and the door swung open. This is a prime example of a failure in design: a handle means "pull" and a push plate means "push." Indeed, every time you see a sign on a door reading "push" or "pull," you're looking at a design flaw that someone has clumsily attempted to correct.

Design flaws are all around us. My local supermarket began offering discounts to "members." To take advantage you open an app on your phone, then hold the bar code under a scanner which is located beneath the checkout screen. There is no beep, no green light, or any other indicator that your code has been read, which means that every single person who uses it winds up fuddling around, trying their phone at different angles before finally, in frustration, engaging the cashier in the following conversation:

"Did it work?"

"What work?"

"My app thingy."

"You mean your discount code?"

"Yes."

"Let me see . . . Yes, it worked."

And you thought the "Paper or plastic?" question got old.

This too, is a design flaw that a simple beep or bell or light would fix. 

Every time you see that pedestrians have worn a path through a lawn instead of sticking to the sidewalks, you're seeing evidence of design not working. My father was a transportation engineer who was fond of pointing out how design flaws were causing the traffic jams we were experiencing. He would say, "I'm sure it looked beautiful on the drafting board, but the engineer forgot to consider how actual people behave."

When I first started teaching, I set up our classroom as I would have a living room, thinking in terms of seating and "traffic flow," making sure the passageways were wide enough, that there were no places where one could get "trapped," and so forth. The reality I discovered once actual children were on the scene was that I'd created a race-track that said, quite clearly, "Run in circles," and that's what they did. After weeks of scolding the kids about running inside, I finally re-arranged the furniture and the behavior disappeared.

One of the aspects of the Reggio Emilia model for early years education that I think about often is the concept of the three teachers: 1) the adults, 2) the other children, and 3) the environment, which is where design comes in. Quite often, I've found that repeated troubling or trying behaviors have little to do with the children themselves and everything to do with an environment that forgot to consider how actual children behave. Things hanging from above tend to tell children, Jump or Swing or Hang. Long open areas say, Run. Echoey spaces say, Shout. Dark and confined says, Giggle and Whisper. Bright and busy creates a different vibe than muted and uncluttered. And design flaws are not limited to the physical space. Sometimes the aspect that needs tweaking has to do with the schedule or the expectations or even the school's philosophy, all of which I consider to be part of the children's environment as well.

This is the thinking behind my 6-week course, Creating a Natural Habitat for Learning. It's a tool to help educators, parents, and directors to think comprehensively about how your classrooms, homes, and playgrounds as a "third teacher" (see below). It's amazing how much as well-considered, adaptable, child-centric learning habitat can free you up to be the kind of educator or parent you always wanted to be.

Of course, it's not always about design flaws, but whenever I find myself forever correcting the same behavior over and over, I begin to suspect that's what it is. Instead of looking to change the child, I start by wondering how I can change the environment. It's amazing how often even a small change, like moving the furniture or replacing a handle with a push plate, can make all the difference in the world.

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If you're interested in transforming your own space into this kind of learning environment, you might want to join the 2024 cohort for my 6-week course, Creating a Natural Habitat for Learning. This is a  deep dive into transforming your classroom, home, or playground into the kind of learning environment in which young children thrive; in which novelty and self-motivation stand at the center of learning. In my decades as an early childhood educator, I've found that nothing improves my teaching and the children's learning experience more than a supportive classroom, both indoors and out. This course is for educators, parents, and directors. You don't want to miss this chance to make your "third teacher" (the learning environment) the best it can be. I hope you join me! To learn more and register, click here.


I put a lot of time and effort into this blog. If you'd like to support me please consider a small contribution to the cause. Thank you!
Bookmark and Share


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