Children learn best when they can explore, create, and use their imagination. Loose parts play—using everyday items like blocks, natural materials, and found objects—encourages curiosity, problem-solving, and critical thinking while keeping children meaningfully engaged.
If you’re looking for simple, creative ways to keep your children busy while supporting their cognitive development, our Loose Parts Activity Guide is a great place to start. Discover inspiring ideas that invite children to build, design, and learn through open-ended play.
- Loose Parts – Loose parts learning is a very simple concept with many powerful learning outcomes. Simply offer loose parts to your child and allow them to play, explore, discover and learn! Some Loose Parts Ideas: Rocks Buttons Pom Poms Popsicle Sticks Sticks Gems Pipe Cleaners Lids Leaves
- Loose Parts Water Play – Add loose parts – such as shells to a small pool or shallow sensory bin to provide your child with fantastic fun and learning. Include some cups, bowls and scooping items for your child to explore volume, water displacement and buoyancy!
- Making Letters – Provide your child with a basket of buttons and letter cards or magnets. Create a box out of painters tape for your child to ‘make’ the letters out of these colourful loose parts. This activity will strengthen your child’s hand muscles for future writing!
- Ramp Fun! – Provide your child with a few long boards, pine cones, stones and sticks for them to find out what rolls, slides or doesn’t move at all. Exploring with natural items will develop your child’s critical thinking skills as they play.
- Sand Playdough – 1 cup of all-purpose flour 1 cup of fine beach sand 1/4 cup of salt 1 tablespoon of cream of tartar 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil 1 tablespoon of glycerine 3/4 cup of boiling water Whisk the six ingredients together in a large bowl. Add the boiling water and mix well with a wooden spoon. When cool enough to do so, dump the dough out onto the counter and give it a good knead. Let it cool completely and provide your child with a variety of loose parts to play!
- Forming Art – Encourage your child to create and ‘form art’ with a variety of loose parts. This type of play will introduce the idea of freedom and possibilities with numerous shapes and colours. Try adding dried fruit rings and tile mosaics for your child to have a variety of colours.
- Sponge Building – Sponges are a wonderful loose part with endless creative possibilities. Add wet or dry sponges to your child’s soft blocks to encourage their inner engineer. Your child can build towers, count and create complicated structures while they play!
- Loose Parts Painting – Put a twist on your child’s creative art experience and add a variety of loose parts as brushes! Shells, pinecones, chestnuts and acorns will provide numerous opportunities for your child to roll, dip and print with the items.
- Frozen Cap Play – Plastic pouch lids make an inexpensive activity for your child to play and learn. Freeze the colourful lids in ice cube trays, add to a shallow sensory bin and add bowls and scoops to explore. Your child will be able to dig out, sort and count the colours as they melt!
