The frequent use of the
phrase open-ended qualifying toys and
materials in order to signal rich, elaborate play raises a flag for me. I catch
myself using this phrase as well. For me it serves as an intentional cue that I
mean real toys and materials: ones
without bells and whistles, ones without the faces of mascots or the voices of
commercial characters.
Drilling down on terms
like real play materials or true toys mentioned in the recent
American Academy of Pediatrics report on play,
(or open-ended, for that matter) is, in my mind, about getting at a deeper
understanding of high play value of objects for children. High play value
engages children’s interests, invites them to use their imaginations and ingenuity, and holds their attention. Especially when children play
in the same setting day-after-day with the same objects and materials, play in
groups, or are older with greater potential to engage in elaborate play, high
play value is important in providing new possibilities and discoveries for all
types of play– social, physical, object, or as
if play.
Consideration
of high play value is, by no means, limited to toys and not every play object enjoys
high play value. Fortunately, boosting the play value of most
play objects, materials, true toys, and even ho-hum objects is not only possible,
but also easy to take on. Most any play outfitter,
whether a parent, teacher, grandparent, aunt or uncle, babysitter or nanny, neighbor,
teacher, older sister or brother, can amp up play value across ages, genders and settings. Play value can
increase with thoughtful attention, resourcefulness, and
selecting for:
• Loose parts
• Abundance
• Generative capacity
• Complexity
Loose Parts
The theory of loose parts
proposed by architect Simon Nicholson in the 1970’s has enjoyed a resurgence
recently with increasing interest in assuring that children enjoy rich play
experiences. Nicholson believed that loose parts in an environment offer
enormous possibilities and invite creativity that is unlikely in settings with only
fixed elements.
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| Loose parts in the play yard |
Loose parts unleash
children’s imaginations and their spirit to play. They feed imaginations,
inspire scripts and stories, fill children’s pockets and backpacks, elaborate
structures, and build familiarity and confidence with the principles and properties of materials and tools.
Children’s control of their environment increases significantly with the
addition of stuff that they can move, combine, and recombine. They become not
only the directors of their play, but also shapers of their settings.
Environments–indoor and
out, large-scale, room-sized, and table-top–are richer places for play with portable,
totable, manipulable, changeable objects and materials. Virtually every corner of our lives is a source of
loose parts: sand and water, sticks and stones; seeds and leaves, pods and
pinecones; plastic crates and sofa cushions, duct tape and clothespins; hoses
and tubing, sieves and shovels; boards and boxes, rope and string.
More and more loose parts are
filling maker spaces, populating building platforms, and loosening up
playgrounds. Adding new, or more, loose parts from one day to the next changes
a space or modifies an activity. A box becomes a treasure chest; a cushion
serves as a trapdoor; a wooden spoon is a wand, an oar, and then a doll. Tree
cookies are wheels one minute, plates the next, and towers the next.
Multiplying Possibilities
When a single object joins a large crowd of similar,
if not identical, objects, its play possibilities expand significantly. This is
the abundance that fuels play and increases play value.
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| Buttons, buttons, buttons |
A child may use a solitary cardboard tube as a specific
object like a telescope, a sword, or a megaphone. Yet, add a dozen or more
tubes to the setting and a child or group of children make the tubes into
pillars, posts, supports for a building. Quantity blows a second wind on
children’s play, inspiring a story of a crashed-up raft, a race to build a
space station, or construction of a ball maze. Similarly, a single sponge may
be used for washing while dozens of sponges become building block, cars,
bumpers, or skates. A lone swimming noodle is, well, a noodle or a snake, while
one hundred noodles becomes a noodle forest.
If, as Martin Buber says, “Play is the exultation
of the possible,” then abundance is a trumpet call to children to exult. Quantities
fascinate. Even humble objects, like Dixie cups, pinecones, toilet paper rolls,
or metal washers assume an aura of richness or magnificence when present in
vast quantities. These objects are easy to gather and at little expense, but
offer great play value. Great quantities invites children to entertain a grand,
even extravagant idea, one worth being lost in–exploring big numbers, buying
the Moon with bottle caps, or building a tower to the sky. In groups, everyone–each
child–can have her own stockpile of leaves, sheets of cardboard, stash of
clothespins, bin of ping-pong balls, or sheets of stickers; and all can find
the possibilities of sharing in abundance.
While pure abundance is not always necessary,
thinking about the quantities of play objects and materials for children’s play
is.
Generative Capacity
Toys, play objects, or materials with greater
generative capacity enjoy considerable play value themselves: they can be played
with in various ways. What really distinguishes, however, are qualities they
have that activate or modify the attributes of other materials or objects in
ways that add to their play value.
Children build with boxes; they stack them and
knock them down, open-and-close them, and line them up like a train. Children
might even get inside of a box and try to see if they fit. Inevitably children
use the volume of boxes and some times their size and lightness in combination
with other materials for another play episode. They add rocks or blocks and
fill the box, use it to move or hide other objects. With a shake and a jiggle,
children discover the box intensifies the sound of chestnuts rolling around inside.
A box has generative capacity as do mirrors, tape, wire, balls, and tubes.
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| Stretchy is generative |
A stretchy circle, a
rubber band has generative capacity and
is alive with possibilities for binding, bundling,
snapping, and propelling objects. A recent video of twin toddlers fascinated with rubber bands
illustrates the generative play value of this familiar object for even very
young children.
Sticky, stretchy, sparkly,
springy, pointy, perforated, and absorptive are among some of the generative
qualities children use to investigate and improvise. They manipulate them in
various ways and combine them with other materials to amplify possibilities for
their play, whether it is imaginative, large motor, or playing as if.
Seeking Complexity
Recently I recalled a
scheme for engaging children’s interest and attention in play that suggests an
additional approach to increasing play value: complexity. Using research done
at Pacific Oaks College, Sybil
Kritchevsky, Elizabeth Prescott and Lee Walling developed the idea of simple,
complex, and super units in a preschool environment, presented in Planning Environments for Young Children: Physical Space.
A simple unit is a
material with one obvious use, like clay or sand. A complex unit has two
essentially different
parts or materials; put the clay on the table or
introduce tools to the sand area. A super unit has three or more materials; add
tools to the clay on the table, or add water to the sand and tools. Moving from
a simple to a complex to a super unit significantly increases children’s engagement.
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| A magnifier at the water table opens possibilities |
This scheme suggests the potential of going beyond
increasing objects or relying on the effect of sticky, stretchy, or shiny attributes–although
they are important. Interactions of materials or objects that modify the
properties and change other play materials or toys increase complexity. They open
and cue new directions, choices, and possibilities in ways that extend
children’s interest and attention and invite them to elaborate on their play. While
borrowed from a preschool setting, complexity works in a wider array of play
environments–a museum, park, playground, backyard, beach, or nature center.
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| Water changes sand so children can change it more |
Water changes sand’s qualities to make playing
with it sufficiently different from playing with dry sand. Digging deep and
sculpting wet sand that holds its shape when pressed, pinched, carved, or
molded is very different from sweeping and sifting dry sand. Adding light modifies
a space and objects, altering the appearance of surfaces; the shadows of
objects, hands, and bodies that it casts become objects of play themselves,
moving, growing, shrinking, and disappearing. Fabric encloses, conceals, and
absorbs; it can be cut, pinned, and sewn together again. A large piece of
fabric, like a bed sheet, can divide space, capture shadows and, stretched
tight, it can toss objects (and children) into the air.
Mirrors; tape, fasteners and adhesives; tools
that pierce, cut and drill; movement; and changing heights and inclines also increase complexity. They introduce new
possibilities, revealing properties of other objects that make them more interesting to explore, use, and put into
play.
Expanding
Play Potential
Instead of reaching deeper into our vocabulary
lists to cue a sincere interest in providing rich play for children,
perhaps we really need to push ourselves harder to find and make available a rich range of objects
and materials that inspire, enrich, and extend children’s play. We can start with sharpening our
alertness to the attributes of materials and objects and what they bring to
play . We can tap our own imaginations to see new possibilities for play in
everyday materials. We can explore our surroundings for toys and materials and
places to play that go far beyond the usual.
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| Sand+light+color+tools |
What play objects, materials and toys are on your list that expand the possibilities of
what happens during play?
