Inside: A great collection of play ideas for families during times when they are at home. Also, why play helps at this time, and how we can view this as an opportunity to re-connect.
I would encourage you to view summer break as an opportunity - an opportunity to play and connect with your family.
Exploring Open-Ended Play:
A Game Changer for Child Development
Play is a natural and important part of early year learning and development, and different types of play offer unique benefits for growth. Teachers and educators play a vital role in fostering child development and ensuring pupils engage in different types of play to help them connect with others, build confidence and learn more about the world around them.
By encouraging open-ended play in the classroom, teachers can help lay the foundation for children’s cognitive, social, and emotional growth. Discover how open-ended play supports the growth and development of early year children and why teachers should embrace open-ended play in the classroom.
What is open-ended play?
Open-ended play is a type of free-form play that doesn't have set rules or outcomes and encourages children to explore and be creative. Rather than using toys with specific instructions or purposes, open-ended play is unstructured, child-centered and uses materials without a fixed goal.
Without rules in place, there is no ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ with open-ended play, but plenty of opportunities for children to use their imaginations and be creative as they learn.
Open-ended play is more than just a chance for children to have fun and play freely. There are many physical, social and emotional benefits to open-ended learning that will have an impact on development beyond childhood.
With open-ended play, we allow the child to energize and give direction to the play experience while they share their own ideas for a more collaborative play experience.
Benefits to open-ended play for child development:
Enhances creativity.
Develops problem-solving skills.
Increases independence.
Reduces stress and anxiety.
Improves social skills.
Open-Ended Materials:
Open-ended materials are developmentally appropriate for young children of various ages and can be used for sensory, creative, or dramatic play. Examples of open-ended materials include sand, water, blocks, play dough, paint, pebbles and leaves, ribbons, buttons, ropes, pot plants, figurines, chalks, papers, blocks, and plastic pipes.
Loose parts, such as stones, stumps, logs, branches, small twigs, sand gravel, water, dirt, grass, pine cones, bark, and feathers, are examples of open-ended materials. They encourage problem-solving and are child-centered. Examples of open-ended toys include magnatiles, objects from nature, art supplies, dolls, and cars.
There are many examples of open-ended materials, such as dolls, building blocks, car or action figurines, magnatiles, objects from nature, art supplies, dolls, and cars. With these materials, there is no reason for children to be limited by their chosen options. By designing learning experiences with a wide variety of loose parts, teachers can spark curiosity and promote learning in early childhood.
What are some open-ended resources ?
Open-ended materials like Lego, Duplo, Playmobil, Flockmen building blocks, Wedgits, and nature collections can be used at home to encourage exploration and mastery. This concept aligns with Montessori principles, as children are naturally curious and eager to explore. The author suggests that children may even celebrate their mastery by giving themselves a clap when done. The connection between mastery and satisfaction in other contexts is also explored.
What is open-ended art?
Open-ended art encourages children to explore materials in a manner that aligns with their individual creative vision, thereby enabling them to produce artworks that are distinct from the conventional expectations of realistic drawings, paintings, or products.
Things to Consider
I would argue that you are keeping learning alive through play. Especially through constructive and exploratory play. ( Both featured below)
Play is the way children learn
If you're worried they're not getting enough school work, please know that play is the best way for children to learn. Just by playing, they can learn and explore the world in different ways, discover new things they like or talents they never knew they had. All you have to do is let them play. If you want online resources to keep them busy, there’s a list below.
Play is a natural stress reliever
This is a stressful time, not only for us but for them too. Kids get stressed just like adults! Opportunities to play allow them to express their fears, worries, and concerns, and give themselves a break.
Use what you have at home.
You don't necessarily have to go out to the store or even order things on Amazon. Look around your house and see what's there and can be used for fun. If you get stuck, think about your childhood - what did you when you couldn't go outside?
Think outside the box
Several years ago, when we were stuck inside several years ago due to multiple snowstorms, I took the kids mattresses off the beds and brought them downstairs to the living room so they could jump on them. We made a ton of weird creations with cardboard and recycling. We used what we had on hand, because we couldn't go out.
Open Ended Play Ideas
Preschool Age
Play dress up
Make superhero costumes
Make a fairy garden
Make a sand tray or water bead tray
Read books together
Pretend play, for example:
Restaurant
Grocery Store
Art Shop
Car Mechanic
Vet clinic
Detectives/Spy
Superhero
Pirates
Post office
Simple board games & card games
Simple puzzles
Build with blocks, DUPLO® bricks, Lincoln Logs, etc
Make items using arts & crafts - knit, crochet, rainbow loom, etc.
Do Mad Libs
Play Would You Rather?
Build something with LEGO® bricks, K'Nex, etc
Watch a show together and chat about it
Make up your own board games
Play some video games together- The Switch has incredible multiplayer games, like Mario Kart, Splatoon, Mario Party, Undercooked, and Animal Crossing.
Write comic strips
Make up jokes
Ask them for book recommendations and then read together
Watch TV shows together
Find a recipe and cook it together
Invite them to help you with simple projects around the house
Take a big piece of paper out and have them design the perfect school or perfect city. What does it need? (From Katie Hurley)
22 Fun Open Ended Play Ideas for Kids
Open-ended play provides the perfect opportunity for children to explore, experiment, and express themselves freely, without constraints or predetermined outcomes.
From artistic endeavors to outdoor adventures, these play ideas encourage children to think outside the box, problem-solve, and engage in imaginative play that knows no boundaries.
To spark your child’s imagination and inspire hours of joyful play, we have curated inspired open ended play ideas for kids that will captivate their hearts and minds.
Get ready for a world of endless possibilities where fun and learning intertwine seamlessly. Let the adventure unfold!
Encourage your child’s artistic expression by taking them on a nature-inspired art exploration. Provide them with a basket or bag to collect various natural materials such as leaves, sticks, rocks, and flowers. Once gathered, spread out a large sheet of paper or canvas outdoors and let your child arrange their findings into a unique masterpiece. They can use the items as paintbrushes, create collages, or arrange them into intricate patterns. This open-ended activity not only encourages creativity but also fosters a deep appreciation for the beauty of nature.
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Unleash your child’s inner architect by challenging them to design and build structures using everyday materials such as cardboard boxes, blocks, or even recycled items. Provide them with tape, glue, and scissors, and watch as their imaginations come to life. Whether it’s a towering castle, a futuristic spaceship, or a cozy fort, this open-ended play idea allows children to explore engineering concepts, problem-solving, and spatial awareness while having endless fun constructing their own creations.
Set up a sensory play station filled with loose parts such as rice, sand, water beads, and fabric scraps. Encourage your child to freely explore and manipulate the materials, using their senses to engage in open-ended play. They can pour, scoop, build, and experiment, stimulating their tactile, visual, and auditory senses. This activity not only promotes sensory development but also enhances fine motor skills and fosters imaginative play as children create stories and scenarios with the materials.
Ignite your child’s storytelling skills with a DIY puppet theater. Using an old shoebox or a large cardboard cutout, create a stage for their imaginative tales to unfold. Provide them with a variety of materials such as socks, paper bags, or craft sticks to make their own puppets. Encourage your child to invent characters, scenes, and narratives, allowing their creativity to take center stage. This open-ended play idea not only enhances communication and language skills but also boosts confidence as children bring their stories to life.
Encourage your child to engage in inventive role play by creating a dress-up box filled with costumes, hats, props, and accessories. Let their imagination guide them as they transform into different characters and explore various scenarios. Whether they become brave superhero, a daring explorer, or a magical princess, this open-ended play idea promotes social skills, empathy, and storytelling abilities. It also provides an opportunity for children to express their emotions, problem-solve, and develop a deeper understanding of the world around them.
Create a construction zone for your child to unleash their inner builder. Provide them with building blocks, wooden planks, cardboard tubes, and other construction materials. Let them design and construct their own structures, such as towers, bridges, or even entire cities. This open-ended play idea promotes spatial reasoning, problem-solving, and fine motor skills, while also encouraging creativity and imaginative play.
Set up a sensory garden in your backyard or a designated area. Fill it with various plants, flowers, herbs, and sensory elements like wind chimes or textured surfaces. Encourage your child to explore the garden using their senses, smelling the flowers, feeling different textures, and listening to the sounds of nature. This open-ended play idea provides a calming and stimulating experience, allowing children to connect with the natural world and engage in sensory exploration.
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Set up a space for your child to explore music and movement freely. Provide a variety of instruments, such as drums, shakers, and tambourines, and play different types of music. Encourage your child to move their bodies, dance, and experiment with creating their own rhythms and melodies. This open-ended play idea promotes self-expression, coordination, and a love for music.
Help your child create an adventure map using paper, markers, and their imagination. Let them draw a map of a magical land or an undiscovered island, complete with mountains, rivers, and hidden treasures. Encourage them to create stories and adventures based on their map, allowing their imagination to take them on thrilling journeys. This open-ended play idea enhances storytelling skills, spatial awareness, and problem-solving abilities.
Set up a music jam session by gathering a variety of musical instruments, such as drums, shakers, bells, and a keyboard or guitar if available. Encourage your child to experiment with different sounds, rhythms, and melodies, allowing them to freely express themselves through music. This open-ended play idea fosters creativity, auditory development, and coordination, while also providing a fun and engaging outlet for self-expression.
Create an outdoor obstacle course using objects like hula hoops, cones, jump ropes, and pillows. Encourage your child to design their own course, incorporating different challenges such as crawling under the limbo stick, hopping through the hoops, and balancing on a beam. This open-ended play idea promotes physical activity, gross motor skills, problem-solving, and perseverance.
Set up a science experiment station where your child can explore and conduct their own experiments. Provide materials such as baking soda, vinegar, food coloring, magnifying glasses, and empty containers. Let them mix, observe, and make predictions about the outcomes of their experiments. This open-ended play idea fosters curiosity, critical thinking, and scientific inquiry, while also providing hands-on learning experiences.
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Encourage your child to put on an imaginative puppet show using puppets, stuffed animals, or even homemade sock puppets. Help them create a stage using a table, curtain, or cardboard box. Encourage them to develop a story, dialogue, and characters for their puppet show. This open-ended play idea enhances creativity, language development, storytelling skills, and imagination.
Collect recyclable materials such as cardboard tubes, egg cartons, and plastic containers, and challenge your child to build their own inventions using these materials. Encourage them to think creatively and problem-solve as they construct unique creations, whether it’s a robot, a spaceship, or a dollhouse. This open-ended play idea promotes recycling awareness, fine motor skills, spatial awareness, and imaginative thinking.
Set up a sensory play station with different colored playdough, cookie cutters, rolling pins, and other tools. Encourage your child to manipulate, mold, and shape the playdough using their hands and tools. They can create characters, animals, or even imaginary landscapes. This open-ended play idea stimulates tactile exploration, fine motor skills, creativity, and imagination.
Create a nature scavenger hunt for your child to explore the outdoors and engage with their surroundings. Make a list of items such as leaves, rocks, feathers, or specific types of plants or flowers. Provide them with a basket or bag to collect their findings. This open-ended play idea promotes observation skills, appreciation for nature, and a sense of adventure.
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Encourage your child to set up their own imaginary restaurant. They can create menus, design table settings, and even prepare simple pretend meals or snacks using play food or household items. This open-ended play idea promotes creativity, role-playing, social skills, and even basic math concepts as they engage in pretend cooking and serving.
Help your child create a puppet theater and puppets using socks, paper bags, or felt. Encourage them to develop a story or use a favorite book as inspiration. They can perform the story for you or even invite friends or family members to be part of the audience. This open-ended play idea nurtures imagination, language development, storytelling abilities, and self-expression.
Set up a water exploration station with containers, funnels, sponges, and water toys. Let your child experiment with pouring, scooping, and observing the properties of water. They can create their own mini waterfalls, conduct sink or float experiments, or even explore color mixing. This open-ended play idea encourages scientific inquiry, fine motor skills, and sensory exploration.
Help your child transform a space in your home into their very own art gallery. Provide them with art supplies such as paints, markers, crayons, and paper. Encourage them to create artwork and display them on the walls or a designated area. They can curate their gallery, invite family members to view the art, and even write artist statements or descriptions. This open-ended play idea fosters creativity, self-expression, confidence, and an appreciation for art
Have you ever watched your child drop a toy over and over just to see what happens? Or scoop and pour water for what feels like hours? This is exploratory play, one way young children learn.
They discover how things work by touching, stacking, mixing, and experimenting while also building confidence and problem-solving skills.
The best part? You don’t need fancy toys or structured activities. In this post, we’ll explore exploratory play, why it matters, and simple ways to encourage it at home.
Invite messy, smelling, or yummy play that uses their senses.
What Is Exploratory Play?
Exploratory play is all about discovery. It’s one of the earliest ways children learn, using their senses—touch, taste, smell—and often engaging their whole bodies.
You might see toddlers pouring, stacking, shaking, or dipping their fingers into paint just to see what happens. This type of play is driven by curiosity. When a child splashes water, tears paper, knocks over a stack of blocks, or bangs on a pot to hear the sound, they explore cause and effect, textures, and movement.
Unlike structured play, which follows set rules or instructions, exploratory play is open-ended. There’s no right or wrong way—children decide what to do, how to do it, and what interests them most.
Curiosity is at the heart of learning. When children are free to explore, they develop problem-solving skills, creativity, and confidence in figuring things out. This hands-on discovery lays the foundation for later learning in science, math, and critical thinking.
All the areas of development that exploration play supports:
Cognitive – problem-solving, making connections, and understanding cause and effect.
Sensory – engaging touch, taste, smell, sound, and movement.
Social-emotional – building independence and learning through trial and error.
Exploratory play can happen anywhere—with water, sand, cardboard boxes, kitchen tools, or whatever sparks a child’s interest. The key is letting kids follow their natural curiosity.
How to Encourage Exploratory Play at Home
Exploratory play thrives in an environment that encourages curiosity, trial and error, and questioning. Your role is to provide age-appropriate materials, opportunities, and just enough support to reduce frustration without taking over.
Create a “Yes Space”
Set up a safe play area where your child can explore without constant supervision or restrictions.
Offer Open-Ended Materials
Provide items they can use in different ways, such as:
Blocks, stacking cups, and containers
Scoops, spoons, and bowls
Fabric, ribbons, and scarves
Natural materials like sticks, pinecones, and leaves
Follow Your Child’s Interest and Join in With Their Discoveries and Excitement
Let them decide how to play. Resist the urge to direct or correct—exploratory play is about the process, not the result.
Allow Plenty of Unstructured Playtime
Unscheduled time lets children follow their curiosity without rushing to the next activity.
Rotate Toys and Materials
Introduce new objects or change up their play space to keep things fresh and “new.”
Engage the Senses
Encourage messy, smelly, noisy, and even tasty play. Activities like water play, sensory bins, and playing with different textures help deepen exploration.
Encourage Hands-On Discovery
Invite your child to take things apart and put them back together.
Ask open-ended questions: What do you notice? How does it feel? Why do you think that happened?
Play alongside them! As they build with blocks, talk about shapes, sizes, and patterns to expand their thinking.
Get Outside
Nature is full of opportunities for exploration. Encourage your child to observe colors, textures, and scents, dig in the dirt, listen to birds, or splash in puddles.
By providing the right environment and materials without over-structuring the experience, you can help your child develop a lifelong love of learning through play.
Benefits of Exploratory Play
Resourcefulness | The ability to find and use resources to create a solution.
Critical thinking skills | The ability to evaluate information and use reasonable judgment to solve problems.
Problem-solving skills | The ability to use one’s imagination and logic to find a solution.
Increased self-esteem | Increasing one’s value and self-worth, for example, “Knowing I am loved.”
Increased self-confidence: Building trust in your own abilities, such as “Knowing I can do this.“
Break out the boredom busters and keep your little ones busy with our list of 40+ indoor activities.
These play blocks not only promote exploratory play, but they inspire creative building. So, grab some building toys for toddlers and get your child exploring!
As your child engages in constructive play, they see the ideas they imagine come to life. Let’s explore what construction play is all about! Constructive play includes loose parts, small world development and play, building with blocks or Legos, playdough, felt etc. It overlays into both science and the arts through adding a bit of discussion and/or clever demonstrations.
What is constructive play?
A constructive play definition- Also known as construction play, is about manipulating, shaping, or constructing something. In other words, constructive play is creating and building with different types of materials.
It involves various methods such as putting together, taking apart, stacking, molding, sorting, and more. However, most important is that children are connecting and interacting with their environment.
Constructive play typically starts around the age of two, when children can focus on one activity for extended periods. Previously children have been through an exploratory phase using their senses for investigation and discovery.
Usually, this involves simple and repetitive actions, like banging blocks or moving blocks from place to place. This exploratory phase helps prepare them to begin constructing. During construction play, their movements are more purposeful.
They have moved from exploring the materials to creating something. Nowhere is this transition more evident than during the stages of block play, from simply knowing how a block feels to building a basic tower.
Through constructive play, they get to see and feel things for themselves.
A key component of constructive play is that it is open-ended. That kids are using materials to creatively and intentionally build something.
The open-ended materials can take many forms, for example, playdough, sand, water, recycled materials, and all types of blocks for kids. Through construction play, children engage their imagination and creativity while sparking their curiosity.
Construction play is a form of hands-on inquiry where children, by nature, discover and explore things for themselves. They gather information, experiment, and questions while engaging in constructive play.
Kids build, stack, construct, and draw as they test various materials. For example, they can make a sandcastle, compose a sidewalk chalk mural, or build a city with blocks and loose parts.
Children learn through their interactions and experiences in the physical and social world.
Compose a sidewalk chalk mural
Benefits of constructive play
Constructive play offers an unlimited world of opportunities for exploration and discovery. Children experience using various materials and tools to put things together, test ideas, solve problems, and stretch their imaginations.
As we have discussed in other articles about block play, construction play shares many of the same benefits. The encouragement of constructive play is valuable because it reinforces open-ended, free play and allows children to be children. It will enable them to explore their own ideas and connect them to the world around them.
Here are some of the construction play benefits your child may experience:
Physical Development
Construction play requires the use of both fine and gross motor skills to build something. By strengthening these motor skills, fine motor and gross motor activities can better shape and control their environment, empowering them.
Social-emotional Development
Where the building happens, so will the children. Whether inside or out, kids love to create and build. Constructive play encourages group interaction and strengthens social skills.
There is something special about a group of kids working together to make something. This cooperative play is where they learn teamwork and collaboration. By working together, they learn to take turns, share, and take risks. They build self-esteem and a sense of accomplishment while learning to control their emotions.
Cognitive Development
Construction play encourages cognitive development by allowing kids to regulate and control their thinking. It requires trial and error. As children think, plan, and assess their actions, they develop problem-solving skills.
The way a child approaches their building with persistence to overcome any problems. They experiment with different materials finding new ways to use them. They try new methods and modify them when needed if something doesn’t work. This is problem-solving at its best.
Language Development
Constructive play helps kids become better communicators. They expand their vocabulary by using building words like over, under, and on top.
Placing signs around the construction play zone increases the connection between the written and spoken word. The encouragement of an adult who engages with open-ended questions supports language development.
Hands-on Exploration And Curiosity
Kids absorb information better through hands-on exploration rather than formal instruction. They learn to connect to their world and explore how materials can represent different objects (i.e., a stack of blocks becomes a skyscraper). Through constructive play, they get to see and feel things for themselves.
Imagination And Creativity
Construction play ignites your child’s imagination and creativity. Children use their creativity for planning and designing their creations. At the same time, they use their imaginations to create imaginary worlds, which leads to pretend play.
Creative and constructive play works best when you…
Now that we know what constructive play is and why it is important let’s look at how we can support and encourage it. Most importantly, we must understand and believe in the value of this type of play and ALL kinds of play.
Play comes naturally, and we should advocate for children to be children as long as possible—enough time each day needs to be allotted for play, including construction play. Our children should be encouraged to enjoy, explore, and experience the thrill of constructive play.
Provide Adult Support
We can support constructive play by:
Providing spaces that are safe, accessible, and full of open-ended materials
Encouraging construction play activities, whether inside or outside
Having interaction with children and asking open-ended questions
Helping them document their discoveries and creations
NOT directing it, but merely providing support to the play
Encouraging constructive play activities inside and out
Add Inspiring Materials
Constructive play is essential for young children. What’s important here is to supply a variety of materials that are open-ended with no specific outcome. Where the kids control and determine how they are used to create something.
Continually adding new and stimulating elements while removing others keeps it fresh and exciting. Keep developmental stages and choking hazards in mind when sourcing your materials.
Camera and sketching materials for documenting their creations
Play Indoors or Outdoors
Constructive play should not be limited to just indoor block play. Again, the premise of construction play is about your child’s interaction with their environment. Changing how the materials and your child interact encourages a variety of constructive play.
Taking the easels and paints outside adds an additional dimension to the play. Additionally, encouraging children to use traditional materials in new and innovative ways creates more opportunities for construction play. For example, painting on a fence or drawing with chalk on the sidewalk.
Engineer rivers and dams in the mud or sand
Blend It with Imaginative Play
Children have a natural tendency to combine construction play with imaginative play. As they build and create, they begin to try on and test how they experience the world. For instance, they may stack a few blocks, add some animals, and call it a zoo.
From there, they pretended how they would spend their day at the zoo. Or they might make something entirely imaginary, like an amusement park on Mars. This is the time to entertain their fantasy and ask them about their amusement park and Mars.
What is important is that your child is using their imagination with no rules or expectations.
Create Time and Space
Constructive play requires time. Allowing enough time for your child to create without interruptions is essential. Creating a block center and outdoor space for other materials is beneficial. Adding, combining, and changing elements creates an environment conducive to constructive play.
Induct Their Creations Into The “Hall of Fame”
While some of their constructions may be able to last for a while, most of them will be temporary in nature. However difficult this might be for some, it is an essential part of the learning experience. To help bridge the learning curve:
Take a picture
Make a video
Have your child draw or sketch their creations
Record what they say about their creations
Then they can enjoy the fun of knocking it all down just to build it again tomorrow.
Constructive play examples
We tend to go straight to block play and traditional building sets when we think of construction play. Yet, constructive play activities also include many other options.
Expand construction play by inviting your child to experience one or more of the activities below.
Assemble an outside fort with tires, hay bales, milk crates, and other large boxes
Build an inside hide-out from sheets, blankets, tables, and chairs. Construct a tunnel from recycled boxes and other materials
Create art from natural materials found on a nature walk.
Design and build a city with wooden building blocks, train and road tracks
Engineer rivers and dams in the mud or sand with plastic pipe pieces
Inspire children to draw building ideas with a clipboard, paper, and pencil
Make something using scraps of wood and strong glue to introduce woodworking
Organize and construct an obstacle course
Sculpt sandcastles
Set up construction challenges that encourage collaboration and problem-solving
Shape something from playdough and craft materials
Do you have a favorite memory of building or creating something?
I do; I loved visiting my aunt’s house, which had all the great wooden building toys. She had Tinker Toys and Lincoln Logs, something we did not have at our home. See, she had two boys, and I was a girl.
We have included resources below to help you plan and engage in these activities right at home.
Themes Help Give You Cause to Celebrate
Children who enjoy music, explore cooking, build things, get creative, and embrace their families learn so much!
We’ve provided hands-on, collaborative activities that encourage movement and healthy lifestyles through music, food, and art for use throughout the week. We hope the activities listed below inspire you.
Spread the word: NAEYC invites you to share the news about WOYC and include ways families can participate at home. Use social media, send a newsletter, write a blog post, or create a video sharing why you celebrate Week of the Young Child. Remember to use the hashtag #WOYC25.
Inform parents and families: Ensure parents are in the loop by sending them all the necessary details. You can do this through email, handouts, text messages, or hosting a virtual kick-off event. Include information about WOYC, upcoming events, and supplies their children might need.
Prepare your activities: With a busy week ahead, it’s essential to have your activities and supplies ready. Keep yourself organized by creating a calendar or spreadsheet outlining each day’s activities and the necessary supplies. This way, you’ll be all set to go!
Create your playlist for Music Monday.
Gather your ingredients for your Tasty Tuesday activity.
Refill your arts and crafts supplies for Artsy Thursday.
Music Monday:
Monday is all about music! Whether you’re singing, dancing, or playing musical instruments, it’s time to make some noise and have fun.
Musical activities are a fantastic way for kids to grow their language and early literacy skills while encouraging movement.
Let’s Celebrate Music Monday:
Sing-along: Have the kids sing and dance to their favorite tunes. Provide different musical instruments so they can create their own sounds and rhythms.
Echo Singing: Take turns singing short melodies and have kids repeat them like an echo.
Host A Concert: Coordinate a mini-concert or show where the kids can sing, dance, or play instruments. Invite parents to join in the fun.
Read Music Books: Read books to the children. Check out these perfect picks!
Make Up A Song: Let the kids learn a new song or create one of their own, then record it to share with others!
Learn A Dance: Teach them a dance routine to a fun, catchy tune. Encourage free-flowing movement by adding scarves or other accessories.
Movement Chain: One child starts a movement (like clapping or stomping), and each child adds on, creating a group dance.
Make Instruments: Encourage their creativity by helping them craft their own instruments from household items.
Have a Parade: March around the house or classroom, playing real or homemade instruments the kids made.
Start A Band: Use the instruments the kids made or create a drum section with various pots, pans, and buckets!
Music & Art Connection: Listen to different types of music and let kids paint or draw what they hear.
Musical Games: Plan games like musical chairs, statues, or bingo. They’re a fun way to boost listening skills and get the kids moving.
Nature’s Music: Go outside and listen for sounds in nature, then try to mimic them with voices or instruments.
Sound Exploration: Fill containers (think yogurt cups with lids or empty water bottles) with various materials (rice, beans, coins, water) and shake them to explore different sounds.
Ways to Celebrate with Simple, Healthy Options and Staying Active!
Try Meal Prep or Cooking: Get the kids to create a healthy meal together. Try these Healthy Packed Lunch Ideas
Host A Themed Meal: How about Taco Tuesday for lunch? Incorporate reading a book like Dragons Love Tacos and set up a pretend play taco truck.
What about a pizza party? Include a read of Pete the Cat and the Perfect Pizza Party and set up a pretend pizzeria where kids can take orders, make, and serve pizza!
Make Butter: Shake heavy cream in a jar until it becomes butter. Spread it on crackers or bread to taste.
Have A Picnic: If the weather’s nice, take your meal outdoors for a picnic!
Let’s Have a Tasting Party: Have each child bring a favorite healthy food or snack. Then, let the kids try all the foods, introducing new textures and flavors.
Play with Food Textures: Let kids touch, smell, and describe different food textures before tasting them.
Gardening Activities: Spend time in the garden, where the children can plant seeds, water plants, or pick fruits and veggies. No garden? Plant these easy-to-grow seeds (carrot, bean, tomato, or strawberry) in cups and watch them grow. They will learn about food sources and why eating healthy is essential. Read Up in the Garden and Down in the Dirtby Kate Messner (Author) and Christopher Silas Neal (Illustrator).
Host a Food Drive: Get the kids involved in a food drive to gather and donate non-perishable items to a community food pantry. It emphasizes the importance of helping those less fortunate and giving back.
Create a Classroom Cookbook: Compile a recipe book with each child’s favorite family recipe. Have them include a picture they drew to accompany their recipe.
Kitchen Science: Explore food reactions, like making fizzy lemonade with lemon juice and baking soda.
Food Art: Let kids create pictures using fruits, veggies, or other foods before eating them
Want to Step it Up? Discover culture-specific foods that your young learners enjoy at home. Connect with the families by exploring the history and tradition behind these dishes. Encourage the children to share stories about their favorite recipes. Introduce new ingredients, create a recipe book with the children’s pictures, and share it with the community. Keep a class copy or make copies for each child to take home.
Today, let’s celebrate teamwork and the three C’s – communication, collaboration, and cooperation!
Studies indicate that children with solid social skills are happier, experience less stress, and exhibit better behavior. It makes sense; kids who struggle to communicate are more likely to feel frustrated and anxious.
Learning to work with others is crucial, especially for young children. Their social-emotional development can impact growth and other skills later in life.
Providing activities where kids build things together is essential. These activities foster teamwork and offer practice for social-emotional skills like peer interaction and cooperation.
Encourage children to work together, learn, and feel accomplished with these social-emotional activities for Work Together Wednesday:
Fun with Parachute Play: Lift it up and down together, and make balls fly high off the chute. It’s all about teamwork—count, lift, and hold onto your part of the parachute. Here are 37 parachute games to try!
Large Group Murals: Invite the children to color, paint, or create something together, promoting communication, cooperation, and collaboration. Help the children use markers, paints, paper, and other materials you have on hand. They learn to make decisions and share ideas, preferences, and techniques by working side-by-side.
Group Storytelling: Start a story and let each child add a sentence or action to build it together.
Cooperative Games: Go on a group scavenger hunt or have a relay race. These games build gross motor skills and help the kids work together, problem-solve, and develop social skills. Here are 30 Quick Scavenger Hunt Ideas.
Friendship Web: Sit in a circle with a ball of yarn, toss it to a friend while saying something kind, and create a web of connections.
Obstacle Course: Build an obstacle course in teams, then run relays through it.
Build A Block Tower: No blocks? No problem! Use cans, books, empty cereal boxes, shoe boxes, or a mix of these items! Try these block activities.
Fort Building: Help the kids get creative and build forts from pillows and blankets. Discuss why firmer pillows might work better for the walls and softer ones for the floor.
Giant Cardboard Creations: Use large boxes to build something as a group, like a car, rocket, or playhouse
Outside Building Projects: Is the weather too nice to stay inside? Build your own adventure with large cardboard boxes, rocks, sticks, and branches!
Shadow Play Teamwork: Have kids work in pairs to create shadow puppets that tell a story together.
Sensory Bin Challenge: Hide small objects in a sensory bin and have kids work together to find and sort them.
Community Service Projects: Kids can work together to help their community by planning a service project. Here are a few suggestions that teach teamwork, empathy, and social responsibility:
Clean up a playground or park.
Plant a community garden.
Build care packages for hospitals or shelters.
Make cards or write letters for older adults.
Household Chores: Encourage children to help with household chores, such as picking up their toys, setting the table, or matching socks. This will foster responsibility, teamwork, and a sense of contributing to the family.
Art exploration helps children develop creativity, fine motor coordination, and social skills. They thrive when engaged in open-ended art, where they can use their imaginations and create with their hands.
On Artsy Thursday, celebrate the joy and learning children experience through creative art. Use any materials available, from paint to playdough, fabric to crafts!
Young Children’s Art Activities To Try:
Art With Playdough: Let’s get creative by making art with playdough to boost creativity and fine motor skills. Add glitter to your favorite microwave play dough recipe for a special touch.
Self-Portrait: Encourage kids to draw themselves outside with sidewalk chalk.
Arts & Crafts: Get creative as a group with a craft project.
Shadow Tracing: Set up a light source and have kids trace the shadows of objects or their own hands to make creative designs.
Sticker Collage: Provide a variety of stickers and let kids create a themed collage or story with them.
Have A Fashion Show: Let your kids dress up in crazy costumes or outfits for a fashion show! Add lots of fun accessories to boost imagination and creativity!
Partner Art: Have kids take turns adding to a drawing or painting to create a shared masterpiece.
Color Outside the Lines: Provide crayons, markers, chalk, and other materials for a day of outdoor art. You can also use light and dark paper, pastels, and chalk to create day and night sky scenes.
Process Art Activities: For hands-on fun, experiment with process art such as marble painting, splatter painting, or painting with materials like pasta, beads, or feathers.
Nature Printmaking: Gather leaves, flowers, or other natural materials and press them into paint to create prints.
Art-themed Storytime: Read books like “The Dot” or “Ish”by Peter H. Reynolds and make art inspired by the stories.
Community Art Project: Create art, such as a mural or sculpture, to promote teamwork, collaboration, and community involvement.
Art-themed Science Experiments: Foster curiosity, experimentation, and creativity by engaging children in science activities such as color mixing or making homemade paint
Decorate T-shirts: Invite families to provide plain T-shirts for their children. Let kids decorate their own shirts with fabric markers and paints. Once dry, have the kids wear them on Family Friday. For older kids, consider allowing them to create unique designs with tie-dye.
Outdoor Art: Take the kids outside and let them paint. Encourage them to paint what they see using natural materials like sticks and leaves.
Sensory Art: Stimulate the children’s senses by finger painting with ground coffee beans and tea leaves.
Tape-Resist Art: Use painter’s tape to create designs on paper or canvas, then paint over them. Peel the tape to reveal the patterns! Check out these 13 tape painting ideas.
Upcycled Art: Create art projects using recycled materials such as egg cartons, toilet paper rolls, and plastic bottles.
Art Gallery Walk: This event promotes creativity, self-confidence, and art appreciation by displaying children’s artwork for everyone to enjoy.
Want to Step it Up? Share your kids’ art with others:
Set up a gallery at a library or local business.
Make a digital gallery online or share photos on social media with #WOYC25.
Create a print book to share with family and friends.
Family Friday rounds out the Week of the Young Child 2025 by celebrating families. NAEYC recognizes family members’ vital role as children’s first and most important teachers.
Understanding a child’s family dynamics and partnering with parents helps create a supportive environment for the child. Engaging parents can significantly impact a child’s learning and development!
Family Friday focuses on engaging families to support our youngest learners.
Here are a few ways to celebrate Family Friday, show appreciation, and foster partnerships. Choose one or many!
Family Friday Breakfast: Help the children prepare and share breakfast with their parents.
Family Picnic: Encourage families to enjoy a picnic together.
Family Show And Tell: Let each child show and tell something special about their family. Invite them to share photos of the family playing and learning together.
Family Photos: Invite families to send photos for display or a slideshow. This activity will help kids feel closer to their families and promote family participation in their education.
Family Handprint Keepsake – Create a layered handprint painting or clay impression with each family member’s hand.
Family Story Time: Host a family storytime where families can read their favorite books to the class, fostering a love for reading and literacy.
Cook a Family Recipe – Choose a special family dish to cook and discuss its meaning.
Family Cultural Sharing: Invite families to share their traditions, food, or music with the class to promote diversity and cultural awareness.
Family Game Day: To foster the love of play, family unity, and social skills development, organize a family game day where families can play games with their children and other families.
Family Volunteer Day: Support teamwork, social responsibility, and community involvement. Plan a family volunteer day where families can volunteer their time to help with a classroom or community service project.
Family Tree: Help children connect with their beginnings by using this free template to make a family tree with them and explore family connections.
Family Storytelling Night – Take turns creating a story together, adding to it as you go.
Family Collage: Have children bring in family photos for a collage or drawing of a family portrait.
Family Time: Encourage families to spend quality time together through family dinners, movies, or game nights.
Use these activity ideas to celebrate! We encourage you to learn more about the history of the Week of the Young Child and advocate for Early Childhood Education. For more information on WOYC from NAEYC, click here. What activities can families do at home?
Almost 60 activities are listed above for your family. Choose activities that promote creativity, learning, and relationships, such as storytelling, art projects, outdoor adventures, family picnics, and game nights.
Getting kids outside is a simple way to support their growth and development. Running, jumping, climbing, and playing in nature strengthen their muscles and motor skills while giving them space to be curious and creative.
Outdoor play isn’t just great for movement—it also encourages problem-solving and social skills, whether stacking rocks, chasing bubbles, or playing a game with friends. Simple activities in the backyard, at the park, or on a nature walk give kids plenty of ways to play, grow, and learn!
We know finding time for outdoor activities can be challenging. That’s why we’ve put together plenty of easy activities to keep your little ones engaged.
Let’s get started—there’s always something waiting to be discovered!
For some fun outside activities, just head to the backyard or park!
Outdoor Discovery & Nature Exploration
Kids are natural explorers, and the outdoors is full of things to see, hear, and touch. These simple activities encourage curiosity, spark imagination, and help kids foster a love of nature.
1. Backyard Bingo
It’s a simple game for all ages. Make bingo cards with pictures of everyday outdoor items—like leaves, birds, or rocks. As your child spots each item, they mark it off. Five in a row means bingo!
2. Cloud Watching
Spread out a blanket and look up at the sky. Ask your child what shapes, animals, or objects they see in the clouds. Watch how the clouds shift and change, and talk about what might happen.
3. Dandelion Wishes
Find dandelions that have gone to seed. Show your child how to blow the seeds into the air while making a wish. Watch together as the seeds float away and talk about where they might land.
4. Go On a Bug Hunt
Suggest that your child lead the family on a bug expedition. Encourage them to find as many different bugs as possible and then tell you what they know about each one.
5. Listening to Nature Sounds
Sit quietly outside with your child and listen to the sounds around you. Do birds they hear birds chirping, leaves rustling, or maybe even a distant dog barking? Try closing your eyes to focus even more on the different sounds.
6. Miniature World Discovery
Mark off a small area (2 feet x 2 feet) for exploration. Then, watch your child as they dig up and examine their discoveries.
7. Nature Scavenger Hunt
Work with your kids to create a scavenger hunt list of things to collect in nature. You can build lists around different categories, such as color (things blue in nature), texture (soft things in nature), or shape (square things in nature).
Next, head out on a walk to see how many items your child can find. Be sure to bring along something to collect all their riches! When you are finished collecting, consider these wooden blocks for kids to showcase their treasures and add beauty to your block play area.
Collect multiple of the same items from nature, such as rocks, leaves, pinecones, pods, shells, or feathers. Use sticks to create a tic-tac-toe board. Then, play a game with your child.
9. Nature Trivia
Create a set of age-appropriate nature trivia questions. One set of nature trivia for kids and one set of nature trivia questions for adults. Place each inquiry along a trail in your neighborhood, park, or backyard.
Provide an answer sheet for each participant or group. Depending on the children’s ages, you can do this individually, in pairs, or as a family.
10. Nature Walks
Go on a walk with your child and look for things in nature to collect. Consider taking a nature book (from home or the library) to help identify items found along the way. If you have a set of compact wooden nesting blocks with magnification, bring them along.
Pro tip: Save all their treasures to make a nature tray or the outside arts & crafts below.
11. Outdoor Activity Cards
These are ideal for solving the dreaded “I’m Bored!” Create individual cards with fun, simple outdoor activities your child can complete when they can’t think of anything to do – for example:
Read a book in a hammock.
Play a board game under a tree.
Catch raindrops on your tongue.
Jump in the puddles.
Make a maze with sticks or rocks.
Play hopscotch.
Fly a kite.
Blow bubbles.
12. Sensory Walk
Take off your shoes and walk barefoot on different surfaces, such as grass, dirt, sand, or smooth stones. Encourage your child to describe how each one feels—soft, rough, cool, or warm. This helps build body awareness and strengthens the child’s sense of touch.
13. Stargazing Adventure
Head outside on a clear night to gaze at the stars and create memories. See if your child can spot bright stars or patterns in the sky. Use a star chart or an app to find constellations together.
Creative & Outdoor Art Activities
Taking art outside gives children more space to create and explore with different materials. Many indoor craft activities can also be easily adapted into outdoor art activities.
The following activities use nature as inspiration and encourage hands-on fun with colors, textures, and movement.
4. Build a Fairy House
Gather sticks, leaves, and rocks to build a tiny house for bugs, fairies, or imaginary friends. Encourage your child to design walls, a roof, or even tiny furniture using natural materials.
15. Create A Nature Collage
Have the kids collect things on their nature walk and then glue them to a piece of paper, creating a one-of-a-kind collage.
16. Giant Outdoor Art
Secure a large sheet of paper to a fence or lay it on the ground. Have your child create with paint, markers, or nature brushes, such as leaves and pinecones. This gives kids plenty of space to explore colors and textures while making their own big masterpieces.
17. Ice Cube Painting
Freeze colored ice cubes with popsicle sticks as handles. Once frozen, let kids slide the ice cubes across paper or pavement to “paint,” watching the colors blend as the ice melts. This is a simple, hands-on way to explore art, color mixing, and some science!
18. Leaf Rubbings
An alternative to painting the leaves is to use them to complete leaf rubbings. Simply lay the leaf between two pieces of paper and run a crayon or colored pencil over the top paper. The leaf details will magically appear!
19. Make Nature Bracelets
Wrap a strip of masking tape (sticky side out) around your child’s wrist. Head outside to collect small leaves, petals, and grass to stick onto the bracelet. It’s a simple way to explore textures and colors while creating a wearable piece of nature art.
20. Paint A Hiking Stick
What kid doesn’t love having their own hiking stick to take on their outdoor expedition? Help them find the perfect stick to create a one-of-a-kind with paint.
21. Paint Leaves
Collect large leaves and decorate them with paint, glitter, beads, feathers, and more!
22. Paint Rocks
Gather relatively flat rocks with a smooth surface and paint them! For children who know how to print their names, have them write a letter on each rock and then use the stones to spell out their names in the garden.
23. Painting with Nature
This technique uses natural materials, such as pinecones, grass, flowers, leaves, or twigs, to create a unique art piece. Simply dip them in paint, then brush, roll, or splatter to create a design.
24. Sidewalk Chalk Ideas
Keeping a bucket of sidewalk chalk on hand means you always have plenty of chalk activities to keep the kids busy. Chalk art ideas might include creating murals, patterns, paintings, or designs on the sidewalk, driveway, or fence.
Sidewalk chalk games are a fantastic way to spend an afternoon outside. Think sidewalk chalk hopscotch. How about drawing a maze or obstacle course on your driveway? Whichever you choose will require only chalk and a little effort to create.
You can make them as simple or challenging as needed to suit your child’s skills. Plus, they will love moving through it over and over.
25. Spray Bottle Art
Fill spray bottles with diluted paint and let your child spray paint onto a large sheet of paper. You can tape the paper to the fence, an outside wall, or the ground. This activity strengthens small hands and fingers while letting children explore colors.
Mud & Water Play
Scooping, mixing, and splashing are what make water play so much fun. These activities let little ones explore different textures, build fine motor skills, and enjoy messy, hands-on learning.
Playing outside might mean the kids get dirty, but a little dirt never hurts, so encourage them to dig a hole, make mud pies, or find worms and bugs.
Pro tip: To make clean-up fun, let them run through the sprinklers!
26. Float or Sink Items
Gather leaves, sticks, pinecones, and small rocks, then drop them into a tub of water to see which ones float or sink. Encourage your child to make guesses before testing each item—it’s a simple way to explore science through play!
27. Jump in Puddles
Let your kids stomp, splash, and jump in puddles after a rainy day (or with some help from the hose). This activity builds coordination and balance while allowing kids to explore cause and effect in a fun, hands-on way.
28. Mud Kitchen Fun
Set up a play kitchen outside with bowls, spoons, and dirt to mix up “mud pies” and other creations.
Mud pies: Mix pretend pies using a bucket, dirt, and water. Decorate with leaves, sticks, or flowers.
Nature Soup: Collect leaves, flowers, and small twigs in a bucket of water and stir up some pretend “soup.” As a child, this was one of my favorite outside activities.
29. Plant a Vegetable Garden
Consider planting easy-to-grow vegetables like carrots, green beans, peas, radishes, zucchini, or cherry tomatoes with your kids. You might also try strawberries!
Pro tip: Check what works best for your growing zone, and then plant away.
30. Scoop and Pour Water Play
Set up a water bin with cups, bowls, strainers, basters, and spoons. Then, let your child scoop, pour, and transfer water between containers. This simple activity strengthens fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination and keeps kids engaged for hours.
31. Water Balloon Games
Fill up water balloons and try different games, such as tossing them back and forth, aiming for a target, or stomping to make them pop. Cooling off while practicing coordination and teamwork.
32. Water Paint the Fence, Sidewalk, or Driveway
So easy! All you need is a bucket of water and a paintbrush. Then, let them “paint” the fence, driveway, or sidewalk. They’ll love watching their marks disappear as the water dries, and it’s a mess-free way to practice brush strokes and creativity.
Movement & Gross Motor Activities
Running, jumping, and balancing help children build strength and coordination. These activities encourage movement and allow children to practice big-body skills outside.
For more outdoor activity ideas, try these gross motor activities. Remember, outdoor play is beneficial to adults, too! So join the fun.
33. Balance Beam (or Log) Walk
Lay down a wooden beam or a sturdy log and invite your child to walk across without falling off. This simple challenge strengthens coordination, concentration, and core strength.
34. Balloon Games
Blow up a balloon and try different games, such as keeping it in the air, hitting it back and forth with hands or fly swatters, or setting up a simple tennis match. Balloon play is excellent for hand-eye coordination and safe for all ages. Try more balloon games here.
35. Blow Bubbles
Bubbles are a childhood classic. Every year, we included them in the kids’ Easter baskets when they were growing up. Children can dip a bubble wand and watch the bubbles float away.
They can also try catching them, popping them with different body parts, or seeing how far they can travel—this is a simple way to enjoy outdoor play.
36. Build an Obstacle Course
Set up a course with giant blocks, chairs, pillows, or other outdoor objects. Kids can climb over, crawl under, and jump between stations, encouraging problem-solving, balance, and full-body movement.
37. Classic Outdoor Games
Encourage kids to get physical and play the classics like Duck, Duck, Goose, Freeze Tag, or Mother May I. These simple, high-energy games help toddlers practice listening, following directions, and playing with others.
Follow the Leader: Take turns leading and have everyone copy their movements, such as hopping, skipping, stomping, or waving their arms. This is a fun way to build coordination while encouraging kids to be creative.
Hopscotch: Draw a hopscotch grid with chalk or use flat stones to create one outside. Teach your child to toss a rock and jump through the spaces on one foot, building balance, and number recognition.
Red Light, Green Light: One person calls out “Green Light” to signal everyone to move forward and “Red Light” to make them stop. This ideal game makes practicing listening skills, self-control, and quick movements fun.
Shadow Tag: Like tag, players try to step on each other’s shadows instead of touching them. It is a great way to keep kids active while making them more aware of their surroundings.
Simon Says: Try adapting this classic game with nature-themed movements, such as “hop like a bunny,” “flap like a bird,” or “wiggle like a worm.” It builds listening skills and gets kids moving in playful ways.
38. Fly a Kite
Pick a breezy day and take a kite to an open space. Let your child run while holding the kite string, and watch it lift into the sky. This is a fun way to explore the wind.
39. Hula Hoop Fun
Try spinning the hoop around the waist, rolling it on the ground, or jumping in and out. Hula hoops are a great way to get kids moving and build coordination.
40. Make a Maze
Use sticks, rocks, or chalk to create a simple maze on the ground. Let your child walk, run, or crawl through it, figuring out the best way to reach the end.
41. Pinecone Toss
Set up buckets or chalk-drawn circles as targets, and have kids toss pinecones to see if they can land inside. This fun game will help kids practice aim and coordination using natural materials.
Pro tip: If pinecones aren’t available, use small balls, rolled-up socks, water balloons, or other round items.
42. Roll Down a Hill
Here is one to enjoy the outdoors without any preparation, or supplies. Find a safe, grassy hill and let your child roll down. Let them feel the motion and laughter that comes with it.
Pro tip: If you have older kids, let them try a piece of cardboard to slide down the hill for a thrill ride.
43. Stack Rocks
For a variation on block play, use rocks instead of wooden blocks. Collect different-sized rocks and see how many or how high your child can stack them before they fall over. This hands-on activity builds patience, fine motor skills, and an understanding of balance.
While this list of outdoor activities is just a sampling of all the fun things to do outside, we are sure you will find plenty to do.
While there are many things to do outside at home, sometimes it is nice to experience new fun outdoor activities for children. Consider exploring your local zoos, gardens, farms, parks, and hiking trails.
Google “outside activities for kids near me,” “things to do outside in your neighborhood,” “free outdoor activities for kids,” or “nature activities for kids” to discover ideas from the visitor’s bureau, chamber of commerce, nature center, or local parks and recreation sites.
Outdoor Fun
Being outside sparks your child’s curiosity as they climb trees, pick flowers, toss rocks, splash in streams, and look for animals.
Part of the fun is using cool tools for exploring. Things like:
Are perfect for examining natural, tactile, and other detailed materials found in nature.
Encourage exploration of the small wonders of nature. With their unbreakable acrylic inset windows, your child can investigate their surroundings.
Unlike traditional magnifying glasses, this wooden block set is safe and sturdy for all your preschooler’s fun outdoor activities.
These wooden blocks for kids will help you introduce your preschooler to science, inspire them to examine nature close up, and allow them to display their special nature trinkets.
Outdoor play isn’t just about having fun—it’s essential for healthy development. Fresh air, movement, and unstructured play support physical, mental, and social growth.
You don’t need to plan every moment or entertain them nonstop. Just get outside and let their imaginations run wild. Climbing, digging, building, and pretend play all come naturally when kids have the space to move and explore.
With so many ways to play, your kids will fall in love with nature in no time! Plus, daily outdoor play naturally reduces screen time—it’s a win-win.
Running, jumping, and hands-on activities keep kids engaged while strengthening motor skills, coordination, and balance.
Bring the fun outside with constructive play! Whether stacking wooden building blocks or creating obstacle courses, open-ended play is just as exciting outdoors.
Remember when your parents sent you outside to play? They were right! The benefits of outdoor play last a lifetime—so let’s keep the tradition going.
Children Who Spend Time Outdoors In Nature Are More Likely To:
Be physically active, preventing health issues like obesity, diabetes, and heart disease.
Have a stronger immune system making them sick less often.
Be calmer with less stress.
Enjoy greater concentration, an improved mood, and a better night’s sleep.
After all your exploring, be sure to save those things your child found outside. The materials collected can be used in nature crafts, including this nature tray.
So, what are you waiting for? Let’s embark on outdoor discovery, laughter, and endless memories. Adventure awaits, my friend!
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Providing open ended play materials allows children the opportunity to be curious, creative and direct their own play. There are no rules or expectations for how a play item must be used, no specific steps to follow, no right or wrong way, no ultimate goal to reach or achieve.
An environment filled with safe, yet challenging open ended materials that provide ongoing opportunities for open ended play in the early years is vitally important. It encourages dramatic play, language skills, role play, problem solving, teamwork, games, experimenting with cause and effect, trial and error and builds creative thinking. It is also a very budget friendly way for educators and parents to provide play resources as simple is best and you can use many recycled materials.
Unlike the electronic toy or game that might do a couple of set things when you press the buttons or the train that only goes around the track in a circle a child can decide how they want to manipulate the open ended material and build upon their own play. They become the scientists, engineers, inventors, artists, explorers and clever investigators.
Open ended materials have always formed a core part of my planning and experiences offered to children – both indoors and out and I’ve included photos of just some of the favourites throughout this post to help you visualise the possibilities of including more of these types of materials into your program or with your own children.
Open ended materials are sometimes also called loose parts and can encompass a wide variety of resources. They don’t have to just be of natural origin, they can also be manufactured. They can be large (but moveable) or small. See the list at the end of this post for some ideas to get you started with your own collection. They don’t ever need to be expensive!
One of the wonderful things about using these materials for educators – especially those working in mixed age group environments is that they are suitable for all ages as children will manipulate and use them in different ways according to their own specific ages and stages of development – they can also use them in different ways day after day! Open ended materials continue to be flexible and offer increasing opportunities for creativity and open ended learning.
Why include them in the outdoor play environment?
Are open ended materials and loose parts only suitable for indoor classroom and play activities?Definitely not – they can play a huge role in outdoor early learning environments!
When we only provide an outdoor play area with fixed equipment we can inadvertently limit children’s creativity, movements, urge to experiment and problem solve. I’m certainly not saying we shouldn’t have fixed resources in our backyards and play areas as they play a role too but ideally there needs to be a balance of fixed and open ended movable materials. This doesn’t need to be expensive as most open ended materials can be sourced for little or no cost so it becomes very cost effective for educators.
Educators have asked me how to add loose parts and open ended materials to their program planning so it doesn’t look like their are ‘doing nothing’. Just because an activity or play experience isn’t planned out in advance does not mean it cannot be included in some way on your plan. You can easily incorporate open ended play and materials into your planning by simply listing some of the materials you have made available for the children to choose from that week then follow up with some brief reflections and observations about how the children used the materials and what learning you saw evolve through this play.
You might write this in a diary or even on the back of your program – keep it simple and to the point and make sure any observations (group or individual) that you record are meaningful and stand out to you for some reason.
I still like to have some intentional teaching experiences and craft activities planned on my program but open ended materials and play also forms an important part of my documentation and the plan evolves as the week proceeds.
When we include open ended materials or loose parts in the outdoor play environment it allows children to take a few risks, challenge themselves and feel as though they have some control of their environment. They can extend their own play, explore, carry, take materials apart and put them back together, rearrange to suit their needs, work out how to move heavy materials …they decide on how the materials will be used.
It can be fascinating for adults to watch and provides numerous opportunities to observe and document the many learning outcomes that are being achieved.
Even with small spaces and little storage space you can find creative ways to introduce larger loose parts into the outdoor play environment. For more inspiration take a look at the children playing here on Stimulating Learning with Rachel. So much creativity, building and thinking happening with those fabulous loose parts!
How to get started using open ended play materials in the outdoor area.
Although the term ‘loose parts’ seems to be a bit of a catchphrase in early childhood at the moment it is not new and we were incorporating these open ended materials into play when I first began in childcare 30 years ago. So it’s not something that should overwhelm you – introducing open ended materials into your early learning program will actually make your job easier, allow you to spend less on resources and equipment and provide moments for you to step back and observe rather than spending every minute planning and directing the play.
So how can you get started? My advice is to start small and just make a few changes at a time until you feel more confident in how to use and present access to the materials.
Aim to build a loose parts/materials resource shelf/tub over time
Begin writing a loose parts wishlist and think about ways you might be able to source those materials and involve families in your hunt too.
Build your collection from visits to parks, beaches, bushwalks, recycling centres, op shops, markets, garage sales, $2 shops, asking family and friends, treelopping and mulching services, local council, reusing packaging materials.
Keep in mind that offering open ended materials to your children might actually involve a little trial and error depending on the ages you have in care and the materials you have decided to use. Some things will work one day yet not the next – don’t give up!
You can still use open ended materials to set up some basic invitations to play if you enjoy doing that – just don’t direct the play if they decide to take it in another direction! Stand back and see what they decide to do with what you have set up. See your invitation as merely a launchpad.
Make sure you are available in the outdoor environment to provide support and help solve problems if the children need and request it. Encourage discussions – how else might they use the materials? What might they need to continue with their project?
Decide on a storage solution. I like to keep open ended materials for outside play stored in baskets in a small shed in the yard. I’ve also used baskets hanging on fences that stay out in the weather and small pots nailed to walls at the children’s level and filled with loose parts that are always accessible. Use what you have available and try to keep organised so you know what you have available. Think about what you will have available this week and what you might need to change. Is there some fixed equipment you might be able to do away with to make more storage space instead?
Be aware at all times of safety precautions all educators should take in regard to using materials including possible allergies and choking hazards.
And finally (this is a hard one for many of us!) allow opportunities for the outdoor space to look ‘messier’ and less ‘arranged’ than you might be used to. I know this can be more difficult if you are a family day care educator using your family backyard but even if you can leave the materials for a day or two so the children can keep returning to their play and projects it will be valuable. Ask yourself if everything really needs to be packed away at the end of the day or are there some things that could be left out ‘ready to play’ tomorrow?
I hope you are feeling inspired to begin incorporating more open-ended materials into your outdoor environment to increase the opportunities for open-ended play, exploration and discovery.
