{"id":194,"date":"2016-09-08T07:15:56","date_gmt":"2016-09-08T07:15:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.garderiesunnyside.com\/blog\/?p=194"},"modified":"2022-02-06T14:14:12","modified_gmt":"2022-02-06T19:14:12","slug":"sometimes-the-best-toys-arent-even-toys","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.garderiesunnyside.com\/fr\/sometimes-the-best-toys-arent-even-toys\/","title":{"rendered":"Sometimes, the best toys aren't even toys!"},"content":{"rendered":"

As a parent or educator, you’ve probably encountered this at some point in time: you \u00a0prepare an activity thinking your children will have a blast. Instead,\u00a0they are more interested in playing with the cardboard box you carried it\u00a0in. Maybe you wonder why your little one would rather hunt for rocks or collect sticks than\u00a0use one of the colorful plastic sand toys you lugged along.<\/p>\n

This type of play – that is, when kids play with random objects or \u00ab\u00a0non-toys\u00a0\u00bb – is known as\u00a0Loose Parts Play and there is a reason they like it as much (or maybe even more!) than the fancy store-bought toys they own. Loose parts play is free and open-ended – there is no limit to where the kids can go in their imaginations. Something like a plastic car is just that – a car – whereas a stick can be anything; a snake, a magic wand, a fishing rod, or a spaceship, even!<\/p>\n

The best thing about this kind of play is\u00a0that the children are learning so much as they partake in it. To name a few of the skills\u00a0they are practicing: problem solving, creativity, and inventiveness;\u00a0using their fine and gross motor muscles; developing their language and social skills; and more! It gives them the opportunity to grow across all of the developmental domains.<\/a><\/p>\n

You’ll find tons\u00a0of \u00ab\u00a0loose parts\u00a0\u00bb in play at Sunnyside Daycare in Pierrefonds. In fact, the loose parts are so important to us, that in some classrooms, they even outnumber the toys!<\/p>\n

Some loose parts are natural;<\/p>\n

\"Playing<\/a>
Playing with seashells and home-made play-doh.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Some are messy;<\/p>\n

\"Playing
Playing with water beads, slime, and kitchen utensils.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Some are clean;<\/p>\n

\"Playing
Playing with cardboard tubes and wooden planks.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Some are found;<\/p>\n

\"Creating
Creating a \u00ab\u00a0campfire\u00a0\u00bb with branches, pine cones, and pieces of bark they collected.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Some are bought;<\/p>\n

\"Playing
Playing with cooked and coloured spaghetti and assorted plastic containers.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Some are recycled;<\/p>\n

\"Playing
Playing with cardboard tubes.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

and some are not even \u00ab\u00a0loose\u00a0\u00bb at all;<\/p>\n

\"Playing
Playing on a bike rack at the park.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I don’t think any adult-directed activity can offer as rich of a developmentally-appropriate learning\u00a0opportunity\u00a0as loose parts can offer. I challenge you to find one!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As a parent or educator, you’ve probably encountered this at some point in time: you \u00a0prepare an activity thinking your children will have a blast. Instead,\u00a0they are more interested in playing with the cardboard box you carried it\u00a0in. Maybe you […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":274,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"slim_seo":{"description":"Why children play with cardboard boxes instead of the store-bought things that come in them. A look at \"loose parts\" at Sunnyside Daycare in Pierrefonds.","title":"Sometimes, the best toys aren't even toys! - Garderie Sunnyside Daycare"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[51],"tags":[31,52,40,53,33,34,54,42],"class_list":["post-194","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-development","tag-daycare","tag-free-play","tag-garderie","tag-loose-parts","tag-montreal","tag-pierrefonds","tag-play","tag-reggio-emilia"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.garderiesunnyside.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/194","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.garderiesunnyside.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.garderiesunnyside.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.garderiesunnyside.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.garderiesunnyside.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=194"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.garderiesunnyside.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/194\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.garderiesunnyside.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/274"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.garderiesunnyside.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=194"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.garderiesunnyside.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=194"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.garderiesunnyside.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=194"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}