Loose Parts Play: Restoring Childhood Through Play
As part of our commitment to children's wellbeing and development, we have introduced Loose Parts Play as a key element of our personal development offer. This approach reflects our belief that children need opportunities for creativity, movement, imagination and social interaction in an increasingly digital world.
Loose parts are simple, open-ended resources such as:
- Crates
- Tyres
- Planks
- Tubes
- Fabric
- Cable reels
- Ropes and construction materials
Unlike fixed playground equipment, these resources have no single purpose. Children can move, combine, redesign and repurpose them to create structures, games, challenges and imaginative worlds of their own.
Loose parts play places children at the centre of their own learning and development. Through freely chosen play, pupils learn to:
- Communicate effectively
- Collaborate with others
- Solve problems creatively
- Lead and negotiate
- Take responsibility
- Manage risk appropriately
- Persevere when things do not go to plan
- Develop independence and resilience
Research suggests that many children now have fewer opportunities for free play and independent problem-solving. Loose parts play helps restore these vital experiences by encouraging children to create rather than consume, collaborate rather than isolate and actively engage with the world around them.
Every day, we see our school values come to life through play:
- Kindness when children include and support others.
- Honesty when they negotiate fairly and resolve disagreements.
- Curiosity when they experiment and test new ideas.
- Resilience when they rebuild, redesign and try again.
- Responsibility when they care for resources and make sensible choices.
Loose parts play complements our wider curriculum, helping children develop the character, confidence and interpersonal skills that will support them throughout their lives.