How should loose parts be incorporated into childcare outdoor environments?

Loose parts are movable, open-ended materials that children can use in different ways rather than for one predetermined activity.

They can support construction, imaginative play, experimentation, problem-solving and collaboration.

This aligns directly with the National Quality Standard. Element 3.2.2 states that resources, materials and equipment should allow for multiple uses and enable children to engage in play-based learning.

Toddlers playing with blocks and figures on lawn beside raised timber planters, with an educator alongside

What are loose parts?

Depending on the children’s ages and the service, examples can include:

blocks
crates
fabric
containers
buckets
tubes
timber pieces
stones
seed pods
branches
digging materials
other movable natural materials

Selection still needs to be appropriate for the children using them, with hazards and supervision considered by the service.

Why do they add play value?

The child decides what the material becomes.

A timber piece might be a bridge one day and part of a construction the next.

ACECQA has documented services using loose parts to support exploration, creativity, collaboration, imagination, decision-making and problem-solving. That flexibility is difficult to achieve with resources that only have one intended use.

Design the landscape around possibilities

Loose parts become more useful when the yard gives children places to use them.

Sand, water, platforms, gardens, construction areas and open spaces can provide different contexts without determining the activity in advance.

Storage is part of the design

A loose-parts program creates a practical question: where does everything go?

Accessible, appropriately located storage helps educators rotate and manage resources while allowing children to participate in selecting and returning materials where suitable.

Don’t overdesign it

The designer does not need to create the game.

The role of the environment is to provide enough variety, space and opportunity for children to invent it themselves.