Simplify Play

I feel like with my first child, we had a lot of excess. We had every intention of not letting toys take over our house but every so slowly, bit by bit, they began to add up. A not so original story, right? With our second child now approaching the two and a half mark and my oldest coming upon five, we've slowly been reversing our tracks. But the funny thing is, outdoors, we always seemed to keep the store bought toys to a minimum without much thought. Over the last year or so I've been introduced to the concept of Loose Parts Play. I guess it's something that I've always used with my kids to some degree, (especially outdoors), but never really knew the philosophy behind. The toys that hold their attention are the open ended ones. The simpler the better. Outside a pail and shovel go a long way. Inside the blocks never go out of style. The cool thing to watch is that the toys I just described are used in a myriad of ways, which is the ultimate magic of simplifying play. Creativity is allowed to take over.

We spend a lot of our outdoor time in the yard / neighborhood or exploring the creeks, fields, and forests of the beautiful reservation near our home. We also go through phases of spending stretches of time at the beach as we live minutes away from one of the Great Lakes. I don't always feel the need to take them somewhere with "stuff to entertain kids" such as playgrounds, splash parks, zoos, etc. Not to say we don't end up at these places from time to time but that they don't make up the bulk of our outdoor adventures. With that said, I have never felt that we need a lot of equipment or toys to be happy outside. In fact, quite the opposite. Here is a list of common materials that show up often in our outdoor play.

OUTDOOR LOOSE PARTS

- Sidewalk Chalk

- Shovels (of various sizes )

- Buckets, Pails, Random Containers

- Balls

- Sticks

- Rocks

- Sand

- Dirt

- Snow

- Water

- Seedpods

These are the materials they gravitate towards. We have hula hoops, a child sized wheel barrow, a small slide, bikes, and a few other odds and ends as well. But the ones mentioned above are the go-to "toys" outside. Keeping it simple allows them the freedom to use their imaginations. And that they do. But part of it is the constant of being outdoors in the first place. And the habit of play that we have developed over time. When we walk outside to play or end up at the park they are in their comfort zone. They know how to respond to free play outdoors because we make a habit of playing outside almost every day.

Here are some ways in which they've used their imagination to make simplified play so much more then "simple".

MINI-BONFIRES made from collected twigs. Complete with MINI-MARSHMALLOW ROAST!

MAKING TRACKS to race and chug along on. Using COLLECTED STICKS from the woods behind the field.

CRACKING ROCKS along the creek bed or on the front porch is always sure to keep him going.

PUDDLE PLAY to see what floats or sinks OR SPLASHING depending on the day.

BUILDING DAMS and STACKING ROCKS at the creek. (We try to put them back in the water after!)

BERRY PICKING around the neighborhood. They like leaving out bird buffets in the yard. : )

BUILDING BOATS from stick and leaves to float in puddles or creeks.

MANDALA making with all the treasures collected from the neighborhood or parks.

RIVERS OF RAINBOWS on the smooth stretch of sidewalk in front of the neighbor's house.

And the list goes on and on...

I hope this has inspired some but I'd love to keep the inspiration train going. Please join our FREE FACEBOOK GROUP to connect to our larger community of nature loving parents!