It’s your child’s birthday party. All of the guests are gathered around, watching as your child open gifts that were chosen just for them. Your child opens a toy, plays with it for less than one minute, and then somehow ends up running off to play with the packaging. Your great aunt says, “All those toys and they just want to play with the box it came in.”
We have all been there. But why?
A majority of toys are not open-ended, they are intended to serve a specific function.
If you walk down the aisles of stores like Walmart and Target, you will find a plethora of Paw Patrol themed toys for young boys. There is a Paw Patrol tower with vehicles that always catches my two year old son’s eye. . . But he would become bored with it quickly because the only way to play with the tower is to put the Paw Patrol cars in it. The play stops there.
But the box it comes in? Oh, that box could be used to build a city or play people or a pet tower for stuffed animals. It could be a baby’s bassinet. It could be a car that scoots across the floor. Add some rubber bands to the box and it could become an instrument!
Instead of filling your play space with specific, one use toys- opt for loose parts! Loose parts are moveable items that can be used in a myriad of ways during play. Items like feathers, rubber bands, jingle bells, big beads, gems, containers, kitchen items, scarves, fabric scraps.
You will be amazed at the learning and creativity that takes place when children are given freedom to play.
