Winter Loose Parts and Oral Storytelling

 "We are all storytellers, 

We live in a network of stories. 

There isn't a stronger connection

between people than 

storytelling." 

Jimmy Neil Smith

Children communicate their thinking in many ways. The development of oral language is just one aspect of how children communicate. During this stage of development in the early years of childhood, children communicate with longer sentences and begin to create and tell stories. It is such a magical time as we see and hear the brilliance of children’s thinking.

It’s been a wonderful week filled with creative play as the children explored the above wintery loose parts tray. They have shared their thinking in multiple ways and we have enjoyed listening to their creative stories. 

Children’s stories grow in complexity as they have repeated experiences with materials and their peers. Through dramatic play, exploration of open-ended play materials, and when they create art children build language to express what they are thinking. This leads us to an awareness of how children communicate. Children do not only communicate orally. Expressive language begins in infancy as children communicate their wants and needs. As a child grows in their ability to communicate we observe body movements, sounds, and the way they interact with their environment. Children are indeed telling us a story far before they can communicate it orally. Keen observation and our relationship with the child will inform us of their expressions and communication. 

"It's a forest and they are trying to find their food. They followed the
map they made. They buried their food a long time ago. Just in case
 they run out of food. The dragons were guarding the food." 

Within the learning environment whether at home or school, offering children creative materials to express their thinking allows us a glimpse into the stories they share in many ways. When we enter into a conversation with children about their play we can support their ability to share their stories orally. When beginning these conversations with children I keep an awareness of my own interpretations as I do not want these to override the child’s intentions. This can be challenging, as we listen to children share their thinking open-ended questions are a starting point for dialogue. Here are some examples of starting questions when engaging a child in a conversation about their play. 

“What are you thinking about?” 

“Tell me about what you are working on?”

“I wonder what will happen next?”

“How did you figure that out?”

“What do you see/notice?”

Take a peek at the children's play with the loose parts.
These photos represent several days of play 
where the children returned to expand upon 
previous ideas and stories.

"These are the spiky things that come out. It's an ice castle."

"It’s a forest. They are listening to her. She’s the boss. She’s telling them
that the dragons are in the forest. It is going to snow."

Children need time with materials and multiple experiences as they build upon their ideas and thinking. They will revisit and reinvent with the same materials over and over again as they work through their thinking. We have seen children play with the same loose part materials for months. Oftentimes they will pause their play as they investigate other areas of the environment, only to return to the materials and pick up where they left off and begin a new journey communicating through play. 

The materials offered for the winter loose parts tray:

Acrylic ice cubes

Golf tees

Clear glass gems

Acrylic snowflakes and icicles

Acrylic multi-facet stones and gems

The children were also offered wooden peg dolls from MvH Creative Toys and the dragons are from Safari Ltd .

So grateful you visited the blog! 

Blessings for a beautiful day, 

𝑀𝒾𝒸𝒽𝑒𝓁𝓁𝑒

P.S.

MvH Creative Toys is my own Etsy shop which I would be delighted if you visited. The Safari link is not sponsored just for your own information.