Here’s what you will find in the Loose Parts Play Hub this month:
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Bugs!
One of our favorite parts of spring is that we get to observe all the crawling creatures who are coming out of hiding and winter hibernation. May is also the month that we start to prepare our butterfly house for raising Monarch Caterpillars!
Deck of Cards
One (or four) deck of cards, so many ways to use! Cards are a great loose part and conversation piece, and can also provide hours of family game time. Younger children will like to collect, sort and talk about differences and similarities in each of the cards. Preschool or elementary ages would like Slap Jack, solitaire, or speed.
Colorful Loose Parts
These colorful loose parts are great for creating temporary art, building, sorting by size, shape or color or counting using a 5 or 10 frame. Children innately want to hold, sort, carry and talk about all sorts of items, which is the beginnings of understanding math concepts. To understand most things, we need to have it in our hands before it is in our minds. And we can do that through play!
Outdoor Explorers:
Each Wednesday afternoon from 1pm -3pm you can find a facilitator in the Loose Parts Play Hub with special materials to start or continue working on a Nature Journal! Use our Explorers Backpacks to explore the Back 40, find bugs, leaves, flowers, grass, dirt, rocks – bring them back to the LPPH to look at closely, draw, paint or write about. Recycled art journals, pencils, tape and watercolors are available each day!
This month our Outdoor Explorer guests will also be able to help us plant our Back 40 vegetable gardens. Come play in the dirt with us!
