Posted: June 18, 2025
Lisa Schroers, a home-based professional in Minnesota, recently completed our course “Find Wonder in Found Objects: An Inquiry-Rich Approach to Learning.” She was inspired to try out some of the concepts and invitations in the course and see how they work. The mixed-age children in her care are with her daily during the school year. Lisa was already quite comfortable with using loose parts in her programming. On this spring day, she decided to experiment.
Young children coloring with chalk over landscape netting.
Here’s her description: “The day I did the training, I brought the large boxes that were just sitting in my garage waiting to be broken down and recycled, outside. The children had so much fun turning them into beds, umbrellas, ramps, being "Hulk" and smashing them, and even tearing them in sections to inspect the layers of the cardboard. And bonus...my cardboard was broken down by the end and we talked about recycling it was just Earth Day!”
Win-win! These children had a great time using their muscles and imagination. They pursued ideas, experienced some novelty. They used language, physics, planning, and design skills. All these things could be documented if required. None of it cost money. The provider used what was available and followed the children’s lead. The open-ended materials allowed for a range of play responses, perfect for a group of mixed interests, ages, and abilities. Well done, Lisa!
If you need some inspiration, check out the “Tip Sheet” in English or Spanish:
If you’d like to glean some inspiration from the course that Lisa enjoyed, check it out:
Lisa shared, “it never occurred to me to just let them play with those things without instruction or purpose.” Some of the delight in an early care professional’s job comes when we slow down and watch children and see the pure play emerging. We watch. We enjoy. We don’t interfere or insert ourselves in the play.
What can you do? What decisions can you make this week to welcome wonder and laughter and wild stories and intense concentration from the children in your care?
It might not ever have occurred to you, but guaranteed, it occurred to the children. Let them play. Why not?
