During my time conducting professional development and mentoring in both early years and OSHC settings one frustration has been voiced on multiple occasions by educators and management who are passionate about loose parts but have struggled to advocate for and show an intentional approach when being assessed and rated. Now based on the many highly successful spaces in Australia, some rated exceeding and even excellent, fully immersed in loose parts and a Playwork approach we know it is possible… So, what’s the trick? The “trick” for lack of a better word lies in the dialogue and how we can reframe a resource that can by all accounts appear very unintentional and reimagine it as the most intentional way a Playwork inspired educator can meet the National Quality Standards and framework, be it Belonging, Being and Becoming or My Time Our Place.
The most common spanner that comes up while advocating for effectively a “junk playground” comes in the form of Quality Area 3, “Physical Environment”, in the National Quality Standards, or rather, interpretations of it. Now this is of no fault to anyone, including assessors as, if we, the educator/playworkers do not have an alternate perspective to offer then that is on us. However, I challenge you to consider that within the simple term, “fit for purpose”, we hold immense power over defining precisely what that “purpose is”.
Recently a Facebook post popped up from Kids World in Gilston, a relatively new and thriving adventure play space in the Gold Coast Hinterland and inspired me to get on the keyboard and put these thoughts down. Monique, an Early Childhood Teacher at Kids World posted a very, on one hand simple, yet on the other important question that went exactly like this…
“Do you promptly attend to broken items in your playground? I used to as well, until I witnessed something peculiar. If I had immediately collected the torn-apart pool noodle and the empty paint bottle, would this play have unfolded in the same way”?
This question was accompanied by the below pictures showing a play relic of children. The pictures, and I am using the best of my deductive reasoning based on experience here as there may have been an entirely profound narrative going on, showed bits and pieces of blue pool noodle stashed or stored within a discarded paint container. As seemingly insignificant as such a little play frame may seem to the junk yard pessimist, consider how many 100s or 1000s of curious, creative, imaginative play frames like this never have a chance to take form in the first place due to various resources not being deemed “fit for purpose”. Indeed, if we only see the purpose of a pool noodle to be whole and intact, and a paint container purposeful until empty and then not, then this mindset will impede potential play, or the conditions for it. If we take a page from Monique’s book and start asking seemingly simple yet not at all questions, we may be able to entirely redefine what “fit for purpose” means. I ask you… Is the purpose of children to play? Then the below resources are doing a splendid job meeting their purpose in supporting this.
A standout memory and one that comes up in PD from time to time for me that cements this idea occurred in the Camp Hill OSHC Adventure Playground some years ago. The scenario revolved around one boy, a broken/incomplete (missing the front wheel) trike, and a broken Tonka crane. The boy in question was drawn to these resources and proceeded connect the broken trike to the broken crane. This resulted in a somewhat ridable vehicle, but one that took some effort, patience, persistence and gross motor engagement. Over the span of several weeks the boy mastered his capabilities to guide the vehicle until the point it appeared at face value simple to do so from the outside. His enjoyment riding this vehicle down hills into milk crates soon attracted other peers to which communication gaps had previously existed. Upon request, our young engineer gave the others a turn resulting in the peers being quite hopeless without the 3 weeks lead up and practice. This placed our original protagonist in a unique position as the expert, the person needed to help coach and guide the others through the use of his creation. The pride, enjoyment and engagement were hugely evident. In another setting these resources would have been binned and this story never would have been possible.
To further support the redefining of “purpose” we can also lean directly into our Frameworks for the early years and school age sectors. Plucked straight from the frameworks these comments regarding resources can all be harnessed for policy, QIP and documentation to ensure intentionality can be seen in otherwise apparently “broken” or “incomplete” resources…
· …conserving resources and reducing consumption and waste
· Resources need to reflect the breadth of age groups and interests, curiosities and capabilities
· …provide rich and diverse resources that reflect children and young people’s social worlds
· …plan experiences and provide resources that broaden children and young people’s perspectives and encourage appreciation of diversity
· …provide a wide range of resources to develop and consolidate children and young people’s fine and gross motor skills
· …Effective learners are also able to transfer and adapt what they have learned from one context to another and to locate and use resources for their own means.
· …manipulate resources to investigate, take apart, assemble, invent and construct
· …design environments that are flexible and provide resources that encourage children and young people to use their imagination and represent their thinking
· …Additional needs: the term used for children who require or will benefit or be able to participate more fully from specific considerations, adaptations or differentiation of any aspects of the curriculum, including resources and the environment.
· …Multimodal play: modes are ways or means of communicating meaning in some way so multimodal play is about children and educators using the many different types of resources and materials around them that can potentially be a mode to communicate and make meaning
In conclusion, “purpose” is a vague word subject to perspective. We have the opportunity to advocate affectively for children ensuring that we have a good and flexible capacity to speak to the “purpose” of loose materials, arbitrary materials, and materials that frankly, and beautifully, have not had their purpose made known to us… yet.
Angus Gorrie
