Here at POD HQ we’ve kick-started the regeneration of our Loose Parts Play-Pods. It’s exciting to be installing loose parts play-pods into primary schools and early learning centres – we want to open a world of possibilities to all Australian children.

What are loose parts?

The term ‘loose parts’ was first coined by the architect Simon Nicholson in the 1970s. He proposed that the more moveable and adaptable materials an environment contained the more creative and inventive children would be.

Play is the highest form of research.

Albert Einstein

Loose parts play can include natural and man-made materials such as pallets, plastic milk crates, tarp, fabric, wooden planks, tyres, cardboard tubes, pots and pans or old de-constructed toys.

Parts can be moved, merged, transformed, taken apart and put back together again in endless ways. Structures can be built, played with pulled down again and put away in the pod for the next adventure.

Loose parts aren’t prescriptive and offer limitless possibilities. A stick may become a fishing rod near real or imaginary water, a cable drum may become the wheels on a bus or wheelchair. A cardboard tube might be a tool to nudge a football that is stuck in a tree; it can be thrown, bent, hidden, added to a pile, tied to something else, used as a telescope, or discarded.

In recent years, society has become so risk averse that the freedom for our children to play has been heavily eroded. Playing with electronic devices has taken time away from physical, imaginative, unstructured play. At Life Cubed we believe that loose parts play is an essential component of our children’s education.

What’s a ‘Pod’?

A Life Cubed Pod is made from a recycled shipping container, complies to Australian safety standards and comes painted, with side doors and solar lighting. It can be personalised to suit the school or centre’s environment, with options such as puppet theatres, tinker tables, green walls or roof, shade cloths and rainwater collection.

Addressing the needs of our children is one of the most important things we are tasked with.

Where do we start?

Talk to your school, early learning centre or OOSH about the idea of implementing loose parts play, start a conversation with your P&C or simply contact us and we will become the conversation starters.

Life Cubed – offering a structured approach to unstructured play.