Repurposing Days

As I mentioned in a previous post about our new tradition of Repurposing Days, we've been bringing an object from home that is far from a 'toy' and reinventing it's purpose as a play thing. We're into our second week, and it seems to be hitting off well. It's a challenge for some of the children and their families as it's hard to look past the surface and find a new function for things. What I find makes this easier, is that I don't think too hard about it. That's the job of the children. There have been so many times that i've put something down in the classroom, not really to motivate the children to play with it, but often that item becomes such a big hit, that it's become a fixture in our classroom. For example, our dustpan has become many things in our classroom over the last year. So the trick is.... don't think too hard about it (as long as it's 'safe', it's a plaything ;))
But it's been fun so far. I've decided to hold off on the photos, until we have a little more experience under our belt, then we'll share what we've 'repurposed'!
In the ECE community we use terms such as loose parts, and open ended play, these are all ideas that build from the foundation that we are trying to achieve through the repurposing days. The hope is that children will start the revolution to look at an item and give it a new life. It's similar to the upcycling that people have taken to. Really it's not a new concept, but rather a bit of an endangered concept. So let's encourage those infants who go through the tupperware drawer!!!!

So with that in mind, I wanted to share a video with you. It's from two guys that I can't seem to get enough of these days. They are the 'Piano Guys'. Quite often we listen to their music at daycare, and the children love their music probably as much as I do. I wanted to share this video because they seem to get the whole point of repurposing! It's a new way to look at a piano, and look what they did with it! It's truly outstanding