Supplies, Supplies, Supplies!

I have had a great number of requests asking me 'what do you need' I have loved that everyone is so excited to help us out. We've welcomed generous donations of toys, and we're are ever so grateful, but now it's time to start thinking outside of the box. 

I am a great promoter of open-ended play, and play with loose parts. What does that mean? You ask a very interesting question. I have always wanted to incorporate this type of play in my program, and it's rather easy, and inexpensive, and ever so valuable. Open ended play involves things that have unlimited use. The are not necessarily 'toys', they are materials that seem perhaps out of place in a childcare facility, but promote interest and curiosity. They some with no directions, and can be used in many different ways and combined with other items of play. Loose parts have a similar purpose, and they are items that are not constructed together, but rather 'parts' that the children can put together, whether it be permanently or temporary. They are items that can be dragged or carried, taken apart, put together in an extensive amount of ways.  All these materials lead to open ended, curious play. Did you see the post on our blog where the children reenacted the ''Grinch Who Stole Christmas'? That is a great example of loose part and open ended play. Those parts, separately, could have lead to some entirely different play, but together as a whole they created a beautiful basis to an amazing insight into the children's imagination. 

So I am including a list of things that you and your family may want to start thinking about. We do not need it all at once, or right away, but if you are looking to get rid of anything like what is on our list, please send it our way, we would love it! Of course the loose parts are not limited to this list, and the list is by no means extensive, but rather to help you get an idea of where we are heading. 

Nature items:

• Plants

• Plant cuttings

• Pieces of wood ie: Twigs, Logs, Stumps, Tree Cookies (Tree Stumps cut into one inch 'cookies')

• Driftwood

• Branches cut into rounds to serve as blocks

• Beautiful pebbles, stones, rocks, geodes

• Shells

- Seed Pods

- Pallets

- Stumps

- Sand

- Gravel

- Balls

- Buckets

- Crates

- Rope

- Boxes

- Tires

Toward a Homey Environment

• Rocking chairs

• Big soft rugs

• Pillows

• Lamps

• Mirrors

• Small couch

• Children's chairs

• Children's books

• Fabric

• Curtains

• Beaded curtains

• Room dividers

• Cloth or paper fans

• Artifacts from other cultures and decades

• Boombox 

- Baskets

Materials for Creating

• Magazines with beautiful photos 

• Toilet and paper towel rolls

• Baby food jars, jam jars, canning jars

• Coffee cans 

- Fabric

- Tiles

- Wood Scraps

- Containers

- Wrapping paper 

- Old CD's (we may as well get these while we still can... they seem to becoming obsolete)

- old sewing patterns

- Ribbon

- Yarn

(there is also a great little store downtown that is my favourite place to shop called Urban Source http://www.urbansource.bc.ca/ if you're ever downtown and feel the need to pop in and pick up a bag of material for us, i'll reimburse you!!)

For Documentation

• Cameras

• Photo paper 

Of course all these items will need to have a home, so if one day you happen to spot a shed on the side of the road, or even a shelf or two (it's getting to be 'spring cleanup' time, and these might be on the curb), please feel free to call me and we'll jet out there with my dad's truck and pick it up.