NKC Schools Education Foundation, Loose Parts Play Drive

Loose Parts Drive – Firing the imagination of NKC Schools Early Education Center students

Curry Real Estate Services has had the opportunity to participate in a lot of interesting and worthy philanthropic community initiatives over the years and this most recent project – the North Kansas City Schools Loose Parts Drive – takes “interesting” to a new level!

Have you heard of Loose Parts Play? Typically for pre-school-aged children, Loose Parts Play is unstructured play with “found” materials (cardboard, sticks, sand, pipes, beads, stones… ) that encourages young children to use their imagination to explore, build and experiment.

Here is what some of the NKC Early Education Center teachers have said about Loose Parts Play:

“Students are more engaged and using their imaginations like never before!”

“We’ve enhanced our play areas, and the kids love it!”

“The level of creativity and collaboration is simply inspiring!”

Curry got wind of this NKC Schools drive and couldn’t wait to join in the effort. Armed with detailed lists of suggested loose parts – Reused and Recycled (fabric scraps, old hinges, discarded keys, bottle caps), Natural Loose Parts (pinecones, drift wood, feathers) and Other Loose Parts (pipe cleaners, large sequins, mini seasonal décor), the team collected an amazing array of bits and pieces from their yards, junk drawers, sewing rooms and tools boxes to contribute to this fun NKC Schools initiative.

It reminds us of when a child would unwrap a present and be more into the box that the gift item itself but, apparently, this unstructured free play really makes an impact. Here is more of what the NKC Early Education Center shared about how Loose Parts Play affects young learners:

• Increased engagement: Students spend more time engaged in play, creating faces, castles, and unique structures showing sustained focus and creativity.
• Enhanced social interaction: Nonverbal and special education students are interacting more with their peers, fostering social growth and inclusion.
• Improved imaginative play: Children are inspired to create, and problem solve independently, leading to inventive uses like building rockets and other structures, sparking imagination and self-driven exploration.

We are delighted to learn this and participate in such a fun resource drive for NKC Schools Education Foundation.  We don’t mind emptying a few things out of our junk drawers either!