The concept of Loose Parts by Simon Nixon was that how not to cheat children.
Children live in a world created by the gifted few.
Hello and welcome to Blooming Curious, a podcast that's all about nurturing that
natural curiosity in our early years kids.
I'm Edwina, your host from the Ed's Lessons blog, a passionate advocate for
play and inquiry, and on a mission to keep children curious and questioning.
The days of talk and chalk are over.
We're diving into the world of integrated, inquiry and nature based learning.
and exploring the strategies that create lifelong learners.
So if you're a classroom or homeschool educator, or even a curious parent,
then this is the place for you.
Right, welcome everybody.
Today we're having our very first guest appearance on Blooming Curious.
We welcome Ashley Sharp or Miss Sharp as she's been known.
Ash is an early childhood educator, Play Ambassador and founder of
Playmore, a newly established business based in here in Western Australia.
Focusing on the importance of play in child development.
Ash's work as a classroom teacher on and off for the past decade.
And last year decided to turn her passion for play based learning into play more.
In addition, Ash is a wife and a mom to a gorgeous five year old son with
whom every day is an opportunity to discover, grow, and play.
So welcome Ash.
It's great to have you on the show today.
Um, to kick things off, thanks Ash.
Um, to kick things off for those listeners who might not be familiar,
could you give them an explanation of what exactly loose parts are and why you
believe that loose parts are so crucial to child development and creativity?
Yeah, I'd love to.
And thanks for having me.
I'm very honoured to be your first guest.
Um, yeah, I guess Loose Parts, when we think about it is, you know, bits thing
of things kids play with, but it actually, um, there's a theory of Loose Parts, um,
and it goes back to the seventies where it was, um, in an article by, um, a landscape
architect called Simon Nicholson, and he devise a theory of loose part.
So I'll read the theory and then I'm, I can discuss what I think about it.
Um, and he says in any environment, both the degree of inventiveness and
creativity and the possibility of discovery are directly proportional to
the number and kind of variables in it.
So variables, I guess, um, are all the bits and the things, so, um, natural
materials, building materials, scrap materials, things that can be moved,
carried, combined, redesigned, put back together, um, multiple different ways.
Child controlled, like the children are in control of their environment.
Uh, they empower creativity and Um, allow children to have
a say of their environment.
Um, basically similar as that, how not to cheat children.
Children live in a world created by the gifted few, environments created
by others, and that robs them of the opportunity to create themselves.
So when they're in an environment with these loose parts or
variables, they are empowered to create their own environments.
I'm not sure if that makes sense to me, um, but yeah, it can be a wild
concept, I guess, because, um, you know, we kind of live in a static
world where everything's set up for us.
How much agency do we really have over our environment?
So yeah, putting a few things out and a variety of things
and stepping back, I think.
gives children the opportunity to create their environment with these parts.
It's a very, it's a very, yeah, broad topic, but.
Yeah, it's great.
You know, I just actually had a thought this morning when I was thinking about
this recording and having you on.
I was thinking, you know, when I was a kid, Which really, I
mean, I was born in the 60s.
So really my really early childhood was late 60s, early 70s.
We played with loose parts, unbeknown to us that they were loose parts.
You know, I know for example, uh, the back of my grandparents
house was just this empty land.
And for some reason there was this discarded bit of kitchen cap cabinetry.
And As kids, we would just find odds and sods, you know, empty tin cans and bottles
and all sorts of things, fill them up and we'd pretend and play shop, you know?
And so those were the response, you know, the, all those things
that we used to create and have fun with, they weren't ball things,
they were actually loose pipe.
So in a way, it's like we're going back to the future, you know?
They
were the days, even me.
Those are the days
before Plastic Fantastic, you know.
Yeah.
Ash, um, could you share a journey that you've, how you incorporated
loose parts in your classroom?
Because I think for a lot of educators, you know, everything now.
Or for a lot of them, everything's so organized, you know, um,
educators are so rushed with the timetable and fitting stuff in.
Um, what about your experience?
How did you incorporate loose parts into your teaching?
So I think that might help a lot of teachers to see, well, it is possible.
They can actually do this in an education setting.
And obviously for parents.
Yeah, it's something that can easily be done if you're a homeschooler,
for example, or just as at home with your kids, it's almost
become second nature, I think.
But for teachers, I think sometimes they worry so much about everything they
have to cover that sometimes we lose sight of the really important things,
even though we know they're important, that sometimes We lose sight of how
to do those things that really matter.
How did you incorporate them into your classroom?
Great question.
Um, I feel like I really started to understand more of the loose parts
theory and mindset towards the end of my time, um, in the classroom.
And it was something I really wish I could have explored more.
But it was about creating environments, I feel, that the children could feel
empowered to Create, so creating an environment that gave them agency
that they felt free to create within.
Um, so that involved, I guess, putting out things that were, you know, open ended
in terms of the blocks and the toys, but I think it's also about the environment
you create with your presence and words.
Um, they're, they're also loose parts in a sense, um, where
variables in the environment, like, um, Nicholson refers to.
So for me, that was also a language, uh, a environment created with my
language that I would use with the children, um, and the other adults.
I think that's so important.
Um, language is something that we all use.
But we don't realize, I think the impact it has, sometimes we talk
too much, we interfere too much.
So just Sometimes it's about letting go and not controlling the environment
so much, giving the kids that freedom.
Also, I feel like I was going somewhere else with the environment.
Giving kids the choice to, giving kids the time to create.
I think school structure is so scheduled, like you said.
Sometimes it might take up to an hour for true play to come through and that
can be hard when you've got to get on the mat for your literacy session.
But I think the kids really need that time within the environment and that's
also, you know, whether it's indoor, outdoor, outdoors, obviously more
ideal for, um, larger play, um, offers more opportunities, but yeah, just.
Stepping back, observing, creating that environment with your language,
um, and providing materials that allow kids to think, not scripted.
Like the block, uh, the, like the, you know, sticks, rocks, but
also like materials, um, tires and probably things considered dangerous.
You might want to say people, people often go to dangerous things, but risky play has
its own benefits as well, which is a whole nother, probably a whole nother talk.
Um.
Risk is so important, isn't it?
There's, you know, there has to be an element of risk for children.
I mean, I remember hearing a talk not long ago saying that because we're taking away
risky play from children, it might be one of the reasons why later in life, so many
kids take massive risks that can actually end their life, unfortunately, because
they haven't had that exposure to tiny little risks throughout their childhood.
You know that?
So I don't know.
Oh yeah, I've heard that too.
I read.
So, yeah.
Yes.
And it's a funny thing that you're saying is letting kids or
a lot of teachers actually just having to step back and let go.
And it's the same thing for inquiry based learning, you know, it's having
that courage to just let go and, and let's see what the kids can do.
And those.
Loose parts are essentially provocations, provocations for creating, for
thinking, for problem solving.
And essentially that's what education is and should be, isn't that right?
Oh yeah,
definitely.
It, it, the benefits of the loose parts mindset is.
Yeah.
Very important for life, um, learning for life really.
And Ash, what was that moment when you realized in your personal experience, the
impact that loose parts had on children?
Can you recall a moment?
When you realized this is really the way it should be, this is the
way I need to go with these kids.
That's a good question.
I was reflecting on my time in the system.
Um, I would say maybe a couple of years into.
Um, my teaching, I think it was 2016, it had been raining, um, and we were
inside and the kids were fascinated.
I mean, I was a kindergarten teacher, so the three to five
year olds, um, and it was raining.
So of course the kids were really excited by that and we were inside
and they wanted to go outside and I was like, yeah, let's just go outside.
So we went outside and I think there was some still things
left out there from lunch.
So the buckets and spades and they were just getting buckets and They were filling
up a bucket with, uh, some water that was dripping from a pipe and they were
just so excited and happy and, and just, I don't know, it just reflecting back on
that moment, it was a real turning point for me as a, an educator, a teacher, I
guess, because how many people would look on and say, well, they should be inside.
They can't go out and get wet.
Like their shoes were off.
That's all I was so controlled by rules.
I think just letting go and stepping back and letting them be in that moment.
Kids was so pivotal for me.
Um, and I just, I feel like I learned so much from them and that we do, like,
if we really allow it, we, we can learn so much from kids and that's what I,
I guess turned my role into being.
A mentor and a guide, uh, more of a, a coach.
I wanted to be a coach and learn alongside the kids, um, and seeing,
being, not seeing myself above the children, I guess, seeing, um, us as.
equals in a way that we can learn and grow together from each other.
I'm not in charge.
I don't know if that answered your question.
I'm sorry, but that was a moment that really changed for me, um, as educator.
I think that's, yeah, no, that's just, I think that's so, as
you said, it's very touching.
And as you were saying that I myself was reflecting on moments
and I really felt your passion.
Um, as you were saying that, I think many teachers have You know, and can
recall those incidents where if you just stop and have a look, kids are
learning so much and then it's, it's, it's just stopping yourself, not
interfering, not worrying about the timetable, not worrying about the next
thing that you're supposed to be doing.
Because in those teachable moments, I think that's where the real
authentic learning can take place if we just let it, you know, so
it's, it's pretty powerful stuff.
Loose parts or provocations really, they're a game changer in any setting.
I'm curious to know what challenges you may have faced, um, with loose parts
when things perhaps didn't go as planned.
Can you share with us how you navigated those moments?
I think the biggest challenge is people approaching them
and not knowing what it is.
Through my business now, I. I guess do pop up play sessions, um, with loose parts.
So I bring a whole heap of just random bits and I put them in a location.
Um, and then it's sort of a free for all space for people
walking past to interact with.
Um, so that opens it up to mixed ages from, you know,
babies up until even adults.
But a lot of the people sort of just look at it and say to me,
what am I meant to do with this?
And I think that really goes to show.
That, yeah, we don't really understand the idea of, of that open ended play.
So I guess my role there is to say, and I always say, it's for your ideas.
And it's like, whoa, hold the phone.
We, and that goes back to that notion of the gifted few.
Um, not every, like we are all gifted if we allow ourself to be
creative and the loose parts are a vehicle for us to be creative.
Um, and sometimes it takes a while for the kids or the adults to get into it.
Um, they sort of hold back, they look at other people, but then they might pick
something up and just say, it's a formula can really good loose part, by the way.
They can take the lid off, they can put something inside, they can roll it, they
can stack it, they can use it as a drum.
Suddenly it has all these other uses, and it used to hold some powder, but now they
can see it has all these other options.
Let's add a pipe.
We could put a pipe in it, we could stack a pipe on top.
One of my favorite things is stacking them like tempin bowling.
And then using like some kind of, uh, I think a buoy, we have like a foam buoy,
um, and they roll it and play bowling.
So yeah, I think it takes time.
It might not be straight away that people know what to do, but like I said, if you
stand back and give the time, I think that that's the best thing I can give.
Is provide the space and then step back and provide appropriate support in terms
of the language that I use, um, and then hopefully model that to, um, other adults
rather than tell, like, it's easy for an adult to bring their ideas into something.
Um, but then that robs the opportunity for the child to discover it for themselves.
So like, you should do this, you should do that, don't do this, don't do that.
That's creating that, that, that language, that environment where
they feel restricted to create.
And we want children to harness their creativity because
we're all born creative.
I do have to mention a study, um, that I was reading about, about creativeness.
Um, it was back in the early nineties.
So a while ago now, but I feel like it would still be relevant.
Um, and it was a. So NASA, they do a creative thinking test with their
employees and they did, and they decided to do it on four and five year olds
to see how, um, creative they were.
And 98 percent of children aged four to five tested as creative
geniuses in their, in their tests.
And then they decided to test the same kids as they got
older, and then at 10 years old.
It was 30 percent creative genius, and then 15 years was 12 percent and
then adults, do you want to guess?
2 percent or something around there?
Yeah, less than 2%.
So I guess what does that show?
We're sort of like educated out of our creative capabilities.
Yeah,
it's a funny thing because in the previous few episodes of this podcast, I've been
focusing on just the things that we do as educators, either as homeschool
educators or classroom educators just to get started in the beginning of the year.
And so the last two posts have been about the environment of a third
teacher, both indoors and outdoors.
And I've been.
Mentioning about loose parts and different strategies to get loose parts out and
what some other educators have done.
And, you know, that whole aspect of being creative and thinking for yourself,
that is so essential in our environment to provide those elements for children
to create without our interference.
And.
We almost school creativity out of children.
Um, and I know the late great Ken Robinsons
spoke a lot about that.
Yes, I've got my notes in front of me with his quote highlighted or something.
Yeah, that's always in the back of my head.
You know, Ken Robinsons saying schools kill creativity.
And I know when I'm standing in a classroom, I've always got Ken Robinsons
voice in my head thinking, crikey, I must make sure not to kill kids creativity.
And I think for myself, he's had such a, he's been such a mentor
and such a massive influence and remembering to give kids that agency.
And so the last few blog posts and podcasts have been about that.
So anybody who's listening to this today.
might be a good idea to also go back and just see that because I think,
Ash, your and my ideas really sort of dovetail and think it's just something
that parents and teachers really have to listen to and, and heed because
it's almost like a warning, right?
Because even people at Google with all their technology, I've read lots
of things where they don't even allow their kids to be on technology and
they are in the technological world because they understand how it can.
stifle creativity and where then they themselves don't spend all
the time just on technology.
They take some time out in order to be creative.
So I think that's really important for our children.
So Ash, how do these materials do you think?
We've spoken a lot about creativity, but what about academic development
where I think a lot of people would say, Oh yeah, but that's all great.
But it's all about academics.
What are your thoughts on how loose parts.
Impact academic
performance.
Oh, that's a great one.
Well, I like to Go back to the notion of play and learning through
play, we're born hard wired to play.
Um, we have amazing brain capacity, um, and play aids our development,
our holistic development.
So that includes, you know, physical, emotional, social.
Cognitive and language.
So, you know, when we're playing with loose pods, we're thinking we might,
we're interacting with other children.
We're having, you know, resolving conflicts and talking to one
another, or maybe just thinking about ideas in our head.
But all those are the building blocks for academics.
So they're not, um, you're, you know, spatial, spatial recognition, you're
stacking and seeing shapes around you and counting and sorting and organizing.
And I just find academics are embedded and integrated into the everyday.
Yeah.
It's, it's just part of life.
No,
totally.
I mean, you can't, I don't think you can separate the two.
I think the one feeds off the other, right?
Because if a kid's not happy and they haven't got agency,
they're not going to learn.
We know that.
So, you know, the two go hand in hand and you can't separate them in my mind anyway.
You're more likely to remember things that.
are more meaningful and relevant to use.
So when you're in a space where you feel free to think and create on
your own terms, you're more likely to embed that into your brain.
Your neural connections are stronger.
Couldn't
agree more with that.
As an educator in education, there's often this very focus
on the structured learning.
How did you balance or how do you have advice for educators?
out there.
How do you balance loose parts?
How do you bring them in to balance that structured environment?
Um, I think honestly, it all goes just back to trusting kids.
I really feel that we need to trust children more.
I guess these days.
It might be hard in classroom settings.
You've got to prove learning, don't you?
You've got to report on it and document it and parents want to see
what their children are learning.
I think the only real people who know what learning is going
on sometimes are the children.
They're the curriculum.
Anyway, that's another topic.
I get easily distracted because I just feel very passionate about this.
Sorry, what did you say again?
Ideas where educators, how could they actually bring loose
parts into their settings?
You know, and a lot of the times it's always, there's
always that big word, right?
We haven't got the budget, but really Loose Parts doesn't need a budget, right?
Does it?
My collection of Loose Parts has pretty much been donated, um, given to me or
picked up from the side of the road or the tip shop for a very minimal price.
Um, Loose Parts are great to, uh, reinforce sustainable.
Practices.
So kids can see how things can be used for a different purpose.
You're more resourceful.
You don't need a lot of money.
Kids don't need all the fancy stuff, really.
And what's that, what's that saying about you get them the
toy, they just want the box?
Like.
That's why my logo is a box.
And it's just
about having a little bit of just imagination, isn't it?
The same way as we're getting our kids to be curious and
creative and have an imagination.
I think as, as the adults, we need to find our creativity and our imagination
and start thinking about not, Oh, I can't do this, but how can I do this?
Watch the kids, you'll learn.
And I think.
Thank you.
Um, yeah, exactly.
So when you don't think, oh, I haven't got the budget, it's rather like,
how, how can I get hold of this stuff?
You know, and my big thing is just,
it's just the parents as well involve the community.
Um, you know, we're looking for this or what, what, what's, can you bring
or, you know, grandparents can come and help build something like it.
It's a whole community effort, I find.
Yeah.
You don't.
Need fancy things.
And I think having the kids involved in the process of creating their environment
is, yeah, like we said, so important.
So get them to bring things from home, get them to put things in the classroom.
They'll feel so empowered.
Like we helped build this space.
Isn't that what we want?
It's to feel validated.
And that, and
that's how you, you build a community as well, right?
You build a community and that's the agency, as you said,
they feel part of it then.
As a teacher and as a mom, and now with your business, you must have seen
some incredible transformations in children when it's come to loose parts.
Could you sort of share a specific success story that stands out to
you where you really witnessed a child, their remarkable development.
or a breakthrough moment that you attributed to loose parts
in their learning journey?
Well, it's hard not to look past my own little guy, um, Milo, who's five.
I think part of my journey as an educator has come to be.
Because of him, when I was teaching, you sort of get the kids already
at four, five, maybe three, they've done so much learning before that
point, so much critical learning.
So seeing it right from the beginning as a newborn, a real amazing experience to
witness and be part of their learning.
So.
Yeah, um, Milo is a very curious little guy.
We like to provide a stimulating environment for him, real
life, real world experiences.
And I can't think of a better example than renovating our home, which we have been
doing for the last two and a half years.
So our environment is literally a lot of loose parts, many variables in one place.
And he has grown up.
Playing with many loose parts.
Um, And real
loose parts, we might add.
Real hammers, real saws, real nails.
He's still okay, right?
Oh yeah.
He's learning.
He's learned through all those experiences and he's been immersed in it.
And just the days spent, you know, playing with all the parts while we've been off
building, he's really developed that.
Uh, self initiated mindset of, there's stuff there, I want to explore it.
This could be a tower, it could be a house, let's go and bring
something from over there to this.
He used to love rubbish trucks and bins.
He went through the big bays of bins, so everything was a bin.
So he would line them all up and like tip them.
So they wouldn't, they weren't always boxes.
They were like cups or we'd go to Bunnings and he'd get all the pipes
in the pipe aisle when we were going to get things for plumbing and he
would line all the pipes up, um, and drains and play bin day with that.
So there's a loose part mindset there.
Learning through Learning so much about, uh, us as parents through him exploring
the world and the loose parts and the environment has been a big learning
curve for both myself and husband, Ruben.
Definitely fostering his imagination as well through loose parts.
I mean, it kind of gives you an excuse to just leave stuff
out, to be honest, doesn't it?
Be messy.
Like our backyard is still a lot of remnants from building, um, scrap wood.
Um, him and Ruben built a playground with some off cut jarrah
with Milo's help designing it.
So he was part of that, um, design process, you know, we've got some old
tires out there that we found in the sump.
It's just an ongoing play space for him to build upon, like a big loose
part, all the loose parts together.
And daily, that is an inspiration to us as how, You can view the world and create
your own world and have that mindset.
Can't think of a better example than my own children, but
you see it with all children.
I see it in that five or 10 minute block.
They come to a play session and interact with the loose parts.
They just have that spark there that I want to explore this.
I want to see what I can do with this.
It's really inspiring.
And I love seeing that.
And just go on with it.
And Ash, you, um, love your time so much with Milo that, um, you know, you started
the business Playmore in Geraldton, and that's become your full time really
occupation now, but so much so that.
You now homeschool Milo.
So how's that all going?
And I think for any of the listeners out there, I think so many people
would say, that's all great.
No, we're letting kids play, but what are they actually learning?
Well, we know what they're learning, but on the academic side, if you
know, for those who are thinking about reading and writing and math, How
do you, in your homeschool setting, integrate all that kind of stuff into
Milo's curiosity and his exploration?
Because it's not an and or situation, is it?
You, it's, It dovetails and how did you manage that?
Yeah, the decision to homeschool was difficult at the time because
he was, uh, at school, the school I was working at, but it just became
apparent that there was a misalignment in values and I really, truly wanted
to keep learning alongside him and in a way it became an easy decision.
Um, and.
Okay.
It's just the time together is so much more potent.
We can choose how we spend our days.
It's just like learning through life experiences.
And like you said, learning is integrated and we, he's the curriculum.
We don't subscribe to a curriculum or get out the curriculum and tick the boxes.
We observe and help create the space based on what.
He's interested in or step back.
And again, like I said before about stepping back, observing
and then adjusting accordingly.
So right now he is right into aviation.
He has been for probably about a year since we got back from Japan.
Airplanes, airports, and that has just.
Been evolving throughout the year and built upon, and you can really,
I guess you can nitpick all the curriculum areas into that, out of that.
Cause that is a very broad topic.
So, I mean, like there's the math involved in the altitudes and the
airspeed, uh, wind directions.
He loves watching, um.
Air Crash Investigations, that TV show, a documentary, and he, he watches it
and he studies it and he brings that into his play when he, like, he spends
a lot of his day playing with airplanes.
Like, I'm sitting at the kitchen desk now, table, which has Which was an
airport, which I had to ask if I could borrow for putting my computer on.
But yeah, I've got like airplanes all around me.
Um, anyway, so yes, airports and building on that.
So yeah, I mean, and the physics through the, the lift stall spin,
ailerons, all this jargon with the air.
Language of airplanes.
And, you know, you're covering meteorology with, um, wind speeds and
direction, the weather conditions.
He's right into checking my phone every day for the weather.
What's the temperature today?
The maximum, the minimum.
Today's going to be really hot.
So I need to put sunscreen on.
I need a hat.
So all those rich conversations around daily life.
Um, yes, reading and writing and math is the big one, right?
He loves math naturally that has.
Um, he's been a bit quiet lately because it's off season, but
he's getting right into that.
So he would play football every day, being both teams and, you know, adding
up the score for both teams, working out the difference he's base level
is pretty much six counting in sixes.
So there's your times table.
Um, Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah, and reading comes up naturally through the everyday, like, if he
wants, like, not only the vocabulary through what he's hearing around him and
bringing it into his play, but, you know, we write the shopping list together.
Um, if he wants to find something to watch, we sound it out in the
little box on the YouTube search.
So that naturally occurring.
Reading and writing, we read obviously every night and point
and sound out words, but it's not for, it's not imposed upon him.
It is naturally occurring.
And I think that is best for him to learn in real world.
That's more natural, which makes sense.
It really just makes sense.
The longer I'm out of the system, the more this approach just seems.
like it should be for everyone.
You know,
it's, it's always, I always think back to my own childhood.
You know, I was raised, um, born and raised and schooled in South Africa.
I don't know whether it's changed, might've changed by now, but certainly.
I went to school, my first year of formal schooling was when I was six
and I turned seven in that August.
So this whole rush of getting kids to school when they're three, four and five,
I just don't get it, you know, and I mean, I don't think that disadvantaged me.
I don't think that I'm behind anybody else who perhaps went
to school when they were three.
You know, you wouldn't
know now, would you?
Exactly.
Like, what does it matter?
You know, does it matter now that I'm at this age, whether I
went to school at three or seven?
And it's certainly, I think because I was that bit older, um,
cause that's just how it worked.
You know, you went to school the year you turned seven or the year
that You went to school when you were six, whatever it happened, I think,
because my birthday was after July.
That's why I turned seven.
This whole rush about getting kids to school and they have to start reading
and learning and all the rest of it.
Um, I don't see the point, actually.
I think if you're older, the better, the older you are, I think the more
ready you are, the better it is.
There's no need for the rush.
And that's just my personal opinion.
Oh, I agree.
My own children started school.
I remember we were, um, expats internationally.
And one school I visited and my child was, wasn't even four yet.
And I said, well, what do you expect them to do?
And it was, Oh, they have to read, write, do the name.
And I just turned around and I said, thanks very much.
And when they offered him a position, the best thing was when I said, no, thank you.
We won't be taking that.
It felt so good, you know.
Uh, anyway, we digress from loose parts, Ash.
Oh, it's just, everything's a loose part, right?
Exactly, it's all interconnected.
Absolutely.
Ash, just
to close off, let's tell everybody a little bit about your business, Playmore.
And for those who are lucky enough to live in Geraldton,
how they can get hold of you.
How can they join in with your play sessions?
Just tell everybody how they can find you and connect with
you and come and play with
you.
Oh, thank you.
Um, well, Playmore is evolving.
It started sort of last year where I still, I'd finished at school,
but I still wanted to work with families and children, especially,
and promote learning through play.
So it, I started doing some, um, messy play sessions, uh,
in town that were sort of.
open for everybody to come to and that was quite well received because a lot of
people don't like to get messy or clean up and I don't mind either of those things.
So, um, but yeah, the kids really.
Loved it as well.
And the parents, I think, see the value in, in that.
So I sort of just built upon that, um, also gathering loose parts and doing a
few play sessions here and there, but I think it's growing and evolving in that
we, it's not just me running the business.
I, um, my husband, Ruben is helping as well.
We're working together and it's, we want to.
Create a community, I guess, of like minded people who believe
in learning through play.
And right now at the moment that I guess is play sessions, but we are hoping
to create something bigger than that.
And.
Yeah.
So I guess stay tuned because right now we don't know what it
looks like, but it's in process of becoming something bigger, I think.
Um, but yeah, for now, I guess you can, um, follow Playmore on Facebook,
which is just Playmore, the word, uh, colorful box as the picture, um, and, um,
Instagram or on Instagram as at playmore.
au.
Um, we've got a website, but that is still being developed.
Um, so there isn't a whole lot on it right now, but that is just playmore.
au.
You can contact me through those.
Well, Ash, we will put all your contact details in the show notes
for anyone who's interested.
So I think for today, Ash, thanks for sharing the amazing benefits
of play and loose parts with us.
And I really hope that everything goes well for you and your business.
And I look forward to.
connecting with you again and seeing your growth as I watch you on social media.
And I'd just like to thank everybody for listening today.
As I said, Ash's details will be in the show notes, so
make sure you check that out.
And if you like the show, please consider sharing it with others,
following and leaving a review.
And that way more people find us because that's just the way the algorithm works.
So thanks so much.
And as always, I like to end off by just saying, just stay blooming curious.