Examining parent-child play types, duration, and engagement with loose parts: How parental income, educational attainment, and children’s age and cognitive functioning shape loose parts play

Abstract

Children’s access to play materials can significantly account for the social stratification of knowledge and achievement gap among low-, middle- and high-income children. Since disposable income enables purchasing stimulating toys and materials, low-income families often cannot afford these ‘non-essentials.’ Professionals working with children in impoverished homes typically find few toys available. There are many calls to enrich young children’s indoor play, experimentation, and learning through Loose Parts Play. Loose Parts Play is unique, involving open-ended materials (e.g., cardboard, sticks, pipes, beads) generally not intended for play. Many policymakers and professionals explicitly endorse loose parts to facilitate child development and learning. However, despite extensive public and educational recommendations, empirical research on how young children engage in loose parts play is minimal. Our exploratory study investigated 40 parent-child dyads’ and how the play material type (loose parts vs. single-purpose toys) influenced young children’s play types, duration, and engagement while controlling for parental income and educational attainment, children’s cognitive functioning and age at the time of testing. Preliminary results demonstrated the main effects of play material and age in duration and play types with loose parts. Executive function and parental education were predictors of children’s play engagement and duration.

Faculty Mentor: Dr. Ozlem Cankaya