This week, the JKK program at RisingOaks Early Learning | St. Patrick were presented with a large box filled with fun paper packing material. As soon as it was introduced, the children eagerly began imagining all the different ways they could use it. Some children placed the paper on their heads, transforming it into long, Rapunzel-like hair. Others cut the material into smaller pieces and decorated them with pom-poms, while one child creatively designed a mask that resembled Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.

Several children explored the physical properties of the material by stretching the longer pieces as far as they could, while others turned it into a game of limbo, holding the strands up and taking turns moving underneath. A few children were especially drawn to the box itself, using markers to colour and decorate it, and adding smaller pieces of the packing paper along the edges for extra detail.

This activity proved to be a wonderful loose-parts provocation, inviting creativity, collaboration, problem-solving, and imaginative play from this highly inventive group of learners.