No matter where you access your recycled materials from, how you store and display them will significantly affect how they are valued and used by children and staff.
* If the children can't see or reach the materials they won't be able to use them.
* If the staff can't access the materials easily they won't encourage children to use them.
* Poorly stored resources not only look untidy, but are a safety hazard.
* Inadequate storage leads to damage and breakages.
* Piles of mixed materials are confusing and don't encourage children to look closely, sort and classify or begin to explore the full potential of the resources on offer.
Things to think about include:
* Before you introduce recycled resources into your setting, are there some things you should dispose of - anything broken, dirty or worn, rarely used or simply past its best?
* Open shelving with neatly stacked boxes and trays will be pleasant to look at and inviting to use.
* The organisation of the storage area will provide many opportunities for enhancing children's understanding of shape, space and measure.
* Natural resources such as bark, willow, twigs and wood will look good in a willow or cane basket.
* Small resources presented in clear plastic trays encourage exploration of texture, colour and shape.
Involve the children in planning the layout, use and clearing away of the resources so everyone in the setting takes responsibility for seeing that they are looked after and cared for.
ACROSS THE AREAS OF LEARNING
Using reclaimed resources can be an inexpensive and creative way of supporting the different areas of learning in your setting. Talking about where the resources come from and what they are made of will further children's awareness of the world around them and prompt discussions about the need to use natural resources wisely. By their open-ended nature, reclaimed resources encourage children to explore ideas, engage in problem solving, make connections and see relationships in their learning.
Here are some interesting opportunities where you can develop the range of resources and activities you provide for the children.
Creative development
This is the area of learning most likely to spring to mind when you are planning to use reclaimed and recycled resources - collage and card-making, for example.
Carefully arranged reclaimed materials which are easily accessible and beautiful to look at will stimulate children's creative development. Set out your resources in inexpensive unusual containers intended for picnics or party 'nibbles', or use the free ceramic or plastic dishes in which desserts, pates or nuts are packaged. Try asking parents for these items after festive seasons, especially Christmas and New Year. This may also be a good time to develop creative activities using all the senses. Often families have unwanted gifts of potpourri, dried flowers, small soaps or bubble bath, all of which can be used to enhance the multi-sensory qualities of the children's experiences.
Ideas to try include:
* encouraging the children to make 'mandalas' or pictures and patterns without glue, by arranging a mixture of reclaimed and natural resources on trays, circles of plain fabric or placemats
* storing 'out of date' pastas and pulses in transparent containers of different sizes and shapes so that the children can access them freely to make patterns, collage, pictures or jewellery
* adding perfumed bubbles to the water tray or perfumed oils to the playdough for a multi-sensory experience (remember to check for children who have skin allergies)
* offering the children a variety of papers of different sizes, thicknesses, textures, colours and shapes, neatly stacked on open shelving for ease of access
* providing different joining materials such as buckles, laces, threads, buttons and zips, in place of glue or tape to broaden the children's learning opportunities in 3-D representation.
Construction
You will probably have a variety of construction materials in your setting which include large and small bricks and blocks for construction. Using reclaimed resources alongside traditional construction materials will give the children the opportunity to show their creativity by combining purpose-made and 'found' resources.
Alongside the block play provide:
* pipes and tubing, flexible and rigid
* offcuts of different types of wood
* netting
* taped cardboard boxes of different shapes and sizes
* planks of wood of different lengths and thicknesses
* bricks
* cones for wool and threads.
You will be able to acquire many of these resources from your local creative recycling centre or from the families of the children in your setting. They may be very glad to offer materials left over from their DIY activities.
Small world play
This area of learning will be enhanced by adding reclaimed materials and will encourage the children to use open-ended resources in their imaginative play.
Try providing:
* mirrors or mirror tiles to create the reflective surfaces of ponds or streams
* old-fashioned wooden 'dolly' clothes pegs to add new characters to the play, and lace, ribbons and fabrics for the children to dress the dollies
* creative environments for dinosaurs, spacemen or small-world people can be made with lightweight fabric, fancy paper, cellophane, ribbons and bubble plastic
* strips of cardboard, paper and fabric can become roads, rivers and railways
* plastic shapes, cones, netting and small offcuts of wood can be used to make houses, shops, towers and bridges.
Outdoors
Outdoor activities provide the opportunity to use materials and resources on a large scale. They are the perfect way to make use of many of the larger reclaimed resources which are available.
* Large cardboard boxes can be used for puppet theatres, dens and secret places.
* Try using boxes, cylinders and tubing to convert the wheeled toys into removal vans, ice-cream carts or buses to support the children's understanding of a sense of time and place.
* An activity based on moving house will provide endless role-play opportunities for packing and unpacking and moving things from one place to another.
* Use netting or a fence in your setting to weave fabrics, plastics, ribbons and natural materials.
* Re-used metal items, such as buckets, kettles, pans and kitchenware make an interesting version of a 'steel band'.
* Containers for growing things in your setting can be made from barrels, tyres or even old boots and shoes. You may find that families have packets of last year's seeds to donate.
* Think of how scarecrows have always been made from reclaimed materials. A scarecrow for the nursery garden is a good 'design and make' activity.
ICT
Including a lightbox in your setting and making good use of an overhead projector will widen the opportunities you provide for the children to broaden their ICT capabilities.
A lightbox provides a creative learning environment where children can arrange and sort materials, discover their properties and look carefully at their detail.
Discarded sheets of acetate and clear plastic can be drawn and written on and illuminated from below. Coloured translucent plastics can be overlapped for a colour mixing experience.
Spending time looking at the detail of natural materials, cogs, buttons, acrylic and glass pebbles will hold children's attention and create a sense of wonder about the world around them.
Projecting images on to a wall, ceiling or even each other, is a joyous opportunity for children to experience free creative play as well as providing an ever-changing display. Free exploration and investigation quickly develops into discussion about the properties of different materials (transparency, opacity), colour, shape, form and position.
Working with a partner or in a small group also provides the opportunity for co-operation, negotiation and teamwork.
Use divided trays or attractive boxes next to the overhead projector or light box to display:
* translucent materials such as plastic shapes and sheets, buttons, cocktail stirrers, Christmas decorations, small plastic and glass containers and bottles
* opaque materials such as plastic and metal washers, discs, nuts and bolts, lolly sticks, paperclips and coins
* items with holes in them, such as tea strainers, mesh lids and small strainers, giving interesting effects
* fabrics, scarves, ribbons and lace will have different effects when used with an overhead projector - many of them not what we would expect - providing exciting opportunities for discussion and language development.
Further information
* National UK Scrapstore Directory 2005 www.home-education.org.uk/scrap
* Understanding the Reggio Approach, Thornton & Brunton (2005), David Fulton Publishing www. alcassociates.co.uk
* Lightboxes available from Reflections on Learning www.
reflectionsonlearning.co.uk
* Sightlines Initiative www.sightlines-initiative.com
* ReFocus network and research group contact chris@sightlines-initiative.com
* Reggio Children www.reggiochildren.it