Open Ended Materials

Open-ended means not having a fixed answer; unrestricted. The children themselves decide what to do, how to do it, and what to use.

These are objects that have many uses and endless possibilities. There are no exceptions, no specific problems to solve, no rules to follow, and no pressure to produce a finished project. It's about FREE PLAY!

Why are open-ended materials important to include in children's play?

• allows children to use their imagination and creativity
• helps develop trial and error and problem solving skills
• children have no fear of doing it wrong since there is no right method or outcome.
• open-ended play gives children a sense of freedom and self confidence
• they must make their own choices and learn to be responsible and self-directed.

"IMAGINATION IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN KNOWLEDGE" - Albert Einstein

The following activities are NOT open-ended:

• ready made cut outs,shapes, or craft kits
• traced drawings for children to color
• coloring books
• stencils
• dot-to-dot drawings
• puzzles and board games
• toys with batteries- 90% toy, 10% child
• television and videos
• toys with only one purpose or use
• costumes with one specific use only- Halloween costumes

List of Open-Ended materials to use often in your program planning: (use with direct supervision)

Cardboard tubes	Shoelaces
Styrofoam packing	Wood scraps
Yarn	Metal juice can lids
Paint-watercolor, tempera, acrylic	Jewels from old lamps and chandeliers
Clay	Old costume jewelry
Sand	Wine corks
Mud	Empty spools of thread
Water	Lace
Blocks	Textured paper
Lego	Hemp
Plastic caps from milk jugs, bottle caps	Ribbon
Fabric pieces – felt squares	Pipe cleaners
Cardboard boxes of various sizes	All kinds of tape
Play dough	Toothpicks
Crayons	Googly eyes
Markers	String
Paper	Chopsticks
Buttons	Recycled water bottles/cans
Pom poms	Old metal keys
Empty cereal boxes	Parts from machines, clocks, engines
Paper bags – grocery and lunch bags	Hats, shoes, belts, bags, shirts, gloves
Newspaper and flyers	Scarves and bandanas
Shoe boxes	Colored, clean aquarium rocks
Bread tags	Artificial flowers and petals
Q-tips	Laundry soap lids
Straws of different colors and sizes	Leaves
Aluminum foil	Branches
Golf T’s	Seeds
Plastic food containers with lids	Sea shells
Empty ice cream buckets	Dirt
Dice of all sizes	Sand
Poker chips	Gravel
Magnets	Rocks
Paper clips	Mud
Marbles	Water
Glass gems	Snow
Sequins	Tree cookies – stumps cut up into discs
Clothespins	Pine cones
PVC pipe	Moss
Sponges	Pussy Willows
Nuts and bolts from a hardware store	Bulrushes – Cattails
Beads of various sizes	Twigs

                                          THE POSSIBILITIES ARE ENDLESS!