Since you can pop down to the craft store and buy them by the box, maybe this post should use the term craft sticks instead of popsicle sticks, but I’m old-school. The idea of kids to delighting in dozens of yummy popsicles or fudge bars before diving into stick-based loose parts play appeals to me. I mean, look at that happy face! That’s a happy child. Craft sticks, popsicle sticks, whatever you call them, they are a ton of fun.

Popsicle Sticks At Play

I must admit, this is a loose part that floods me with fond childhood memories. We visited my grandparents for a week or two every summer. Grandma grew up during the depression and was inclined to save things that might be useful some day. She also had a sweet tooth. That meant a box of popsicle sticks waiting for me to visit.

When I was older, I spent a whole summer on the farm. Grandma and I could not eat popsicles fast enough to keep up with my demand for sticks–I was building a city. We had to venture to town to the Ben Franklin store for craft sticks many times. Grandma instinctively understood the value of loose parts play long before Simon Nicholson wrote about them.

Just a reminder, adult-planned craptivities, like the one below, make perfectly good parts less loose. All the adult planning, organizing, and instructing sucks the looseness right out of the parts.

Entrusted with some time, glue, and paint, and kids will build their own creations. Or, they’ll use the sticks as noodles in the dramatic play area, blocks in the block area, page holders in the reading area, and more.–I’ve seen them used as pretend pens, knifes, people, and hot dogs. Once, a child taped a stick to the end of each finger, so she could have long finger nails like her mom’s best friend. (If you are wondering, of course she painted them after they were taped to her fingers.)

Popsicle sticks are also STEM play friendly. Kids can use them to build launchers, towers, bridges and more. Aquire some sticks and let the playful learning commence.

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