What's Jewish about Loose Parts?: A Guide to Bringing Jewish Values into the Classroom Through Loose Parts Paperback – November 3, 2025

Bottle caps, rocks, ribbons, corks and more. To some they may just be junk, but for Early Childhood Educators they are known as loose parts, the open-ended materials seen and used daily throughout many of our classrooms. We have read about them, explored them, and brought them into our classrooms with the intention of bringing open-ended exploration and deepening the learning for the children. As such, we are charged with bringing excellence to Jewish Early Childhood Education. We are also tasked with bringing opportunities for open-ended exploration into the classroom, and ensuring the transmission of Jewish values, Jewish identity, and Jewish learning to our children in a tangible and meaningful way. According to Jewish Every Day: The Complete Handbook for Early Childhood Educators, “if we are serious about giving children a foundation for Jewish life and an identity that will last their whole lives… Employing Jewish values, Jewish culture and Jewish “ways of being” as aspects of everything that happens in the classroom will create an environment which serves the whole Jewish child” (Handelman, 2000, p. 24). Loose parts are one of the tools that assists us in achieving this goal.List of Authors:Niki Bànffy-NesbittDena BrownAbiba BolaMykenzie BusserKarla CianciJamai EllisChana GubaniSheila PurdinAshlyn RosenFiona SackettMalka Zazzara Read more