Recycled and natural materials are a low-cost way of resourcing a setting, and stimulate children's play and discussions as they recognise items and connect them with objects used in the home.
Although some commercially produced items, such as good quality blocks, are always welcome in a setting, others can appear tacky and have no aesthetic value. Practitioners in settings filled with such garish, plastic objects should reflect on the messages they give to children and consider the value of natural and recycled materials in children's play.
Curriculum Guidance for the Foundation Stage advocates the use of both natural and recycled materials with young children, but neither are in evidence in some settings.
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