I love watching young children play, and the creative things they come up with. Today I got to see the theory of loose parts in action. (As Amy from The Wonder Years puts it: "The term 'loose parts' refers to an object that can be used alone or combined for play. A loose parts play object has no set of specific directions and can be manipulated by the child to allow for both physical and creative experimentation.")
I found a piece of foam my mother was throwing away, the same shape and material as a pool noodle, only smaller and with no hole in the middle. So I chopped it into chunks and set it aside. When Kay was playing in her pool today, I brought them out and, together with a random bucket, she had a blast.
The pieces floated, just like a pool noodle would, so at first she threw them in and jumped in to "rescue" them. Then I pushed the bucket in the water and we tried to throw the pieces in. (I wish I could think of a name for these things. All day I've just been calling them the "floaty things!")
Next she lined them up, to wait their turn to go down the slide. She found a condiment holder, like for a picnic, that had never been used and she's played with before, and then she was squirting the pieces and pouring water on them. I was just amazed at the pleasure she got from these simple things we had around the house. The imagination of preschoolers and toddlers will never fail to amaze me!
If you haven't already, I would encourage you to look more into the idea around 'loose parts.' A couple of sites that you mind find helpful are Let the Children Play
and Childhood 101.
and Childhood 101.