In an effort to understand how loose parts in early learning environments benefit children’splay and development, through observations of preschool children in a rural outdoor naturalenvironment, this study examined behaviours that children exhibited as they used loose parts.Children exhibited a range of positive social behaviours, complex verbal and nonverbalbehaviours, and various types of risk taking in their play. The findings suggest that childrendo not explicitly exhibit stereotypical gender or age-exclusion behaviours while using the looseparts. The results would suggest that increasing children’s opportunities to use loose parts in an early years outdoor environment will support their various aspects of development in positiveways.