<![CDATA[Early literacy and numeracy are foundational skills that need to be developed through learning experiences suited to young children's developmental characteristics. However, early childhood education (ECE) still requires alternative media that are concrete, flexible, and capable of integrating learning objectives with play activities. This community service activity aimed to strengthen early literacy and numeracy learning practices through play-based loose parts and contextual learning at Tamalate State Kindergarten in Makassar City. The activity employed a participatory mentoring approach comprising seven stages: needs identification, planning, mentoring, demonstration, children's practice, observation and evaluation, and reflection. Evaluation was conducted descriptively through observations of children's activities, documentation, mentor notes, and educator reflection. The results showed that loose parts could flexibly support letter recognition and representation, number recognition and arrangement, counting, matching symbols with quantities, grouping objects, and connecting numerical concepts with everyday experiences. Children demonstrated engagement by selecting, moving, arranging, trying alternatives, and refining their work. From the educators' perspective, the activity provided experience in designing concrete, contextual, and exploration-oriented learning activities. Therefore, loose parts offer a practical alternative for enriching early literacy and numeracy learning and can be sustainably integrated into regular ECE practices.]]>
Copyrights © 2026
