Loose part compositions, can toddlers do this?

When we think of loose part compositions, we often think of the beautiful Pinterest images of children creating intricate pictures and patterns. The image below was done in one of The Sunflower School's preschool rooms. The understanding of placement and representation is better understood by the children in a preschool room.

Toddler compositions are not as obvious in the creations. I found myself thinking about this one morning as I presented the children with a provocation around rolling that they have been exploring outside. I had a background of calm music with a projection of floating circles along with a table of materials. I expected the children would use the parts as they previously had, however they were talking about the circles more than exploring the loose parts. They looked at them, they made circles around circles and they filled circles. So once again these children have amazed me in their knowledge and how they will use the loose parts provided.

As I watched and really observed what they were doing I found a new beauty in the compositions they were creating. Their ability to follow a curve and to relate a material to the shape they wanted to create. A beauty in the dumping of pieces to fill a space. The dumping was purposeful. Their compositions may not be typical or even easily identifiable, but they are meaningful and important. When you engage with your toddlers what do you see? Are their creations beautiful, are they meaningful? Had I not taken the time to really look at their work, I may have missed an important lesson for myself. Toddlers are capable of making beautiful loose part compositions, I just had to adjust my preconceived idea of what was beautiful.