Search Database	Search Results	Search Platform Used	Search Fields and Restrictions	Search Words	Noted Information/Explanation
Academic Search Complete	271 hits	EBSCO host	Search Field: -default fields (search authors, abstract, title, keywords, subjects) -Boolean operator Restricted Search: -publication from start of January 1970- end of December 2023 -English only -articles, reports, dissertations, books	(child* OR kid* OR youth* OR minor* OR juvenile* OR toddler* OR elementary OR preschool* OR pre-school* OR kindergarten* OR infant* OR bab* OR young) AND (“Loose part*” OR “play material*” OR “recycle* material*” OR “natural material*” OR “scrap material*”) AND (creativ* OR explor* OR cogniti* OR intelligen* OR learn* OR “executive function*” OR knowledge OR skill* OR flexibilit* OR abilit* OR capacit* OR develop* OR achievement* OR outcome* OR problem solv* OR advancement* OR memory OR think* OR attention)	-used platform to search across multiple database -advanced search allows to choose fields and restrictions -no word restriction -made the decision to choose default search as choosing all text resulted in over 20,000 hits, and when specified individual search fields it excluded important articles and significantly decreased the amount of hits
APA PsychArticles	23 hits
APA PsychInfo	326 hits
ERIC	163 hits
Education Research Complete	140 hits
CINAHL	66 hits
Ejournals	332 hits
Scopus	1265 hits		Search Field: -Boolean operator Restricted Search: -publication < 1969 -English only -Articles/Reviews	(ALL (child* OR kid* OR youth* OR minor* OR juvenile* OR early AND child* OR toddler* OR elementary OR preschool* OR pre-school* OR kindergarten* OR infant* OR bab* OR young) AND ALL (“Loose part*” OR “play material*” OR “recycle* material*” OR “natural material*” OR “scrap material*”) AND ALL (creativ* OR explor* OR cogniti* OR intelligen* OR learn* OR “executive function*” OR knowledge OR skill* OR flexibilit* OR abilit* OR capacit* OR develop* OR achievement* OR outcome* OR problem AND solv* OR advancement OR memory OR think* OR attention)) AND PUBYEAR > 1969 AND (LIMIT-TO (LANGUAGE, “English”)) AND (LIMIT-TO (DOCTYPE, “ar”) OR LIMIT-TO (DOCTYPE, “re”))
JSTOR	1550 hits	JSTOR database	Search Field: -all fields (abstract, item title, author, caption) -Boolean operator Restricted Search: -Access type (everything) -English only -Journals and Book chapters -1 January 1970 to 31 December 2023	(child*)) AND ((“Loose part*” OR “play material*” OR “recycle* material*” OR “natural material*” OR “scrap material*”))) AND ((creativ* OR explor* OR cogniti* OR intelligen* OR learn* OR “executive function*” OR knowledge OR skill*)	-database had a restriction on the number of keywords that could be searched which prevented us from searching all terms. Terms narrowed down
Science Direct	1081 results		Search Field: -search articles with selected key terms -Boolean operator Restricted search -1970–2023 -Journals, book chapters, encyclopedias	(child OR children) AND (“Loose parts” OR “play material” OR “recycle material” OR “natural material” OR “scrap material) AND (cognitive)	-database had a restriction of the number of keywords that can be searched which prevented us from searching all the terms -terms narrowed down -does not allow truncation of words -does not have an English only specification -checked to make sure 1970–2023 captured articles IN both 1970 and 2023
Web of Science	551 results	Clarivate	Search Field: -search terms in all fields -Boolean operator Restricted Search: -1970–2023 -articles -English only	ALL = ((child* OR kid* OR youth* OR minor* OR juvenile* OR toddler* OR elementary OR preschool* OR pre-school* OR kindergarten* OR infant* OR bab* OR young) AND (“Loose part*” OR “play material*” OR “recycle* material*” OR “natural material*” OR “scrap material*”) AND (creativ* OR explor* OR cogniti* OR intelligen* OR learn* OR “executive function*” OR knowledge OR skill* OR flexibilit* OR abilit* OR capacit* OR develop* OR achievement* OR outcome* OR problem solv* OR advancement* OR memory OR think* OR attention))	-checked to make sure 1970–2023 captured articles IN both 1970 and 2023