Building blocks naturally appeal to children, which is great because playing with blocks helps children develop many essential skills for a happy life. These strengths include language, physical, cognitive, and emotional development. Activity ideas centered on these areas, when planned, increase children’s learning and overall growth potential.
In addition, studies show that complex block-building activities help children learn necessary math skills as they discover math combinations and associate the numerical value of the quantities in the blocks. This article provides a variety of activity ideas for playing with building blocks.
Very young children around 1 1/2 years of age and older can begin to play with blocks. When choosing toys for this age group, try to avoid plastic styles, as they tend to have uneven surfaces and can be difficult to stack. This can create a frustrating learning experience for the young child. High-quality blocks are available from a variety of brands, including Melissa and Doug, Maxim, and Citiblock.
Activity ideas can be planned based on two categories: divergent and convergent problem solving skills. Diverging building block activities allow children to find a solution through trial and error until the correct working solution is identified. Puzzle building block activities are a good example of a divergent activity idea. Another example of this type of activity is the Melissa and Doug Alphabet Stack and Nest Blocks. The game is designed for children 2 years and older. The 10-piece set contains visually appealing blocks in many colors. A storage case is included with this set to help children learn that cleanliness is also an important aspect of responsible activity play. One activity idea that parents can try is to introduce your child to one or two numbers or letters of the alphabet at a time, so that it’s not so much that it overwhelms the child in early learning.
Rolling a plastic ball to knock over stacked blocks is also an activity idea to try. As each block is picked up and re-stacked, you can ask your child to identify the newly learned alphabet letter number to improve cognitive memory. You can also count how many blocks fell and how many are still standing to encourage math building skills.
As children get older and find stacking blocks a simple task, they move to convergence-based type of blocks. The convergent game implies those activities that have many solution options, highlighting the flexibility of creativity. Children learn to distinguish the differences between block sizes and develop physically; using their arm muscles for reaching and stacking, which also uses hand-eye coordination. The Melissa and Doug Building Blocks Collection includes the “Wooden 100 Block Set” for ages 3 and up. This set allows the child’s imagination to take center stage, and by doing so, the cognitive abilities to create abstract concepts help foster their thinking skills.
HABA’s Color Architectural Fantasy Building Blocks and Melissa and Doug Sets feature uncolored columns to help kids test their building imaginations on uncolored base-type block playset. Here they can really understand and describe the difference in form and function of each building block when stacked or placed next to each other, all put to the test of their individual imagination. Brands like Citiblock present a diverse way of using flat block styles to build structures. Melissa and Doug Maxim Toy Trains and Wooden Unit Blocks on Wheels feature wheels to introduce young minds to the rolling concept of wheels.
All of these toys invite parents to get involved by creating pretend play scenarios when they can suggest a project to build, such as a house or barn. Incorporate items at the appropriate scale, such as blocky animals and people, to encourage your child’s ideas. Set aside story time and building blocks play so your child can understand how the story unfolds using all the senses and to stimulate creativity in different narratives.
The price of building blocks is affordable and generally cheap compared to other toys. And while many toys may come with bells and whistles, most tend to appeal to only one or two senses of sight and hearing, while building blocks help children experiment cognitively, learn social skills, and bring them into a Unlimited travel.
