Block building is important work around here at the moment.
While he is busy creating ‘The Wizardly World of Wizaldo the Wizard’ he is also learning maths skills such as number, shape, weight, volume, grouping and sorting.
He’s experimenting with concepts like balance and gravity. He’s learning and using new language.
He’s practising spatial awareness skills, eye hand co-ordination and refining both small and large muscle movements.
His imagination is blossoming. He’s making a representation of his ideas. He’s planning, creating and problem solving.
And when ‘Godzilla’ is released he is also learning about cause and effect and to cope with set backs.
So you see… block play is very important work.
If you are looking for more great play ideas you need to check out Childhood101’s brand new resource Playopedia! I’m very excited to finally see this great resource up and running, I’m excited to have helped put it together and really excited to have some of my play ideas featured!
Find out more about it here.
Joining in with the It’s Playtime link up – this week at the Imagination Tree.
Great post. Wish more people understood how much real learning goes on when children are just mucking about.
We’re major block fans in this house – especially the wooden ones!
Wooden Blocks are very popular & an integral part of our Playcentre. Our kids love to build the most amazing creations. Some are teeny tiny & others are for the kids to be inside.. We like to play with blocks at home too.
It’s great to use the wooden blocks too as they have a nice warmth to them.
I love this post! And I am really, really envious of your blocks! Totally agree about the essential benefits in very simple, everyday, repetitive types of play- so important for development!
These are amazing blocks. Did you buy them or make them?
They are a combination of bought and made blocks. The castle blocks I made when I was teaching preschool from off cuts from a building site. They are just left over pine 2×4’s mostly. The little wooden blocks were a gift and the yellow ‘flamed’ shaped arch in these pictures is part of a set of ‘fire’ arches that fit inside each other which we got from entrophy.com.au
Hope that helps!
Thanks for letting me know :)
Love it Kate :) And I think I just decided what I would buy with my first pay cheque…Jack will LOVE those fire arches
We got the set of fire arches as well as a rainbow set and a water set from entropy about 5 years ago and everyone has played with them and loved them. They are one of the best toy’s we’ve ever bought and really not that expensive… though I dream of getting some of the really big sets!