How Important Is Block Play?
Just as every quality nursery school and kindergarten should have a set of blocks, every family, if possible, should have them as well. Inexpensive plastic, cardboard, or foam blocks can work too if costs make wooden blocks unaffordable.
Why is block play so important?
Not only is it fun, providing hours of play, but it also produces vital experience in all areas of development.
The most apparent skills are in motor development, both gross motor and fine motor. With whole-body movements, use of their senses, and practice with motor dexterity, children build muscle tone as they reach, lift and manipulate blocks. Making props available such as various figures and animals along with scarves, fabric, and short pieces of ribbon or yarn, enrich and extend the experience.
Problem-solving is next as children create problems and solutions as they build. The open-ended play that blocks foster provides for the use of creativity and imagination.
Participating in problem-solving activities promotes experience with the scientific method. Children experiment with building structures, testing forces, and balance. They observe material properties and adjust their constructions accordingly. This experimentation leads to concrete experiences with volume, measurement, and other mathematical concepts.
Working with others when block-building fosters cooperation and collaboration, turn-taking, patience, listening skills, and speech and language development. Children increase vocabulary, dialogue, and storytelling abilities.
Social and emotional growth is built in. Children develop adaptability and perseverance, whether playing with others or alone. The ability for children to express themselves visually builds confidence and self-esteem.
Block play can begin as soon as babies sit up and can grasp objects and continue until they reach the “tween stage.” In the beginning, parents and caregivers can demonstrate building towers and modeling imaginative and creative constructions: two blocks can be a boat or a group together can be a road for cars or a house for a dolly. Even after children are self-motivated to build, children love to see your ideas when the blocks are brought out.
Every session is a new adventure with assembling, role-playing and creative dramatics… and the possibilities are endless!!
Remember, as long as everyone is safe, there are no right or wrong answers.
Have fun!
