Blocks, You Can Do Anything With Blocks

I love love love blocks. I can not say enough about how enriching blocks are. The are the greatest open ended toy spanning over every age group. Blocks are a great tool for developing language. They facilitate story telling, using objects representative of real life experience, they give children the opportunity to retell real life events acting out problems and facilitating solutions and they give children the opportunity to explore language that is useful in peer situations. They provide opportunities to explore spacial awareness; using patterns, symmetry, geometrical shapes, colors, textures and other forms of tactile situations. They help children explore mathematics through spacial understand and reasoning. Children explore science to gravity, properties of materials, theorizing, predicting, and solving problems. They provide creativity through mapping, building, and planning. There is so much learning going on when children play with blocks. It is so simple to add new ideas into blocks as well. Animals, people, cars, even simple recycled materials can add new dimensions to the play. Children start by stacking and knocking it down. Their play leads into lining blocks up and then structures are erected. Blocks provide endless amounts of play and the play becomes more intricate as they get older.

Stinky recently pulled these soft blocks out and began building little pedestals for each animal to stand on. When she was finished she enjoyed knocking it down. We picked them up and put them away only be re-introduced ready for an entirely new experience at a later time.