Playing With Blocks to Enhance Learning

Playing with blocks has always been my daughter’s favourite thing to do. It started with hand-me-down wooden blocks – I think from Woolies (RIP). Anyway, she is the 4th to play with this specific tub. Now under my expert tutelage, she is a Lego fan but the blocks are in her room and often taken out for tower building. Block play offers an open-ended, creative, and valuable play and learning experience accessible in every setting. It allows children to explore, take apart, and reconstruct any block-based creation they can imagine. This type of play is not only enjoyable but also has a wide array of developmental benefits. Here are ten key aspects of learning that block play is perfect for.

1. Imagination

Through block play, children are free to follow their imagination, embarking on voyages of discovery or joining in the development of their friends’ creations. For instance, a child might build a castle from blocks, imagining it as a fortress for their toy knights and princesses. This imaginative play helps children explore different scenarios and narratives, enriching their creative thinking.

2. Self-Expression

Children express themselves through their play, creations, and discoveries. This form of communication is particularly valuable for bilingual or non-verbal children, allowing them to convey ideas and emotions non-verbally. For example, a child who is shy about speaking might build an elaborate structure to show how they are feeling or what they are thinking.

3. Problem-Solving

Blocks provide an excellent platform for developing problem-solving and reasoning skills. Children learn to solve challenges both deliberately and naturally as they discover what works and what doesn’t. Suppose a child is trying to build a tall tower but it keeps toppling over; they must figure out how to make the base sturdier to support the height, thereby enhancing their critical thinking and engineering skills.

4. Mathematics

Blocks come in various shapes, sizes, and colours, offering ample opportunities for children to practice important early numeracy skills. They can cover concepts like measurement, number, symmetry, balance, and estimation. For example, children can compare the heights of different towers, count the number of blocks used, or create symmetrical patterns, all of which are foundational math skills.

5. Physical Development

Block play promotes spatial awareness and hand-eye coordination as children reach for, lift, move, and build with blocks. This activity strengthens their fingers, hands, and arms. For instance, stacking blocks requires precise movement and control, which enhances fine motor skills.

6. Creativity

Blocks are considered loose parts, meaning children can combine and re-combine them in countless ways. Adding alternative resources such as dough, small world characters, or paint and pencils can further extend opportunities for creativity. Imagine a child building a zoo with blocks and then using toy animals and clay to create habitats, combining different materials to enhance their creative play.

7. Science

Through exploration of cause and effect and experimentation, children develop problem-solving skills, test hypotheses, and practice scientific reasoning. Blocks help them become familiar with concepts like balance, weight, spatial awareness, and gravity. For example, a child might experiment with different block arrangements to see which configurations are most stable.

8. Self-Esteem

Children can take risks in their block play, discovering that they have independent ideas and experiencing a sense of achievement when they create something new and unique. Successfully building a complex structure can boost a child’s confidence and encourage them to take on new challenges.

9. Personal, Social, and Emotional Development (PSED)

Block play encourages children to cooperate, share materials, take turns, and negotiate roles, fostering new friendships. It also promotes self-reliance, increases attention span, and develops a sense of self. For instance, children working together to build a large structure must communicate, collaborate, and resolve conflicts, which are critical social skills.

10. Communication & Literacy

As children encounter new experiences through block play, there are countless opportunities for discussion and vocabulary development. Using blocks can support story creation and collaborative storytelling. For example, children might build a setting for a story and then narrate events happening in that environment, enhancing their language and narrative skills.

Playing With Blocks: Adult Support

Supporting block play as an adult provides a unique opportunity to nurture children’s development through the Characteristics of Effective Learning. Observing and interacting thoughtfully can enhance their creativity, problem-solving skills, and persistence. Here’s how you can do that effectively:

Key Questions for Adults to Ask:

1. Are the children having and following their own ideas? Are they choosing and exploring their own ways of doing things?
   • Encourage autonomy by allowing children to make decisions about their projects. Ask questions like, “What are you planning to build today?” or “How do you think we can make this taller?”
2. Are the children willing to have a go and take risks in their block play? Do they keep trying if things don’t work?
   • Celebrate attempts and perseverance. Comments such as, “I noticed you tried a different way to stack those blocks. What made you think of that?” can be very encouraging.
3. Are the children involved? Are they concentrating on what they want to achieve?
   • Support focused play by minimizing distractions and showing genuine interest in their projects. Ask, “What are you working on now?” or, “What do you think you need to do next to complete this?”
4. Are the children enjoying their play and discoveries? Do they enjoy achieving what they set out to do?
   • Reflect their joy and enthusiasm. Statements like, “You look very happy with your tower. What do you like most about it?” can help them articulate their feelings and accomplishments.

Scaffolding Ideas for Playing With Blocks Using Open-Ended Questions and Comments

Use Open-Ended Questions:

Open-ended questions stimulate thinking and exploration. They don’t have a right or wrong answer, this encourages children to expand their ideas and try new things.

• “What do you think will happen if we add another block here?”
  • This question prompts the child to hypothesize and test their theories, fostering critical thinking and experimentation.
• “Can you tell me about what you’re building?”
  • Invites the child to explain their thought process and reinforces their understanding of their own work.
• “How do you think we can make this bridge stronger?”
  • Encourages problem-solving and innovation, as the child considers different structural strategies.

Make “I Wonder” and “I Notice” Comments about the Block Play:

These types of comments show that you are engaged and curious, and they can guide children to further explore and reflect.

• “I wonder why this tower keeps falling over?”
  • This can lead the child to think about balance, stability, and construction methods. They might begin to experiment with different bases or stacking techniques.
• “I notice you used a lot of tall blocks. What made you choose those?”
  • Such comments can help children articulate their choices and reasoning, enhancing their cognitive and language skills.

Making Block Play Part of Your Daily Routine

Block play isn’t just entertainment—it’s a powerful learning tool that develops spatial reasoning, problem-solving skills, and creativity. The key to maximizing these benefits lies in making block play a natural, consistent part of your child’s day rather than an occasional activity.

Creating the Foundation

Establish a Dedicated Block Space

Transform a corner of your home into a block play sanctuary. Choose a spot with good lighting, soft flooring for comfortable sitting, and easy access to storage. Keep blocks organized in clear bins or open shelves so children can see their options and make independent choices. This designated area signals to your child that block play is valued and always available.

Start Small, Think Big

You don’t need expensive block sets to begin. Cardboard boxes, empty containers, and even books can serve as building materials. As your child’s interest grows, you can gradually add wooden blocks, magnetic tiles, or specialty building sets.

Weaving Blocks Through Your Day

Morning Momentum

Begin each day with a five-minute building challenge. Ask your child to construct something that represents how they’re feeling or what they’re excited about today. This gentle activity helps transition from sleep to alertness while giving you insight into your child’s mindset.

Consider using blocks to create a visual schedule together. Build a tower representing the day’s activities, with each block symbolizing something planned—breakfast, park time, or story hour. This helps young children understand time concepts and feel more secure about what’s ahead.

Mealtime Integration

While you prepare breakfast, invite your child to sort blocks by color or size nearby. This keeps them engaged while developing classification skills. During snack time, use blocks to practice counting—”Let’s see if you can build a tower with exactly seven blocks while I cut your apple.”

Transform waiting time into learning time. If lunch is running late, challenge your child to build something that tells a story about their morning or represents their favorite book character.

Afternoon Adventures

Link block play to current learning themes. If your child is fascinated by dinosaurs, encourage them to build prehistoric landscapes. Studying community helpers? Create a town with fire stations, hospitals, and schools. This connection reinforces academic concepts through hands-on exploration.

Take blocks outdoors when weather permits. Natural materials like pinecones, smooth stones, and sturdy sticks become fascinating additions to block structures. This outdoor integration encourages children to think creatively about materials and spatial relationships in different environments.

Evening Calm

As the day winds down, use blocks for peaceful, reflective activities. Ask your child to build something that represents their favorite moment from the day, then share the story behind their creation. This serves as both a calming transition to bedtime and an opportunity for meaningful conversation about daily experiences.

Building Social Connections

Family Building Time

Designate one evening each week as “family build night.” Work together on ambitious projects like castles, cities, or recreations of familiar places. These collaborative efforts teach negotiation, compromise, and the joy of shared accomplishment. Rotate who gets to be the “head architect” to ensure everyone feels valued.

Create friendly family challenges. Who can build the most stable bridge using only ten blocks? Which family member can construct the most creative interpretation of “home”? These activities build healthy competition while fostering problem-solving skills.

Social Play Opportunities

When friends visit, introduce cooperative building challenges. Provide a large base and ask the children to work together to create a community, with each child responsible for one section. This teaches collaboration, spatial planning, and communication skills.

Consider hosting block-building playdates with specific themes. A “transportation day” might involve building roads, airports, and train stations. A “fantasy day” could feature castles, dragons’ lairs, and magical kingdoms. Themed play helps children focus their creativity while providing natural conversation starters.

Educational Integration

Mathematics in Motion

Blocks provide countless opportunities for mathematical thinking. Create pattern challenges using different colored blocks. Practice addition and subtraction by building towers and removing specific numbers of blocks. Explore geometry by constructing shapes and discussing their properties.

Introduce measurement concepts by comparing tower heights or bridge lengths. Ask questions like, “How many small blocks equal one large block?” or “Can you make your tower exactly as tall as this book?”

Scientific Exploration

Use blocks to investigate engineering principles. Challenge your child to build a tower that can withstand gentle shaking, or construct a bridge strong enough to hold toy cars. These experiments introduce concepts of balance, stability, and structural design.

Explore physics concepts through block play. What happens when you build on different surfaces? How does the weight distribution affect stability? These investigations develop scientific thinking and observation skills.

Language and Literacy

Encourage storytelling through block constructions. After your child builds something, ask them to tell its story. Who lives in that castle? What adventures happen in that spaceship? This narrative practice develops vocabulary, sequencing skills, and imagination.

Use blocks to recreate scenes from favorite books or to build new settings for familiar characters. This deepens comprehension and helps children make text-to-world connections.

Developing Independence Through Block Play

Self-Directed Exploration

Reserve specific times each day for independent block play. Start with short periods and gradually increase duration as your child’s attention span develops. Independent play builds confidence, creativity, and problem-solving abilities.

Leave intriguing challenges for your child to discover. A note saying, “Can you build something taller than the lamp but shorter than the bookshelf?” creates mystery and motivation for self-directed learning.

Reflection and Growth

Create a block journal using photos of your child’s creations. Include their explanations of what they built and why. Over time, this documentation shows progression in complexity, creativity, and verbal expression. Children love looking back at their earlier work and often feel motivated to attempt more challenging projects.

Display completed structures in a special area before dismantling them. This celebration of effort encourages pride in work and motivates continued engagement. Take photos before cleanup to preserve memories of particularly meaningful creations.

Real-World Connections

Architecture and Engineering

Show your child simple architectural drawings or photographs of interesting buildings. Challenge them to recreate these structures using blocks, adapting designs to fit available materials. This introduces architectural concepts and spatial visualization skills.

Visit local landmarks, then return home to build representations of what you saw. This reinforces memory, observational skills, and spatial understanding while creating meaningful connections between experiences and play.

Cross-Curricular Learning

Integrate blocks with science studies by building models of atoms, solar systems, or animal habitats. Support history lessons by constructing ancient pyramids, medieval castles, or pioneer settlements. These tangible representations help abstract concepts become concrete and memorable.

Use blocks to explore cultural studies. Research homes from different countries or time periods, then build examples. This combination of research and construction deepens understanding while honoring diverse ways of living.

Maintaining Momentum

Remember that consistency matters more than perfection. Even five minutes of daily block play provides valuable learning opportunities. Watch for your child’s interests and energy levels, adapting activities to match their developmental needs and preferences.

Block play grows with your child, offering new challenges and learning opportunities at every stage. What begins as simple stacking evolves into complex architectural planning, collaborative problem-solving, and creative storytelling. By making blocks a regular part of your routine, you’re providing your child with a foundation for lifelong learning, creativity, and joy in hands-on exploration.

Incorporating block play into your child’s daily routine maximises their learning benefits and adds a dash of fun and creativity to everyday life. Whether it’s building a towering castle in the morning, crafting a bustling city during playtime, or constructing a serene garden before bedtime, each block becomes a stepping stone toward imagination and discovery. Gather those blocks, spark your child’s curiosity, and watch them transform simple shapes into imaginary worlds. Happy building!