Blocks are commonly found in early childhood programs worldwide because of their popularity, open-endedness, educational value, and enjoyable nature. Having blocks available for infants and toddlers is important and fairly common, but there are ways to build upon the basic block building area of a classroom to encourage children’s STEM exploration and development.
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Some ideas are:
Use non-traditional blocksHave a mixture of wooden, foam, cardboard, stuffed fabric blocks, and plastic blocks. Make blocks from recycled materials such as clean empty bottles, CDs, plastic cups, plastic plates, etc. Try including window blocks or colored blocks to your usual assortment.
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Cover your blocks
For toddler classrooms you might try covering the blocks in tinfoil or wrapping paper. This gives the blocks a fresh look that can enhance children’s creativity and exploration of the materials.
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Give infants block timeInvestigating blocks by touching, looking, and playing with blocks are simple ways for infants to have block play experiences. They may not stack blocks for quite some time but they are still experiencing them.
Provide materials to build onProvide a break-proof mirror for children to build on to see reflections of the blocks as an exercise in symmetry. Attach a panel of sticky contact paper to a wall for children to attach lightweight blocks as they build. Provide a rug that has a road and other city features. Take the blocks to the light table.
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Picture blocks
Consider picture blocks as parts of puzzles or stand-alone building materials.
Extend the play
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Provide small figures of people and animals to assist with block play. Toy vehicles and other accessories can also extend block play.
PersistenceI can’t balance this block on the tower, maybe this one will do better. No, it didn’t work, so I’ll try this one.
Complete block play |
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Complete the block play area by introducing other common materials to be included with blocks. Play dough, paper and crayons, stuffed toys and more. Children can use blocks to create parking spaces for ride-on toys or cages for animals.
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