A staple that every home and classroom should have are building blocks!  Building blocks are a fabulous open-ended toy that promotes creativity, engineering, logic, cooperation, the list could go on and on.  There are so many brilliant ways to use building blocks in your home or classroom that I thought I might take a few minutes to highlight some of them…
Let’s first begin by talking about what types of blocks are available for play…
- Wooden blocks seem to be one of the most popular choices for preschool classroom; They are durable and even when handled on a daily basis, they can last for years.
- There are unit blocks, which come in a variety of shapes, sizes, and colors.
- There are cube shaped alphabet blocks which are commonly made out of wood.
- There are colorful window blocks, sometimes filled with interesting objects like sand or water.
- There are blocks made of foam.
- There are blocks made of plastic:Â Bristle blocks, Legos, and Duplos are probably the most commonly found plastic blocks.
- There are cardboard blocks in the shape of bricks for large scale building.
- You can even have wooden block accessories which come in the shapes of trees, people, houses, cars, traffic symbols, and more…
The type of blocks you offer your children really doesn’t matter.  What matters is that there are building materials available so that children can construct and create.  If you have several different types of blocks, you might consider rotating them in and out to keep the children interested in building.  Another great way to keep children interested in building is by offering different ways to build.  No one ever said that building had to take place on the floor or at a table.  Try building with blocks on an easel covered with sticky paper or building with magnetic blocks like these from You Clever Monkey…
Transform your blocks with unique materials. Â Chasing Cheerios added velcro to her blocks for an interesting building experience…
Babble Dabble Do sets out clay with her blocks for her children to create some really awesome clay and wood block structures…
Another fun way to transform your blocks is with a coat of chalkboard paint like we see shared over at An Idea on Tuesday…
Challenge your children to build different structures or to solve puzzles with blocks.  The Imagination Tree created shape block matching picture cards to encourage her daughter recognize shapes and patterns…
This fun dice game also challenges children to build “up” with blocks as far as they can go…
Blocks can be used to explore colors, shapes, patterns, or for matching games. Â Here we explore shapes with blocks on the table…
Combine water and block play with some sponge block water play puzzles…
During circletime, blocks can also be used for literacy and story telling…
Lastly, use those blocks to promote art and creativity. Â Play a fun building block drawing game with alphabet blocks…
Or trace around your blocks to create building block blueprints…
In our classroom, the majority of our Top Ten list of Toys for the Preschool Classroom falls in the area of building, engineering or block play!…
What are your most favorite brilliant ways to play with building blocks? Â Share them in our comments section below.
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