The Benefits of Block Play
Written By:
Charlie Chewter
Block play can boost children’s development like few other activities, as Charlie Chewter explains…
Block play offers an open-ended, creative, and valuable play and learning experience available to every setting. It offers children freedom – to explore, take apart, and put back together any block-based creation they can think of. There are a host of benefits to be gained from this activity. Here are 10 aspects of learning that can expect a boost, many originally highlighted by the National Association for the Education of Young Children:
1. Increases imagination skills
2. Self-expression enhanced
3. Problem-solving – Blocks offer a great platform to develop problem-solving and reasoning skills. This can be deliberate, with children consciously working to develop a solution, or as a natural consequence of play, as they learn first-hand what does and what doesn’t work.
4. Mathematics – Due to the many shapes, sizes, and colors on offer, blocks offer ample opportunity for children to practice important math skills, covering measurement, number, symmetry, balance, and estimation.
5. Physical development – Block play promotes the development of spatial awareness and develops hand-eye coordination as children reach for, lift, move and build with blocks, strengthening their fingers, hands, and arms.
6. Creativity – Blocks are loose parts, meaning children are free to combine and recombine them in countless ways.
7. Science – Through the exploration of cause and effect and experimentation, children can develop their problem-solving skills, test hypotheses, and practice scientific reasoning. Blocks help them to become familiar with balance, weight, spatial awareness, and gravity.
