With Christmas around the corner, many individuals will be thinking about what presents they should buy for their children, grandchildren, nephews, nieces, and friends. Many retailers aim to get parents to buy the latest technology with promises of having an advantage in school and a better start in life. 

However, what should be on top of every parent’s list when you think about learning is blocks. Blocks have been a fundamental part of children’s play for many decades and with good reason. Building blocks are excellent for promoting various areas in a child’s development, and any early childhood teacher would agree that block play helps with developing language, fine motor, cognitive, and social skills.

When children experiment through stacking, building, and balancing of blocks, they learn to respect other children’s creations, they learn to share, and they can ask each other for individual blocks while describing what they are building. Kids develop creativity, problem-solving skills, and boost their imagination when they are creating their masterpieces. Finally, they are taught persistence when they build continuously to create the most elaborate castle or the highest tower. However, did you know that blocks also nurture spatial reasoning, the ability to mentally employ objects or think in such a way that relates to position and space, area, and the size of things within it? Spatial reasoning is used in everyday life when we pack our suitcase for a trip, read maps, cut cake into equal slices, or assemble flat-pack items. Spatial skills are connected to mathematical skills. Children with well-developed spatial skills usually tend to be better at mathematics. Block play assists children in understanding various mathematical concepts in measurement, number, and geometry. During block play, kids measure, estimate, count, patter, transform and learn more about symmetry. Spatial reasoning skills are the most excellent indicator of whether kids will end up in a career of technology, mathematics, science, or engineering-related.

Different Blocks For Various Stages And Ages

There is a broad selection of choices that you can buy for children, including Megabloks for youngsters, Duplo, waffle blocks or wooden blocks for pre-schoolers, and Lego friends and Eco bricks for older children. These are only guideline suggestions for the different ages. Many older children still enjoy playing with wooden blocks. Wooden blocks are loose parts and a highly durable toy choice. They can be arranged, moved, taken apart, combined, and put together in various ways. The best method for engaging kids in block play is by playing alongside them and showing a keen interest and enthusiasm in what they are building.

Block play cultivates spatial language. When children are building with blocks, they hear and generate more words related to spatial reasoning, which includes things like beneath, next to, above, behind, etc. One study revealed block play produced more spatial language than any other form of play. Other types of play include playing house, shops, zoos, playing with puppets, chefs, and throwing a ball.