‘Children must master the language of things before they master the language of words’
Freidrich Froebel
What can babies do with blocks? Why are they an essential toy for early learning?
First pioneered by Freidrich Frobel, founder of the kindergarten approach to learning, blocks have played a huge role in early play for generations. As Froebel says above, children first understand through materials, discovering through the senses, they touch, they taste, they feel. Babies explore and learn through materials, they discover texture and temperature, first finding comfort in the warmth of their parents bodies, the softness of familiar clothing and the gentle touch of family. Anyone who has had a small child will know that babies soon begin to continue their sensory exploration using their mouth! People, fingers, toys, clothing: by placing objects in their mouths babies discover texture and shape, developing a bank of knowledge that helps them to understand materials for the rest of life. Think about an object near you, a sofa cushion, a teapot, a twig, a marker pen, we can all imagine what it is like to bite this object, we could visualize this despite probably not having chewed a twig in quite some years! The knowledge and understanding we have of the material world now, as an adult is so informed by the exploration we did as children, as babies discovering through sensory play, this play is vital in early development and needs to be supported and encouraged through the toys we provide for our littlest people.
At Oplay, the blocks are treated minimally with natural oils and free from plastic coatings and chemical additives meaning they are safe and enjoyable for babies to explore with all the senses they need, they can be combined with all manner of objects from around the home for babies to explore and discover, spoons, lemons, tubes, balls, fabrics: babies should be provided with a range of materials and textures to explore, deepening the richness of their discovery and material understanding.
Sensory discovery is not the only benefit to blocks, block play uniquely encourages early coordination and fine motor skills. Babies first may begin just to focus on a block, then to reach to grasp, to lift, to drop, then maybe to place, to aim, to throw, or even balance! When we think about all these skills and how much a child is having to master in those early months we realise just how useful blocks are to promote that coordination and this goes some way to explain the blocks’ enduring appeal in the playroom.
Through block play babies also begin to understand cause and effect- an vitally- that they can play a role in this, they have control. This may be as simple as ‘I can drop this and it makes a bump’, it could be that pushing knocks things down, or that they must stack on flat surfaces. These are all the first underpinnings of scientific inquiry, an understanding of physics and how the world works, what could be more foundational!
‘The plays of childhood are the germinal leaves of later life’ – Froebel
