How do I help my children get the most out of their blocks? My child doesn’t play much with their blocks, how do I keep them interested? My child always does the same things, how do I extend their play? – These are all common queries when I talk to parents and nursery workers about blocks ! We want to help children access all the benefits block can provide but block play does require some adult support and consideration to help play flourish and grow.
What do I need to consider ?
‘What is different about wooden blocks is that they are free-standing, unlike Lego for example. These blocks must balance’- Jane Whinnett MBE in ‘Froebel’s gifts and block play today’
Because blocks are freestanding and must balance, they lend themselves to temporary structures and set ups, changing and developing designs and layouts, unlike the models and finished products that many kits and sets lean towards. This temporary nature means that for children to get the most out of blocks, I believe they should be visible and easily accessed. Blocks also need a flat space ( as large as you can offer for the scale of the blocks you have!) that is ideally hard and therefore easy to balance on. Ample space means children can access and rearrange blocks without knocking down prior construction or starts they have made, which can often be annoying or offputting.
Shelves or open baskets can be a lovely way to present blocks, meaning that children can see into what they have, easily rummage, pick up and identify shapes they need. Closed boxes are less ideal, children cannot easily see what is there and cant select shapes and plan their design as easily if they have to dig through layers of blocks or tip the whole thing out.
How can I extend the play ?
Extending the play of children means responding to your child and their interests and needs, it may be a case of noticing, ‘ ah this child likes their vehicles, could we build something with blocks to incorporate in with that play?’ it could be a case of moving toys around, simply putting figurines on the block shelf might turn a switch for the child to see that small world play would work with their blocks.
Often, extending a child’s play comes through giving them ample time to instigate their own play. Rich play happens when a child is engrossed in their world, self directing the play and lost in the flow of the play. However this doesn’t just happen. Some children need encouragement, playing alongside one another with blocks, not telling them what to do or how to do it but building next to each other. By co- playing you are demonstrating the relaxed way of being in yourself that enables the child the space and time to explore the blocks independently, but with warm company.
Another way to quickly reinvigorate play is to change the layout of the playspace, this could be done with the child/ children, think about what they are loving at the moment, what are they using and try and root about for any forgotten toys that might support some of these games and block play. If you are lucky enough to have an outdoor space can blocks be taken outdoors for the day? Seeing them in this new setting will immediately spark new ideas for children and instantaneously change the nature of their block play!
‘Rich block play does not just occur. It develops when the adult acts as a powerful catalyst working hard to enable it’- (Bruce in Gura 1992:26).
For anyone interested in a short piece of further reading, I reference this document here , a brilliant summary of block play and froebelian pedagogical foundations:
https://www.froebel.org.uk/uploads/documents/Froebels-gifts-and-block-play-today.pdf
