Try these block activities for toddlers to support development of skills. During toddler play, young children develop many areas that impact functional skills and independence. The nice thing about a variety set of blocks is that the various blocks can be used in different ways while working various skill areas. Today, we are discussing the various ways to play with blocks that build more than wooden buildings…blocks build skills! Block Activities for Toddlersįor the young child, presenting kids with just a jew blocks is the key to avoiding overwhelm. We’ve also addressed visual perception and block play. We’ve covered the fine motor development that occurs by playing with blocks. This is another set of skills that are expanded upon: Taking the block tower a step further, we can see more development and precision when creating shapes and forms with blocks. This can be a good opportunity for problem solving, age-appropriate emotional regulation, personal space, body awareness, force modulation, and language skills. We see facial expressions, emotions, and outbursts. This is not always a malicious act on the part of the tower-knocker! It is a repetition in what will happen however. Emotional practice- when another child’s tower is knocked over, there is sure to be an emotional response.Fine motor precision and graded release, or force modulation- It takes a gentle hand to place a block on a tower with precision and dexterityĮvery baby, toddler, and preschooler knows the fun of knocking over a stack of blocks, particularly when it’s a sibling or friend’s tower! What’s happening here?.Gross motor strength and core stability/strength (placing a block on a stack requires posture and positioning, especially as the tower gets taller).When a child builds a tower with blocks, there are several motor and cognitive skills at play: By building with blocks, kids are establishing concepts of cause and effect (that tower falls down if I build it too high), reasoning (I need to place the blocks flat on each other so they don’t topple over), and creativity, self-esteem, fine motor STEM concepts, early math, language, and motor planning. Building blocks are a literal building block to math skills. We talked previously about the connection between fine motor skills and math. All of these are the literal building blocks for higher level tasks like reading, writing, executive functioning, math, and communication skills. Research tells us that early experiences with blocks stimulate the development of spatial language, cognitive, and problem-solving skills. They are all related, however, and together, building towers with blocks results in powerful underlying skills that children can use in later years. Knocking blocks over is another set of skills, and stacking blocks to create shapes or forms (a train made from a handful of blocks, for example) is another set of skills. When kids build towers with blocks they are developing skills through play.
Toy blocks a are classic toy…and there is good reason. What type of skill is building towers of blocks or stacking blocks?
0 kommentar(er)
