Block play is crucial to a child's development. Investing in a good quality set of blocks is a long-term investment in your children. Blocks and other construction toys have some of the highest play value of any toy on the market. Blocks are open-ended toys and have unlimited play possibilities. Blocks grow with your children. At first they may simply stack the blocks to see how high they can go before the tower falls. Then he might put all the blocks in the bucket and then throw them all over the floor and pick them up again. Soon they discover that an object can represent something else. Then they begin to create and use their imagination. Children can play with blocks from the time they are 18 months until, well forever.
The learning that comes from playing with blocks is huge. Here are just a few of things children learn.
Math skills they can develop:
* Stacking and piling
* Grouping and sorting
* Adding, subtracting, and multiplying
* Understanding geometry
* Counting
* Using fractions
* Awareness of depth, width, length, symmetry, and shape
Science concepts they can learn:
* Gravity
* Balance
* Classify, Measure and Order
Language arts skills they can develop:
* Build vocabularies
* Boost Language development
* Understanding that objects can represent something else. This skill is crucial for learning to read.
Social skills they can work on:
* Sharing
* Cooperating
* Increasing impulse control
Motor skills they can develop:
* Building the strength in their fingers and hands
* Developing eye-hand coordination
* Learning where their body is in space
Art skills they can develop:
* Understanding perspectives
* Developing skills in design, representation, balance and stability
* Creativity
Life skills they can work on:
* Building longer attention spans
* Problem solving
* Planning
* Developing dispositions toward curiosity and learning
* Discovering wonder and exploration
15 recommended educational block and construction sets:
1. Twigs--unique interchanging colorful pieces together that both parent and child will enjoy
2. Q-BA-MAZE--one of the best marble mazes
3. Bumpity Blocks--good for children with disabilities because of their texture and weight.
4. Magneatos Jumbo--jumbo size magnetic construction set designed for small hands
5. Stonees--innovative and colorful rock building blocks
6. Widgets--are wedged diamond-shaped, sturdy frames that combine in endless ways to fit vertically, horizontally, up and out!
7. Gears Gears Gears--gears, pillars, connectors, cranks to set creations in motion and interlocking plates for limitless building
8. Zolo-a-go-go--crazy plastic pieces that go into one another to create wonderful sculptures and creatures.
9. Tree Blocks--wood blocks with the bark removed exposes the beautiful figure and hues of the wood beneath.
10. Zoob--Has a ball and socket basis that has five basic shapes that fit together in 20 different ways
11. Tall-Stacker Pegs Building Set--Can be a child's first building set. The three dimensional stacking set teaches children to think ahead as they plan
12. Fantasy Blocks-These blocks transform a child's first buildings into authentic little artifacts of many shapes and colors. Sweet ringing little bell provides incidental music.
13. Rainbow Blocks--Blocks filled with colored watered for visual stimulation
14. Standard Unit Blocks--Your classic block set features a large variety of sizes and shapes including arches, columns, squares, rectangles, triangles, cylinders, and circles, as well as basic, half and double unit blocks. Precisely measured and cut hardwood pieces with smooth sanded edges and corners.
15. Dado combines art and science as you explore architectural principles...proportion, balance, structure and color. Dado engages your imagination as the slits on each cube are interlocked to create an unlimited number of three-dimensional structures
Mara Kaplan is an expert in play and inclusive play environments. You can find many other toy recommendations for children with and without disabilities at http://letkidsplay.blogspot.com. You can learn more about Mara and Let Kids Play. Find accessible playgrounds from throughout North America.
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