Who Needs Blocks?

This week we were talking about rivers so I put out materials to build river scenes - wavy blue paper strips, rocks, and trees. I debated about putting out the blocks, too, since some of my friends love to use blocks. I eventually decided to put out the bin of blocks, but to one side of the building area; they were available but not immediately connected with the other resources.

Kids came and I suggested creating a river scene but told them to build whatever they chose. The creations look more like an art installation instead of a river scene, but I love them.

And the blocks were never touched.

This class likes to experiment and explore, even more than other classes I've had. I think we're going to have some other unconventional building materials in the blocks center soon - with or without the blocks.