Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Favorite Things: Blocks

My kids this year love to build. I could put out blocks and little else and they would have a full time of playing and learning.


I think I'm just like them. Blocks are some of my favorite things to use in the classroom. Why? I'm not sure. I think it just opens up lots of possibilities. 


We've used lots of different materials with our blocks. But sometimes just having blocks can be a fun learning time.


Here are a few other things we've done with our blocks.

Following picture directions

Building from a plan
Using ALL the blocks
Building a city (representation)
Symmetry
Problem-solving (we didn't have same blocks as picture)
Measurement


My number one tip for blocks - use them. Sometimes they are noisy. Sometimes they cause conflicts. But they help kids learn to work together and work out their differences. 

Building together
They encourage creativity and imaginative play.

Tank
And they are fun!

Here are a couple of other posts about blocks--





(Search "blocks" on my blog for posts with lots of stuff to use in the blocks center.)