Building with (Ice!) Blocks

EFC, as a company, follows The Creative Curriculum by Diane Trister Dodge. A major part of The Creative Curriculum is the emphasis put on different interest areas, one of which is blocks. Building with blocks (in this case, ice blocks) teaches children many different math and science concepts such as weight, size, color, and shapes. While building with their friends they also learn social skills such as teamwork and cooperation in order to achieve the same goal.

Because learning takes place not only at school but at home, we encourage parents to get involved with their child(ren) as they play. Here are some sample questions you could ask your child while playing with blocks at home:

Infants
With infant children it is most important to narrate what they are doing. For example:

• “Molly, you just put the red block on top of the blue block.”
• “Look at the high tower you built.”

Toddlers
Give toddlers simple questions to answer such as:

• “What color is that block?”
• “Which block is bigger?”
• “Will you put on the first block? Then I’ll put on the next block.”

Preschool
Give preschoolers more open-ended questions that would turn into a conversation:

• “Which block would best support the tower at the bottom?”
• “What kind of pattern are you making with the different colored blocks?
• “What if we built a castle?  How could we do that?"
• “Is there any way we can build something so the train can cross the river?”