11 reasons to play with building blocks

You have surely played with building blocks before. They are great. We should value everything that can be learned while playing with so many pieces. Now, when we see our children develop new skills and build figures by combining pieces without any limit other than their imagination, we can’t help but think of all the shapes that can be made depending on the combinations.

Here are eleven reasons why we recommend playing with building blocks.

1. Self-esteem. Children discover that they have ideas and that they can make them real by creating, transforming, knocking down and recreating something unique.
2. Responsibility. On top of all this, they learn to be responsible when they tidy up after playing with the blocks and when they treat their toys with respect and care.
3. Social and emotional growth. Blocks help children learn to take turns and share materials, make new friends, be self-reliant, increase their attention span, cooperate with others and build self-esteem.
4. Blocks and maths skills. Some of the maths skills encouraged through block play include counting, comparing length and width, remembering the names of shapes and combining certain blocks to create other sets. Children even learn the basics of addition when they discover that two short blocks are the same size as one longer block.
5. Building blocks and creative problem solving. Psychologists recognise two main types of problems people come across: convergent problems, which have only one correct solution (think of a maths question), and divergent problems, which can be solved in many ways (think of a creative problem). Since children can arrange blocks in many different ways, playing with building blocks is divergent play. And divergent play with blocks can prepare children to think creatively and become better at solving divergent problems. For example, if you ask a child to build a house, there are countless ways to put it together.
6. Blocks and cooperative play. Research suggests that children become friendlier and more socially intelligent when they work on cooperative building projects, and blocks are perfect for this. Asking another child for help, passing them a particular piece or asking for their opinion will develop their social skills.
7. Language skills. Little builders learn language and vocabulary skills while they discuss what they are building and talk about shapes, colours, height and so on.
8. Reading and writing skills. Through block play, children understand the importance of sequence, an important early reading skill, as they recount their experiences with the blocks. Both parents and teachers can help children write stories about what they are building. Perhaps the blocks have letters to read, or better still, perhaps the child can recreate a letter with several blocks.
9. Building imagination. Children can follow their own plan, or they can share a friend’s vision and work together to create something they never dreamed of.
10. Science concepts. Children learn science when they experiment with simple machines by building ramps for their buildings. Concepts such as weight and mass can be explored with building pieces.
11. Blocks and spatial skills. Building structures encourages children to test spatial relationships and mentally rotate objects in their mind’s eye. Practising this visualisation skill can lead children to become more creative as well as more logical.

A complete list of reasons why your child should have blocks as one of their main toys.