Building Blocks and its Benefits

In my previous post we talked about puzzles. In this post I will explain about building blocks and their benefits. In simple language, building blocks are a set of cube shaped blocks used by children to make simple constructions. Toy blocks can be wooden, plastic or foam pieces of various shapes ( circle, triangle, square, rectangle ) and colours that are used as construction toys.Sometimes toy blocks depict letters of the alphabet. Toy blocks are very powerful learning tools.

Small children feel very happy and accomplished when they make their block tower higher and higher. When it tips over they laugh and do it all over again. But to make that one tower, takes a lot of skill! Building blocks is one of the best educational toys for toddlers that develop multiple skills in a child.

 I got a set of stacking blocks and colourful rings for my son when he was ten months old. Initially I sat with him and helped him stack up the blocks. But slowly he was able to do it himself. It takes a lot of effort for a tiny toddler to stack up all the blocks. It is a lot of hard work for them !

 Benefits of building blocks :

  Hand Eye Co-ordination :

The child learns to place the blocks in such a way that they don't topple over.

 Better Motor skills :

 The act of grasping the blocks itself serves as good practice for gripping objects, and strengthens the fingers and hands of the child.

 Toy blocks promote better spatial reasoning:

Spatial reasoning has been defined as the ability to generate, retain, retrieve, and transform well structured visual images. Over a period of time, after putting blocks together, the children become aware of their spatial intelligence.

 Building Blocks helps in promoting mental stimulation :

 Children learn to think logically while playing with building blocks. After failing a few times , the child realizes how to build the blocks properly.An older child realizes that he has to make stronger base at the bottom and then construct upwards.

 Help in improving math and vocabulary skills:

 It has been proved that building blocks help in improving child's language and mathematical skills. While playing with blocks , they can learn the names of colours, different shapes and sizes of blocks. Mathematical skills are improved as they learn how to count, add up or subtract the number of building blocks while making a structure.

 Improves Creativity:

 Creativity comes early in life when it comes to kids. If children are exposed to building blocks at an early age,they start thinking creatively. You will see that they start creating different structures. 

Building blocks encourages positive social interaction :

 Building blocks are a great way for kids to play together as a team. They learn to work together ,accomplish a task and interact with others socially. When this starts happening at an early age, the kids also learn great communication and social skills. 

Tips : Getting most from your toy blocks: 

• Play along with your child and demonstrate how to build a structure. Challenge kids with specific building tasks. For eg. you can show them a pattern or a picture and ask them to make the same. 
• Stimulate interest in toy blocks by providing children with toy blocks and other accessories. For eg., You can give them car or people or a cow, they might think of making a barn. this also great for pretend play. 
• Combine blocks with story time. This is a wonderful way of making kids use their imagination. After reading the story you can give them a set of blocks and ask them to make something related to the story.

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