Contributed by Judi Meade
Build it — bash it!
It seems to be universal. When little ones play with blocks, the part they enjoy the most is the crash when they tumble to the floor. But don’t be disappointed if your toddler doesn’t yet appreciate the beauty of his (or your) carefully constructed masterpiece. Building and bashing is part of the learning process.
What are they learning? Right now, it might be as simple as learning the consequences of his or her actions. ‘How far can I go before it falls down?’ And as they build it and bash it, build it and bash it, you will see that each time, they are building it better. Keep encouraging them — they’ll be learning a whole lot more.
Believe it or not, playing with blocks is laying a foundation for a future understanding of complicated math and science concepts, such as surface friction, centres of gravity, and potential energy. Not to 
mention the more obvious ones like size, shape and colour. And then there’s the brain-building ones like spatial awareness, eye-hand co-ordination and basic logic.
Build it — play with it!
The hallmark of all building toys is the fluid way that kids can and do play with them. Some kids will spend hours and hours building intricate structures from complicated diagrams. Others will build a fantasy world and then spend hours playing in it, incorporating all of their other toys and their imaginations as well. Still others will use their building toys to create a free form work of art. After all, what are building toys if not a collection of fascinating forms and colours?
Build it — grow with it!
It is not surprising that many engineers and architects credit their career choices to having played with building toys like Meccano when they were young. Beyond math and science concepts and brain expansion, building toys help kids develop all kinds of life skills.
Self-esteem and confidence – planning a creation and seeing it through to completion
- Problem solving and resourcefulness – making changes when plans don’t quite work
- Concentration, patience and manual dexterity – manipulating tiny connectors requires delicacy, care and practice.
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Judi Meade is the owner of Art-Enfant and Art-En-Ciel, specialty toy shops in Montreal, Quebec, as well as a co-owner in Learningtoys.ca, an online retail service. For more from Judi, see her site Toying Around. |
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