The Power of Open-ended Play with Blocks ~ We've Been Building

When children play with open-ended materials such as blocks, they have opportunity to learn many things including:

• problem-solving skills
• two children may have different ideas, how can they cooperate so everyone feels valued and part of the play?
• the structure might not be secure, why?, how do we solve this?
• they might want the structure to look a certain way or have certain components, how do we achieve this?
• developing a plot or storyline (and creativity and imagination)
• when children use open-ended materials, they are more likely to develop their own story lines and characters in their play
• if we use characters from TV or movies, children are less likely to think of creative ideas for what might happen in a story, and instead will often turn to what they have already seen those characters do
• to write and read
• children are learning how to develop a story
• they will be more capable of transferring these thoughts to book making or story writing if they practice story telling in their play
• math skills...of course!
• measurement, size, structures, shapes, amount, the list is endless
• design
• children combine different materials to achieve a desired effect
• learning from others
• children may watch others' strategies and in turn, try them with their own structure
• and much more!