By Nancy Howe, Head Teacher, Todd Erickson, Emma McCarthy and Sheilan Kazzaz, Teachers
In block building, the material is fluid, providing for infinite possibilities for a child to develop ideas and improvise or create at will.
—Elisabeth Hirsch, The Block Book
Children’s interest in a material often drives the curriculum, unifying both children and teachers to explore and experiment together in order to deepen their understanding. This year, blocks of several types—classic unit blocks, larger hollow blocks and small colored table blocks—inspired many of the children in the Tuesday/Thursday AM Twos Program. The teachers supported this interest, creating a community of blockbuilders.
Blocks, one of Bing’s five open-ended, basic materials, along with clay, paint, sand and water, have informed children’s play and development since their creation over 100 years ago. Brilliant in their simplicity, blocks provide an excellent cross-disciplinary experience. Social-emotional, cognitive, physical and language development are all subtly woven into block building. As 2-year-olds begin to work with blocks, they will follow a developmental block-building trajectory that starts with carrying and stacking and ends in the nursery rooms with representational building. The opportunities provided by open-ended blocks help children hone many of the skills needed for life beyond Bing, including reasoning, planning, resilience and collaboration, as well as foundational math, language and science skills.
Teachers took photographs and recorded anecdotes to document the children’s engagement with blocks.
Unit Blocks
A teacher made a ramp out of unit blocks to inspire the children when they arrived at school in the morning. A child added her own structure adjoining the ramp and experimented with sliding various small objects down the inclined structure.
A girl started building a house on the carpet. She laid down flat rectangular floorboards, accessories often used along with unit blocks. Another child came over to help. When they finished building, the girl called to several children nearby who had been watching them build, “Who wants to come into my house?” The bystanders quickly took her up on her invitation and began to collect blankets and pillows. “Go to bed!” sang the girl who started the building. “Now wake up!” The sleeping and waking game went on for 20 minutes, in the theme of a familiar song, “Now It’s Time to Go to Sleep.”
Hollow Blocks
Before the children arrived, teachers set out various small wooden tools next to the hollow blocks on the patio. Three children began building towers and using the tools to “fix” their buildings. They also discovered that they could use a hollow block as a toolbox to store their tools!
A child was making a bed with hollow blocks. Another child was interested in making the bed bigger so they could both lie down. They built together until it was big enough for both of them.
Table Blocks
A child experimented with table blocks of two different shapes: rectangles and cubes. First he placed the rectangles in a vertical position and then placed the cubes on top. He talked about the different colors of the blocks as he arranged them in a vertical pattern.
A child began to engage with a row of blue table blocks that another child had left behind. She found more blue blocks and continued to add to the original structure.