Developmental Stages of Block Building

Developmental Stages of Block Building

Block-building skills and concepts develop over time in a predictable sequence that requires time, space, and an adequate number and variety of blocks and accessories.

Block Center

There are many different kinds of building blocks and construction materials; the most familiar to early childhood educators are unit (kindergarten) blocks, created by Caroline Pratt in the early 1900s. These and other types of blocks of different sizes, shapes, and materials are incorporated into the block-building area as children are physically able to handle them. The benefit of having various types of blocks is that they provide children with different options for the types of constructions they want to build.

Figure 7.3 displays and describes different kinds of blocks children use at different developmental stages. Teachers should also provide accessories and planning tools. As childrens experience with blocks increases, they frequently build structures around play themes such as airports, stores, or mapped layouts of other kinds.

Props can include things like:

• Small cars or other vehicles
• Play people and animals
• Flexible tubing or track
• Measuring tools
• Clipboards, paper, and writing tools for drawing or planning
• Miniature traffic signs
• Stickers or labels with familiar print, such as store or product logos

Teachers can provide inspiration and reference information for children by displaying pictures or posters of buildings and creating a file or notebook with photographs of structures children are familiar with, such as those in the immediate neighborhood or city, as well as those they may not know that have interesting architectural features, such as arches, turrets, bridges, skyscrapers, famous buildings, and airports. Documenting structures that children build by keeping photos of them in a three-ring binder or file-card box is also highly effective, both for tracking their progress over time and “preserving” work to make it less difficult for them when blocks must be put away.

Physical considerations for setting up the block center include:

• As large a floor area as the room can accommodate, and protected from high traffic
• Flat, sound-absorbing floor surface (such as mat or carpet) to provide a stable building surface and keep construction noise from interfering with other classroom activities
• Tabletop surface for working with small blocks
• Shelving that is adequate to sort and store blocks by size, type, with silhouettes or photos taped to the shelves to show where each kind of block belongs
• Containers such as bins or baskets for accessories
• A “work-in-progress” sign to preserve structures that are more than one play period or day in the making
• Chart with simple picture guidelines for safe and responsible play, such as handing off rather than throwing or tossing blocks
• Digital or video camera at the ready for planned or spontaneous documentation of in-progress and finished structures

Teachers facilitate block play by:

• Understanding the developmental process of block building
• Observing and describing what they see children doing
• Documenting structures and using them to assist children in planning and problem solving
• Engaging the children in conversations about their constructions
• Asking open-ended questions that help children think about their processes and problem solving, such as “Can you tell me why you put the ramp there?” rather than questions that produce a yes or no reply, such as “Is this a ramp for cars?”

Outdoor Constructions

The confines of a classroom space are not an issue when construction materials are moved or provided outside. Most blocks are made of highly durable materials and can be transported and used, even if they cant be stored, on the playground. Some large, portable blocks are specifically designed for outside use (see Figure 7.3).

Materials other than blockssuch as cardboard boxes, packing crates, milk crates, or other everyday materialscan offer children opportunities to apply their understanding of building concepts on a bigger scale. Outdoor constructions have the added benefit of potentially being so large that children can crawl or maneuver inside, around, and on top of them. (Revisit Feature Box 4.1, A Box with Three Lives).

Nature Explore , a collaborative project of the Arbor Foundation and Dimensions Educational Research Foundation, provides guidelines and voluntary certification of outdoor habitats for children. Their recommendations include materials for outside construction activities that include:

• “Tree cookies” (rounds cut horizontally from tree trunks)
• Tree blocks (blocks made from or to resemble parts of tree limbs)
• Miniature but real bricks that children use as they do Legos inside
• Bamboo, reeds, and tree branches that children use to build enclosures

Dramatic Play

Research confirms strong connections between pretend or dramatic play and the development of higher-order thinking (Seifert, 2006) and early literacy (Kavanaugh, 2006; Ryan, 2018). Elena Bodrova and Deborah Leong, in particular, have written extensively about the connections between sociodramatic play and executive functioning in conjunction with the Tools of the Mind curriculum (Bodrova & Leong, 2006). It begins with (1) a simple representation of one object to symbolize another (such as a plastic banana for a phone); (2) emerges through the reenactment of daily routines and events that are familiar to children from observing adults, such as cooking, taking care of doll babies, or fixing things; and (3) develops fully as children devise pretend themed scenarios, assign and take on characters/roles, and negotiate conflicts to allow play to continue.

As dramatic play becomes more complex, all the elements of ATL standards are represented. Lets look at a sample scenario. Four-year-olds Alyssa, Noah, Niamh, and Miguel are talking about the fiberglass cast on Miguels arm, the result of a fall at his home. Alyssa shares what happened when her older brother broke his wrist, and Noah and Niamh ask many questions about Miguels experience at the emergency room, remembering when each of them visited, one for stitches in her chin and the other for an illness. Alyssa says, “I know, lets make a hospital in the dramatic play center and the baby dolls can be our patients.” Miguel counters with, “No, lets have real patientsIll be the doctor, Alyssa can be the x-ray lady, Niamh can be the kid with the broken arm, and Noah can be the daddy.”

This idea appeals to the other three children and they begin to assess the equipment and props they might need to set up an emergency room. They ask their teacher for markers and permission to use an empty cardboard box to make an x-ray machine, set up three chairs in a row covered with a scarf to use as the examining table, and find white lab coats in the dress-up clothing for Alyssa and Miguel. They are stymied about what to use to make a cast and ask their teacher, who brings out a box of cloth remnants and asks, “Could you do anything with these?” Noah says, “I know, we could cut it up into long strips and wind it around and around.” Alyssa replies, “But it wouldnt be hard like Miguels cast,” and Niahm says, “Well, if we put tape around it, it would be kind of hard. Can we have some tape too?” A clipboard, paper, and pencil complete their prop list and the children commence acting out the arrival of a crying patient; the interactions between doctor, daddy, and patient; and the medical procedures culminating in the successful application of an arm cast and discharge from treatment. The next day, they switch roles, acting out the same scenario again and deciding to invite other children to visit the ER, which extends and expands this play theme over several more days.

This play addressed all ATL standards as the children (1) explored their curiosity about this kind of event, (2) applied what they already knew and learned from each others experiences through play, (3) displayed initiative and persistence to solve logistical challenges and differences of opinion about the direction of the play, (4) set and achieved a goal, and (5) experienced satisfaction as directors of a play that eventually included other children.

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