- Operation playtime- come join in! 20th January 2009
- #OPT starts tomorrow
- Operation Playtime Day 1 of 12: Blocks
Hands up- how many of us have [tag]blocks[/tag] at home….somewhere? Maybe you have family wooden blocks that your grandpa made;coloured blocks, wooden blocks or plastic blocks. If you don’t have blocks try cans but be extra careful of little fingers and expect dents.
Whatever you have let’s play!
- Dust off your blocks
- Find a suitable area so the blocks can stack and fall safely.
Ideas
Try something new. If you usually initiate block play by starting a tower or lining them up. Don’t. Instead assemble and bring your child to the blocks. Sit with him and wait and see what they do with it.For more about this approach read more about block play.
Established block players or older children extend the game into some pretend play scenarios. Give them scarves or other natural materials to encourage pretend play; perhaps read a book to inspire acting out of a scene. You may try acting out a scene with the blocks yourself if this type of play is new.
Kids love when we are silly. The problem here is that they may just copy and never try their own ideas. With time and more opportunities they will try experimenting often building from your scaffolded ideas. Maybe today is their first time of free playing with blocks.
Try asking questions, “Parents can instead ask questions- “What shape do you need? I’ll hand them to you.” or ” Tell me what you are doing?” ” Where would they sleep?” Here the parent is being the assistant not the director. The parent is deepening and not directing. ” Who should I be?” Let your child direct.” Overlooked creative toys II
Come back and tell us your experiences of using blocks. Share what you did. How did you like the free play? What do you need help with? What blocks do you have/prefer?
- Put your thoughts in a blog post and use that link, not your blog, into Mr Linky.
- Add a comment here as well if you’d like.
- Visit the others and comment.
See you tomorrow.
Super ideas! Children need to learn to create and solve problems. So many things are done for children that they are not learning that they can come up with ideas and create something new.
We had a blast making a city out of blocks for my son’s matchbox cars. We had garages, houses and of course a fire station.
Allie’s last blog post..Sent In By You !
here is my post about our block play and a picture of the cool things they have built with them! great day can’t wait to see what the other days bring!!!
teaching tinytots’s last blog post..Blocks
We pulled out the blocks and Sammi asked for a house for her baby doll. As we were building the house she decided the doll needed a nap and laid her down with a blanket. Then she went and got a book. She read her baby a book, knocked over the blocks and we’ve been reading books all afternoon! So, I guess we experienced true undirected, open-ended play today! Not what I’d imagined, but lots of fun, nonetheless.
Amber @ BecauseBabiesGrowUp’s last blog post..Musical Monday: Twinkle Twinkle Little Star
We enjoyed playing and learning with our blocks. They designed and played with many ideas before settling on there “big” project. My seven and four year old joined together and made a road with travelers that headed to city of Rome.
We had fun joining in the Operation Playtime today. We look forward to tomorrow.
joann10’s last blog post..Operation Playtime–Day One-Blocks
Thank you for sponsoring such a great idea. We look forward to tomorrow’s Operation Playtime activity.
joann10’s last blog post..Operation Playtime–Day One-Blocks
@Allie there’s always a fire truck. Gotta love that imagination.
@Amber love how her ideas changed into other things. It’s why I love block play.
@Lois Neat that they worked together on something so big.
Off blog hopping to comment on the others. Thanks for the ideas.
Hi there — I am an occasional reader, and I wanted to let you know that I really appreciate the fact that your fun ideas are often research-referenced. Some of this stuff is common sense, but it’s great to be able to read more about the science that backs it up. Thanks!
christie’s last blog post..Random Wednesday
My 3 year old had a great time with the blocks today, especially since we cleaned his room yesterday and he had a great open space to spread out!
@ christie Thanks. It’s not always possible to do each time but I do enjoy it. Thanks for stopping by and commenting.
Thanks for reminding me that I need to play more with my kids! We played barbie princess and used the blocks to build a potty (the dolls really had to go) that we partitioned off with books. Then blocks formed the dining room table and chairs in the ballroom, a kitchen sink (you have to do the dishes after dinner), and one of the barbie princesses used a peek-a-block as a computer at work.
Done 🙂
Elaine’s last blog post..Operation Play Time – Blocks
@ Metromom Potty training going on in your house 🙂 ? Looks like everyone got to have a lot of fun
@Elaine Mr Linky’s back. Don’t forget to add your post there too.