Busy hands.

It was another wonderful week in the Parparim class. The children are constantly busy trying out all of the different activities around the classroom. While we always have something new to try, the class has a few favorites. Some of the things they love are making shapes at the playdough table, dancing and playing instruments to music, setting the table with their favorite foods for a picnic and building with blocks.
We have a variety of blocks to choose from of different shapes sizes and colors.
Here is an excerpt from an article on the naeyc ( National Association for the Education of Young Children) website about how children learn through block play.

Blocks help children learn

Socially — Blocks encourage children to make friends and cooperate. Large block play may be a young child’s first experience playing in a group, while small block play may encourage an older child to work with others in solving problems.

Physically — When children reach for, pick up, stack, or fit blocks together, they build strength in their fingers and hands, and increase eye-hand coordination. Around two, children begin to figure out which shapes will fit where, and get a head start on understanding different perspectives — skills that will help them to read maps and follow directions later on. Blocks help kindergarten and primary grade children develop skills in design, representation, balance and stability.

Intellectually — Blocks help children learn across many academic subjects. Young children develop their vocabularies as they learn to describe sizes, shapes, and positions. Preschoolers and kindergarteners develop math skills by grouping, adding, subtracting and eventually multiplying with blocks. Older children make early experiments with gravity, balance, and geometry.

Creatively — Blocks offer children the chance to make their own designs, and the satisfaction of creating structures that did not exist before. Beginning at the age of two, children may use a variety of blocks for pretend-play. Children may become life-sized actors in large block structures, or use figures to create dramas in miniature landscapes.