Block Book

I am currently in the process of writing a book on block play in early childhood centres (and homes of course). It is for the Playcentre Publications 'area of play' series, and I got to choose my subject from the short list that hasn't been done yet.I chose blocks because they are so cool. (As some younger members of the house might say.)

The tricky part is saying, in about 7000 words, exactly WHY they are so cool, and HOW playing with blocks develops learning of all sorts in young children.

Hmmm.

I've discovered it's really easy to have lots of good ideas - when you're working to the park, or lying in bed, and so on. It's quite a lot harder to keep having those good ideas when you have a blank page in front of you! Hence, I am using blogging as a procrastination tool.

When I talk about blocks, I mostly mean the multi unit wooden blocks you find in almost every playcentre, kindergarten and childcare centre (though some childcare centres have funny ideas). They range in size from 'palm of your hand' to 1/2 metre long. A lot of the point of this equipment is that they are carefully cut to be in exact multiples and fractions of a unit block. The unit is a rectangular brick twice as long as it is wide, and twice as wide as it is thick - often about 12.5cm long.

Part of the richness of these blocks is that they can be combined in literally an infinate number of ways. (I think I can prove that mathematically.) And it seems to be really important to have the range of sizes, including the bigger blocks - for reasons I haven't quite nailed down yet. Kids can build things which are of the order of their own bodies, which is important when young children learn concepts about how the world works through interacting with it with their bodies.

(Ask me someday about the connection between musical ability and mathematics/algebra - and walking.)

Anyway, it keeps me out of trouble. Back to work.