A child’s play is their work and playing blocks with your child is a fun way to engage in an activity together. Block play allows your child to work on some fine motor skills. For example, stacking objects on top of each other requires the coordination of little fingers and improves hand-eye coordination. Initially, you may see your child stacking your canned foods that he managed to pull from the cupboard. The larger cans give them practice in understanding equilibrium and how to balance. You may also see him stacking other objects, like his books or toys, on top of each other, giving them more practice in balancing various items. With continued practice at stacking, coordination will improve, and your child will be able to stack smaller and smaller blocks with efficiency. These fine motor skills are important to your child in manipulating objects. Later motor skills are necessary for copying shapes, and writing/cutting activities they will do as they mature for school.
As you work on those fine motor skills, you can also work on language concepts which include words like “block,“ “up,” “more blocks,” “taller,” “fall down,” and “boom.” Using sound effects in your language activities will also help your child remember the words. Make your voice a little higher as you stack the blocks “up, up, up” and louder when they fall, “boom!” Counting the blocks and naming the colors. “Red block on, blue block on” also helps increase those language concepts. You can also practice cooperative play, cueing: “My turn,” and “Your turn” as you stack blocks together. Remember, your children equate Love with Time, so just spending time with your child in play activities is a win-win for everyone.