Playing with construction sets is a vital component in children's mathematical development. Julian Grenier explains how to build learning opportunities
Building with bricks and blocks has been a central feature of early childhood education since they were included in Froebel's kindergarten in the 1830s. The power of Froebel's blocks to support children's mathematical development lay in their strict proportions, building up from the one square inch blocks. Their plainness encouraged children to be involved in the pure shapes, forms and sizes of the bricks.
A set of maple wood blocks is a big investment for any setting, providing good value for money by lasting - and appealing to children - for decades. However, since many settings will not have a set of blocks, this article looks more widely at the role of construction play in children's early mathematical thinking.
When toddlers first start manipulating and positioning blocks and bricks, they are almost always interested in the dynamics of lines - building high towers that teeter and crash, or laying blocks along the floor end to end. Blocks and bricks give toddlers a powerful medium for the exploration of ideas and actions which have long interested them.
Babies are fascinated by movements along lines, like people walking in front of them, or toy cars or trains travelling across the floor. They love to track moving objects and to watch them fall to the ground from highchairs, buggies and cots. These very young children are engaged in an important set of investigations involving distances, lengths and directions.
Young children also learn a great deal from the sensory exploration of blocks and bricks. Babies who endlessly turn a cube round and round and try to fit it into their mouths in different ways are investigating shapes and angles. They are finding out how the cube relates to the size and shape of their own mouths.
Other children run their fingers along the edges of a curved block, or become fascinated by brushing their fingertips across the top and bottom of Duplo bricks. Because this sensory exploration is so important, young children need sets of building equipment with different textures. If all the building equipment is made of one material, they will miss out on this sensory exploration.
As children become more experienced with building, they may show increased interest in ways of fitting pieces together, and in using materials to represent ideas and experiences. Their building is likely to show greater complexity and precision.
A small group of children at Woodlands Park recently worked together in the block play area to represent a dinosaur. As they were building, the ractitioner in the area observed them comparing different lengths of blocks to find the best ones for the feet, and for the claws radiating out from the feet. Next, they stacked small blocks upwards to represent the legs. At this point, the children were very deeply engaged in mathematical discussion, using words such as 'length', 'high', 'longer' and 'bigger'.
Later, the practitioner was able to extend their thinking and learning by pointing out the patterns in their building - she drew a sketch of their model as part of her observation and showed it to them. The sketch was the starting point for discussion about symmetrical patterns, and gave the children ideas for mapping their work. In the future, this could help them plan or record their complex and thoughtful block play.
Construction play is fun, but it is also deeply serious and important to young children. The group at Woodlands Park was at the first stages of learning about what it means to be an architect and builder. It is worth noting that Frank Lloyd Wright, perhaps America's greatest architect, always kept his set of blocks by his drawing board, and once said in an interview that 'the maple-wood blocks... are in my fingers to this day'.
Julian Grenier is deputy head of Woodlands Park Nursery Centre, part of the London Borough of Haringey's Early Excellence Network