Building and construction is a great tool that has lasted the test of time. Its convenient, creative, and can lead to a life long love of science and engineering. Kids who participate in construction play develop a range of skills they will use their entire life. Whether they are piecing together blocks or stacking cardboard paper tubes kids will build the intellectual and physical skills to succeed!
Creativity
Building and construction are great for inspiring your grandkid’s creative side. Children can start with directed builds like Lego's Juniors Mountain Police Chase (left) set and move to independent construction once they are used to the medium.
Simple blocks like Frontier Logs (right) offer a completely open environment for kids to let their imagination run wild. As kids grow and play with these sets they can begin to branch into more advanced areas of creativity such as bridge building and other engineering concepts.
Cognitive Thinking
As kids build and play they develop strong cognitive skills. The variety of options offered by construction play helps develop divergent thinking skills. Kids will use the same bricks, blocks or connectors to create a myriad of structures. Each construction will come with its own goals and problems that challenge your little Forman to form new, innovative solutions. Marble runs like the Marble Race Deluxe set are a fun construction activity where kids create exciting tracks in unlimited configurations.
Construction toys are an excellent way to build strong problem-solving skills. Kids use their construction materials to create and solve problems as they play. Do you want a house for your toys? Or maybe a car for them to travel in? Creative toys, like Playstix, offer an open ended construction environment that can be used to create and solve all day long.
As kids use construction toys to create, build and solve they will also develop strong spatial awareness skills. Spatial awareness is a key life skill that helps us understand how things fit together. Whether it’s a square block in a square hole or trying to fit your luggage in the overhead bin on a plane, spatial awareness is a key life skill we all need.
Motor Skills
Kids who utilize construction play also build strong gross and fine motor skills as they create. As kids crawl, shift and shimmy themselves around their construction they strengthen their core muscles throughout the body. Fine motor skills are developed in the hands and wrists as kids have to maneuver and place blocks in their constructions.
As kids develop their fine and gross motor skills they also work on their hand-eye coordination. Kids need to be able to pick up and control their materials, placing them in exact spots to avoid collapse. Puzzle construction toys like Plus-Plus help kids work on their hand eye coordination as they place and fit the puzzle like blocks together to build an assortment of animals, building and machines.
