One Block, Two Blocks, Red Blocks, Blue Blocks!

 

A block or a brick usually does not inspire any excitement among the adults. In fact, these words are commonly associated with the terms indicating stupid/dull person. And yet, the children (and Egyptians 😀) can use them in the most imaginative ways. Kids can build forts, pyramids, and various structures even with the most basic blocks. And with the more sophisticated ones, kids can do wonders!

A set of blocks is a versatile tool in the learning process. Starting with counting and colour recognition, blocks are a great help all the way up to early multiplication and division. With blocks, there is an easy progression from counting to place the value. After 10 or 20, the counting becomes tedious and untraceable for the little kids. With blocks, particularly the small one as shown in the picture, we can introduce the concept of ‘groups of ten’ to make the counting easy to handle. 

Children are able to visualize big numbers in terms of ‘towers’ and ‘single blocks’. And they are ready for two-digit addition and subtraction with the help of blocks. Building and breaking the ‘towers’ constitute the perfect environment for ‘regrouping’ while doing addition and subtraction. In fact, these concepts of ‘building’ and ‘breaking’ are so very helpful that they deserve a special post! 

I believe that children learn more (especially mathematics) when they actually do it by hands. However, some of us (including myself 😉) may also want to include some quality learning videos into the screen time. So, I am sharing the link for these excellent channels Alphablocks and Numberblocks teaching English phonics and numbers, entirely based on the ‘blocks’ theme! 😇