With the sun shining early in the week, I thought it would be a great opportunity for the blocks to make an appearance outside. By far, the most popular thing to build was towers.
Stacking blocks into towers develops and strengthens fine motor skills as children practice using the small muscles of their arms and hands. Children are developing their hand/eye coordination.
Children are learning about balance, being able to put something in a steady position so that it does not fall. Being able to balance blocks requires increased accuracy as well as a fair amount of dexterity.
"Balancing objects should be the focus of open-ended learning experiences for young children." (Terri Jo Swim, 2016)
And it wasn't as easy as it looked. There was lots of trial and error happening as children persevered with the task of balancing blocks into a tower.
I asked the children "I wonder why the towers don't balance sometimes?"
Jessica said "Maybe cause it was too high... that's what happened with the big blocks...but I tried it again and I tried it again"
Alanni said "Cause I make it too high"
Sophia said "Cause I tried to make it bigger"
Ever the optimist, Jericho said "It almost stayed up...it might stay up next time."
There were some very proud children when they surveyed work and were sure that their towers were balanced and going to stay up without holding them up!
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