Interest Areas

1
Interest Areas

• Blocks

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Block City

• What are you able to
• build with your blocks?
• Castles and palaces
• temples and docks.
• Rain may keep raining,
• and others go roam.
• Let the sofa be mountains,
• the carpet the sea,
• There Ill establish a city for me
• By Robert Louis Stevenson

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Activity

• Video- The Creative Curriculum for Early
  Childhood

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How Does Blocks Enhance Childrens Development in
These Areas?

• Physical
• Social
• Cognitive
• Emotional

5
How Does Blocks Facilitate Literacy in These
Areas?

• Expanding childrens vocabulary and language
• Understanding books and other texts
• Teaching children about print, letters and words

6
Stages of Block Play

• Carrying blocks
• Piling blocks and making roads
• Connecting blocks to create structures
• Making elaborate constructions

7
Locating a Space for the block Area

• Enclosed on 3 sides
• Noisy part of the room
• Large enough to spread out
• Appropriate flooring

8
Selecting Blocks for the Block Area

• Hardwood unit blocks
• Hollow wooden blocks
• Plastic hollow blocks
• Foam or plastic blocks

9
Suggested Props and Accessories for Block Area

• People, family and community worker set
• Animal sets
• A set of cars
• A set of other construction and transportation
  vehicles
• A set of traffic signs

10
Suggested Props to Rotate in aBlocks Area

• Hats
• Steering wheel
• Floor map
• Doll house with accessories
• Puppets

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Suggested Props to Rotate in aBlocks Area
(continued)

• Blankets and/or sheets (to facilitate the
  building of tents and furniture)
• A large appliance box to use as a building
• Aluminum foil covering blocks
• Masking or colored tape for marking roads on the
  floor
• Books that relate to the topic of study

12
Guidelines for Supporting Childrens Play in the
Block Area

• Organize and arrange the physical space
• Allow children time to create
• Acknowledge childrens construction in meaningful
  ways
• Follow the childs lead during play
• Help children with problem solving

13
Guidelines to Support Positive Social
Interactions in the Block Area

• Assist children in joining groups
• Help the child find a way to add to the play
• Model language children can use to enter play
• Be ready to facilitate sharing and taking turns
• Offer alternatives to the child waiting for a
  turn
• Be empathetic
• Help children to understand that accidents are
  not intentional
• Assist children to problem solve when conflict
  arise

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Checklist for Developing Your Classroom Block Area