Empowered by Play » Dr. Stuart Brown

What is the Big Deal About Blocks?

Geralyn — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 11:02:10 +0000

“What is the big deal about blocks?” Melitsa Aliva asked me this question earlier this week. We were recording a podcast for her show, Raising Playful Tots , based in the UK. Blocks have been a longtime favorite of mine, and I have been advocating even more for block play as the pushy digital world steals more and more authentic experiences from the hands of our children. You may have heard about the study released on Tuesday by Common Sense Media, reporting that “half (52%) of all 0- to 8-year-olds have access to a new mobile device, such as a smartphone, video iPod, or iPad/tablet”. If only the same were true for blocks!

Blocks are as relevant as they have ever been – perhaps more now than ever – offering a wide range of positive experiences for children of all ages. Socialization, creativity, problem solving, language development, cause and effect, math and science, motor development – these are all vital skills that are deeply enhanced through block play.

I’ve recently been hearing early childhood educators refer to their Smart Boards and iPads as being “hands on” tools. They are not. Knocking over a virtual tower is not the same kinesthetic experience as knocking down a real block tower. Touching a worm on a screen is not the same thing as holding a wiggling worm in your hand. Not even close. It worries me when early childhood professionals describe their teacher-directed Smart Board literacy lessons as “engaging students holistically.” They are not.

The most developmentally appropriate technology we have for preschoolers and kindergartners have been our tried and true technologies such as crayons, balls and blocks. Add nature, and you have all the materials you need. And as one preschool teacher once commented on this blog:

“I have always been against computers in early childhood classrooms and feel we need to fight to keep them out. Every argument I have heard for them is an argument I see against them. To ‘You can listen to bird calls on them’ , I say ‘go outside and listen to the birds’. To ‘There is a wonderful counting program kids can use to learn numbers and counting skills’, I say ‘Take your child outside and count acorns.’ Thanks for bringing this to our attention and I for one will never have a computer in my early childhood classroom.”

The other wonderful thing about blocks (and nature!) is that they will not be obsolete in a year or two. Invest in a good set of blocks and your child (and grandchildren) will play with them for years and years to come. Blocks are never the same toy twice – as children invent and reinvent each time they play. And as children grow, their block play evolves and becomes more elaborate. Add a few simple accessories – such as pine cones or ping-pong balls, and a whole new range of experiences will open up for the child.

For schools with tight budgets, blocks and professional development opportunities about the power of block play are sound investments. When I read about the school district in Auburn, Maine spending $200,000 on iPads for all their incoming kindergarten students, I was shocked and saddened. What will the children be missing in order to make the time and money available for this digital push? How quickly will those iPads become passe? How much support will the teachers receive?

For folks who think that bringing the digital world to younger and younger children is the key to 21st Century learning – there just isn’t evidence to bear that out. In fact, the American Academy of Pediatrics just upheld their long standing position for no screen-time for children under the age of two. Children are social and sensory learners – they learn better from interacting with actual people and playing with the world around them – than from screens.

High-tech employers such as Cal Tech’s Jet Propulsion lab now actually ask potential employees how he or she played as a child. They look for folks who played with clocks and took them apart to see how they worked; people who built things; who had authentic, playful experiences and have become the creative problem-solvers and innovators that this company needs. You can read more about this in Dr. Stuart Brown’s wonderful book Play, How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination and Invigorates the Soul. We can also look to Mitchel Resnick, director of the Lifelong Kindergarten Group at MIT’s Media Lab. He knows that traditional kindergarten classrooms provide the key experiences for creating and working collaboratively – so much so he has modeled his lab after a traditional kindergarten classroom. Furthermore, his playful programming language Scratch is used by 8 – 16 year olds. He did not design it for the early childhood world. And when using Scratch, these older children are creators rather than consumers of technology.

Blocks come a range of sizes and are made from a range of materials. For the youngest explorers, my favorite is the Mini Unit Block set designed by Community Playthings for one-year-olds and up. I use these blocks in my workshops, and adults love them as well. If space provides, a full set of unit blocks is wonderful for preschoolers and school age children. Hollow wooden blocks allow children to build structures large and strong enough to climb on and climb into. Excellent!

KEVA planks, which I’ve written about in the past, are also engaging for children of all ages – including adults. (See KEVA planks post below.) If you are a LEGO fan, and I know there are many of you out there, stick to the open-ended sets, such as the LEGO Creator kits which can be made into a range of things. Steer clear of the television and movie character sets, which can be limiting to the child’s creativity. (Even as I write this, my own sons are lobbying hard for some Star Wars LEGO sets for Christmas – so believe me, I know how hard this one is to follow!)

Really, the key here is playing with moveable parts and loose pieces. The simpler the toy, the more that will come from inside the child. Can your child take apart your iPhone to see how it works and use the pieces to create something new? It can’t happen that way. As she plays, is she learning how to ask her own questions, develop her own theories, and test them out? Is your son diligently creating something unique which builds on what he discovered yesterday and incorporates a friend’s new idea? Is your child learning to value her own ability to invent, create, innovate and entertain? These are questions that can help guide you as you make choices for the children in your life. I urge you to consider blocks.

Here are some great block resources:

The Block Book by Elizabeth Hirsh,ed.

Foundations of Block Play (video)

KEVA Planks

Block Play; Collage issue from January 2005 from Community Playthings

And here are some related blog posts:

Live Your Life

Radical Preschool

KEVA Planks – Creating Fun for Everyone

Victories Worth Celebrating!

A special thanks to teacher Laurel McConville and Mission Hill School, Roxbury MA for many of the pictures used in this blog post! And stay tuned for details about how and when you can hear the blocks podcat from Raising Playful Tots.

The Wisdom of Play from Community Playthings: A gift to the early childhood world

Geralyn — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 19:30:00 +0000

Leave it to Community Playthings to convince me to break my rule against corporate sponsored teaching resources. Their new professional development guide The Wisdom of Play: Why Children at Play Are Their Own Best Teachers is outstanding. Their guide is free to anyone who asks. When school budgets are tight (as they are these days), it is tempting to use corporate sponsored materials. Usually these materials have one sole purpose: to further brand recognition and increase sales. With the publication and distribution of The Wisdom of Play, however, Community Playthings keeps the child – not the bottom line – at the center.

The ten short essays are written by a wide range of experts in the field, such as David Elkind, PhD, Stuart Brown, MD and early childhood teacher Sydney Gurewitz Clemens. There is information about current research from the Alliance for Childhood, and practical ideas for the classroom on nature, block building and open-ended play. The colorful photographs help convey the rich and inviting world of children at play. At a time when there are far too many companies making harmful inroads into our schools, Community Playthings does not market to children, and that, for me, makes all the difference. Their work supports good teaching practices and is a gift to the world of early childhood.

Contrast that to marketing plans such as Google’s Doodle4Google campaign in which elementary and secondary school children in Ireland were asked to design a new Google logo to be used on the website for St.Patrick’s Day. I learned about this tactic from the comprehensive report released by the Commercialism in Education Research Unit at Arizona State University – Click: The Twelfth Annual Report on Schoolhouse Trends:2008-2009. In the report, the authors explain that the Google lesson plan for young elementary students directed teachers to:

…write the word ‘Google’ on the board and show the pupils a print-out of the logo template. Explain that Google helps us find information when we are using the computer….Identify all the letters and colours in the Google logo.

Clearly, the aim of the lesson was to enmesh school children in the Google name. This is basically propaganda masquerading as educational curriculum. It happens all the time. If you are concerned about protecting students from devious marketing tactics like these, I urge you to read the Arizona State University’s report. It is one of the best resources around for combating exploitation – both blatant and hidden – of our children, and of schools in need.

Then take a look at Community Playthings’ The Wisdom of Play and see what genuine corporate responsibility looks like.

Giving play a good name

Geralyn — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 14:08:00 +0000

Happy Labor Day weekend! Long weekends, especially this one which marks the end of summer and the start of the school year, beg the question…what are you going to do for fun? This week in the NY Times, Stuart Brown, MD gave us another good reminder that play is essential for people of all ages, not just kids, and that the start of the school year should not mean the end of playtime.

Stress is not fun. The daily grind is not fun. Play is fun! It helps relieve stress and adds to the pleasure of life.

So I ask again…and please comment below…what are you going to do for fun this weekend? You just might inspire someone else to blow off some steam!

"Play is like fertilizer for brain growth." – Dr. Stuart Brown

Geralyn — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 16:45:00 +0000

I am reading a new book by Stuart Brown, M.D. and Christopher Vaughn. I was browsing in a book store, and of course the title jumped out at me – Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination and Invigorates the Soul. The author’s name was familiar, as I’d heard of him as the founder of the National Institute for Play. I usually read and research play from the educational and human development perspectives, so I was intrigued to learn more about Dr. Brown and his defense of play from a medical viewpoint.

Dr. Brown is an advocate of play in everyone’s (young and old) lives. He understands and explains the innate need for play. His focus in this book is to convince those who dismiss play as a frivolous pursuit, to understand its central place in our lives. Play is often what is missing when people find themselves too busy, stressed, overwhelmed and wondering, “Is this all there is? What is the point?”

Dr. Brown also explains the neuroscience involved in nurturing innovative and creative people. “Once kids enter school, the importance of free play doesn’t end. All of the patterns that induce states of play are present and remain important for growth, flexibility, and learning. Unfortunately, we often forget this and choose not to focus on play’s necessity under intense pressure to succeed. No Child Left Behind is a perfect example.” (p.99) He argues that NCLB has led to a focus on rote memorization that is preparing students for assembly work jobs of the past, not fostering their creativity and imaginations for innovative jobs of the future. “

This book, and the work of Dr. Stuart Brown, is an important contribution to the promotion and protection of play. Find it at your nearest library or book store and share it with your family, friends, teachers, employers and employees! As Dr. Brown writes, “When enough people raise play to the status it deserves in our lives, we will find the world a better place.”