Hollow Block Celebration

Our parents worked hard to fundraise for them, and now our hollow blocks are on their way! At Home Sweet Home we want to celebrate the arrival of our Hollow Blocks! How can parents and teachers message to children that the group has selected this product and worked together toward providing it for our learning community? Home-to-school-connection: Parents are asked to "notice" architecture with children. In addition to buildings, big and small, any structure (a crate, a dog house): how is it framed? What shapes are represented? Please have intentional conversations around these themes with your child, including now leading up to when our hollow blocks arrive in two weeks. Parents are invited to volunteer to support block play. Hollow blocks add risk and enrichment to the preschool classroom. Children will be introduced to the hollow blocks in small groups to best be able to explore all their properties. In this way, children will be able to gain competency managing this new resource. Parents are invited to partner with teachers and big friends to explore the possibilities of hollow blocks with our children, to add a level of safety during this introductory period as well as heighten excitement and a sense of occasion. Please let us know if you would like to support this from 3:00-5:00 any afternoon the weeks of May 2 - 13. Why do we love blocks? "It’s been more than two hundred years since Friedrich Froebel introduced wooden shapes for children to explore, take apart, and put together. Since then, blocks have been shown to aid the development of young children. Jean Piaget’s theory of stages, for instance, tells us that children develop social, physical, and logico-mathematical knowledge through playing with manipulative materials such as blocks.When children play with blocks, they are practicing mathematical skills. In selecting blocks of different sizes and shapes and comparing surface volumes and areas, for example, they are unwittingly using classification and seriation (Hirsch, 1996). Cleaning up involves math too: sorting identical and dissimilar shapes, and organizing by size (Henniger, 1987). Because it involves measuring lengths, widths, and heights (if only by eye), block play develops a child’s ability to mentally visualize relationships. Such manipulations are similar to those used in geometry and algebra during the child’s later school years (Henniger, 1987). Constructive block play also involves the use of spatial configurations (Reifel, 1983), a vital aspect of mathematics and science generally (Casey, Pezaris & Nuttal, 1992). A study that evaluated the block constructions of four-year-olds (in 1982) and compared them with their test scores in high school (in 1998) supported the hypothesis that a child’s ability to create complex block constructions can predict mathematical ability. Interestingly, the study found a difference in achievement levels between boys and girls only when the boys were given greater exposure to blocks. When both were given equal ­opportunities to develop their skills, there were no gender-related differences (Stannard, Wolfgang, Jones, and Phelps, 2001). In short, unit blocks do not only afford long-lasting play, but also fundamental educational lessons that will be invaluable in later life. Because of this, adults who work with young children would do well to learn the names of geometric shapes, the built-in mathematical concepts their children will draw on in playing with blocks, and the developmental stages exhibited by children during play. Unit blocks ought to be an integral part of every childhood." (Pamela C. Phelps, Ph.D. and Laura L. Stannard, Ph.D.) Why are Community Playthings hollow blocks considered high quality? The soft maple wood happens to grow fast, reforest well and come from the Northeast—close to the woodshops instead of thousands of gallons of gasoline away. And that smooth protective gloss is a carefully selected water-based lacquer chosen specifically for its low emissions—hollow blocks are indoor air quality certified. Community Playthings upholds these high standards for health, safety and environmental responsibility: Forest Stewardship Council certification for a growing selection of products assures they come from responsibly managed forests. Call us about FSC-certified p. Indoor air quality certification protects the air children breathe every day.Indoor Advantage Gold™ is the highest level of indoor air certification in North America. US Green Building Council membership pioneering environmental non-profit and developer of the LEED Green Building Rating System.