Wooden Toys and Building Blocks
Wooden toys and building blocks offer children something wonderfully simple the freedom to create, experiment and imagine without being told exactly how to play.
Benefits of Wooden Toys & Building Blocks
Encourage creativity and imagination
A wooden block can become a house, castle, bridge, shop, boat or anything a child dreams up. Open ended toys encourage children to invent their own stories and worlds rather than simply following a set of instructions.
Develop problem solving skills
Building, balancing, stacking and rebuilding naturally introduce children to concepts such as stability, size, shape, weight and cause and effect. When a tower falls, children learn to try again and find a new solution.
Strengthen fine motor skills
Picking up, positioning, stacking and connecting pieces helps develop hand strength, dexterity, coordination and control, skills that support everyday tasks such as drawing, writing, dressing and using utensils.
Build hand eye coordination
Children learn to judge distance, position and movement as they carefully place one piece on another or construct a particular shape.
Introduce early mathematical concepts
Without feeling like a lesson, blocks expose children to counting, sorting, comparing, patterns, symmetry, shapes, measurement and spatial relationships.
Support social play
Building together encourages children to communicate, negotiate, share resources and work towards a common idea. A simple pile of blocks can become a collaborative project between siblings or friends.
Encourage patience and persistence
Not every tower stands the first time. Wooden construction play gives children opportunities to experience trial and error, frustration, persistence and the satisfaction of eventually making something work.
Inspire open ended and imaginative play
Unlike toys with one predetermined purpose, wooden toys can transform as a child's imagination develops. A block might be a brick one moment, a loaf of bread the next, or a stepping stone in an imaginary forest.
Offer a beautiful sensory experience
Natural wood has its own weight, texture, grain and warmth. Wooden toys provide a tactile experience that can be very different from brightly coloured plastic toys.
Made for lasting play (we often call our wooden toys and blocks, heirloom toys)
Quality wooden toys can be sturdy and durable, making them wonderful toys to pass between siblings or generations. Their simplicity also means they can remain relevant as a child's abilities and imagination grow.
A particularly lovely benefit
Wooden toys don't always give children the answer, they give them the opportunity to discover it.
That is the magic of open ended play. A child decides what the toy is, what it can do and where the story goes. This makes wooden blocks and simple wooden toys wonderful companions for imaginative, creative and child-led play.
