Benefits of Block Play
Blocks, whether Lego, Mega Blocks, Duplo, or generic can provide hours of engaging play. Not only is block play a lot of fun, it offers incredible brain-building benefits.
One benefit that block play fosters is cognitive flexibility which is essential for success in school, in relationships and the workplace. Playing with blocks strengthens our ability to quickly shift focus from one thing to another. Strong mental shifting allows us to adapt quickly to changes or new situations and also helps us create alternative solutions. People with mental flexibility can better tolerate changes and are able to think about situations from another person’s point of view.
The Torrance Test of Creative Thinking is an example of how children’s flexible thinking diminishes over time. 98% of children in kindergarten are “creative geniuses” – they can think of endless possibilities of how to use a paper clip.
This ability is reduced drastically as children go through the formal schooling system and by age 25, only 3% remain creative geniuses.
There are a multitude of other benefits to playing with blocks.
· Block play builds creativity as children experiment, imagine, build and test out new ideas.
· Block play builds the ability initiate, to begin an activity and to independently generate ideas or problem-solving strategies.
· Blocks can be put together in a variety of ways stimulating creative problem solving and organization.
· Playing with blocks can decrease stress by providing a calming and relaxing effect bringing a feeling of order to a chaotic or stressful day.
· Block play fosters working memory or the ability to hold and sort information when creating plans to build and organize materials.
It is worth the time it to take out your child’s bin of blocks or head down to a thrift store to pick some up. Encourage block play in your home. Perhaps as adults we’d also benefit from having a set of blocks on our counter or desk at work to help us grow in creativity and mental flexibility.
Oh, and did I mention, six standard LEGO bricks can be combined in more than 915 million ways?
Sources:
Building Adult Capabilities with the Intent to Increase Executive Function and Early Literacy in Preschool Children - https://www.buildingbrains.ca/research
https://time.com/3977789/lego-brickumentary-math-professor-combinations/
https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/psychology/torrance-test