Playing with Blocks, Legos and Other Building Toys is Important !

Forget the 'educational' Toys...Grab The Legos!

In an ever-increasing press to foster early education upon our young children, playtime is often seen as a 'waste of time', when in reality young children learn best by playing. Having access to simple building toys allows them to put into practice their early cognitive skills of
 recognition, creativity, and hand eye movements in a pressure free, unstructured atmosphere!

While 'educational' toys, games and programs flood the market today, there is still none which compares with basic sets of Legos, building blocks, and other 'building toys' such as those other clasic standbys-Lincoln Logs and Tinkey Toys!

Playtime is a very important part of a child's developmental activities allowing room for creativity, discovery and exploration. While there are benefits to most toys when it comes to playtime, the classics such as blocks, Legos and other building toys is important in several ways.

Shape Recognition: Many building sets of all types are designed to integrate several different shapes and sizes to build a creative piece. This helps children to recognize not only differences among various pieces but similarities as well. Building Blocks are indestructible and can be stacked sorted and arranged in endless configurations.

Color Recognition: Alternating colors or patterns during the building process aids in noticing distinctions in light and dark color patterns as well as design. Lego blocks range in colors and sizes from the large Lego blocks for very young toddlers, to the small pieces and sets designed with certain projects in mind. Because addition sets can be added, the combinations are also endless.

Hand - Eye coordination: In stacking blocks and experiencing them tumbling over or leaning to far one way or the other, hand-eye coordination is developed in young children.

Legos , blocks and other building sets further enhance the hand-eye coordination when the child chooses which ones to interconnect. Getting the parts to snap together rather than simply stack as in the case with building blocksoffers more challenges.

Related information
  • Legos first came to markets in 1934 and now sell nearly 200 million sets per year.
  • Lincoln Logs were invented some time between 1916 and 1917 by John Lloyd Wright.
  • TINKERTOY has been building smiles since 1914.
 
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blocks and manipulatives are extremely important for small children. good article

Posted on 06/07/2007 at 6:06:00 PM

The old basics are so important.

Posted on 06/06/2007 at 8:06:00 PM

I loved legos as a child. Blocks, too. I know a family who doesn't allow legos in their home bc they make a mess and aren't "a girl toy." Such a shame...

Posted on 05/05/2007 at 9:05:00 AM

Hi chris....do you remember Erector sets? Metal strips you could bolt together? Now you could really build with those things!!!

Posted on 05/05/2007 at 6:05:00 AM

Yes it is! The only thing that sucks is legos today are not like they were when I was a kid. Much less creativity. I created a three-foot-high AT-AT once, no way you could do that with today's legos. And it would fall apart the minute you touched it lol, it wasn't a working model. But I made one! hehe

Posted on 05/05/2007 at 2:05:00 AM

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