Four Foam Block Building Ideas

My husband and I were having a conversation with our five year old, Aidan, a couple weeks ago, about what he wanted to be when he grew up.  Aidan has it narrowed down to four things right now; "a pilot, a police officer, an airplane builder, or a builder."  I am not surprised by his choices, most of his play revolves around these things in some way.

I do my best to offer Aidan a variety of options to facilitate his play, for example, we have six different kinds of blocks, each with their own unique features.  The latest addition to our collection was the foam block.  While offering a variety of blocks has its benefits, using each kind of block in different ways offers additional advantages for building math and critical thinking skills.  We've been using our foam blocks in some non-traditional ways lately that my one year old enjoys as well.

Floating Structures

All you need to add is water, and bubbles if desired!  Experiment on this unstable surface and children will find out how different balancing works on water.

Most children start out using blocks for the sole purpose of knocking them down when they are babies and toddlers, so I added a baster, and Aidan used water pressure as a way to knock down his structures.  We took turns building and trying to knock each other's creations down, knocking stuff down is still fun no matter how old you are!

Tracing Layouts and Letters

Instead of building vertically, we built horizontally on our driveway and added chalk.  We traced and colored different layouts, named the "towns" we created, and then used the blocks to forms letters to trace out the names.  The same can be done on large paper with marker, crayons, or paint!

Sticky Buildings

Contact paper's sticky surface is strong enough to hold lightweight blocks, and can stand up to many changes in building plans.  Tape down all sides of your contact paper sticky side up on the floor, or a wall.  I like to use painters tape so my walls don't suffer!

Shaving Cream Layering

For this particular activity, it helps to encourage your children to think like a brick layer. Offer a variety of spreading tools from your kitchen, add a bowl or pile of shaving cream, and start layering.  Shaving cream creates a bond and makes the blocks stick together a little, just like water does with these blocks.

"Eye" hope you try out one or some of these great alternatives for building and creating with foam blocks.  We had fun exploring new territory with our building.  Wouldn't your future carpenters, engineers, or architects enjoy a new sensory experience with blocks?

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Simple Water Bead Math

"The essence of mathematics is not to make simple things complicated, but to make complicated things simple."
-S. Gudder

Q: How do we make something complicated, such as math, simple for children?  A: Create an easy opportunity for play.  By offering familiar objects in new ways to children, and making those items accessible for kids to use independently at their convenience, it can help ease the complicated nature of deciphering numbers in an interesting and inviting way.  

My five year old can't keep his hands out of a container full of water beads, a simple, concrete object to capture his attention for potential math play.

Most of the time we use a large bowl or tray for water beads.  An egg carton is perfect for sorting purposes, so I simply labeled a sheet of white paper with numbers and slid it underneath to match up with the cups of the carton.  A cardboard or Styrofoam carton can simply be labeled right on the bottom of the openings, but I like the see through carton.  A clear carton can be used over and over in different ways by changing what I write on the paper underneath.

Measuring spoons and plastic tweezers that open wide enough to pick up water beads are great options as tools for fine motor practice, and are available for children with varying abilities to choose from.

These items can be used for simple games of:

• Number recognition
• Guessing how many can fit in a cup
• Using the carton as an opportunity to teach the term "dozen."

By adding a mixture of different colored water beads, there is opportunity for:

• Color matching and sorting
• Letter and sound recognition (such as the example below)

The Imagination Tree has other great ideas related to egg carton math, as well as Learn With Play At Home in their playful math series.

Do you use egg cartons with your kids as a simple way to play with math?  What games have you tried?

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My wish... (A reaction to the Boston Marathon Tragedy)

I hate that at the young age of five my son has heard so much about the evil in this world.  I don't try to keep my children in a bubble, but it can be difficult for a child to not over hear, or hear it from others in some form.  Like many other parents, I just try to keep the information honest but age appropriate.

It saddens me that such innocence knows about things he cannot fully grasp.  I want my son to know that the good in this world can have great impacts as well, that not everyone is so hateful toward others.  I can only emphasize that by leading by example.

My wish is that we don't forget the power we have as individuals and stay positive, lead by example for our children and show the impact we can have by spreading good.

You have probably seen the famous quote regarding children and tragic events from Fred Rogers a lot this week, and during the awful events of the Sandy Hook shooting.  If you need more information, The Fred Rogers Company is a great resource.

Stay positive....