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Why Wooden Blocks Belong in Every Nursery & Playroom

Posted on July 20, 2021 by Lubica Misevski

In every nursery and daycare across the nation, you will find an ever-growing collection of wooden blocks. Why?

History and science have both shown that block play is an essential part of early child development. When children play with blocks, they are learning about the world and exploring their own ability to create. What children learn from playing with blocks starts with motor control but soon evolves into exploration, science, and creative expression. Children build, deconstruct, and build something entirely new from the same parts. They learn the weight and balance of each block and how shape influences those features. They build scenes to play pretend and obstacles to knock over.

The Developmental Benefits of Wooden Block Play

> Fine and Large Motor Skills

> Creativity and Imagination

> Problem Solving

> Spatial Skills

> Essential Science and Math

> Confidence and Self-Starting

> Self-Expression

> Social and Emotional Skills

Children playing with blocks can also learn to play and build with other children, even across age-group gaps. Those encouraged to explore during block play time also learn confidence and self-starting. This is why parents and educators alike always make sure there are more than a few wooden blocks available for young children to play with. From the first time your baby starts banging and stacking all the way through school age, children have an abundance to learn and games to play when playing with blocks.

If you have a young child, a classroom, or a baby on the way then it's common to investigate which wooden blocks are the best starter kit for your child(ren)'s early development and joy in playtime. Let's explore some of the wonderfully simple and inspiring wooden block sets to start or add to your collection.

Kapla Wooden Block Planks

Planks are one of the universal shapes for construction. You can stack them on edge or flat for columns. They can become homes, towers, towns, or dinosaurs by how they are stacked. Some planks may form structures while other become the 'people'. The simple block inspires infinite adventures, which is what Kapla intended when they crafted the 200 Wooden Block Planks set.

The perfect size for little hands of younger kids and the details constructions of bigger kids, these planks are ready to become the cornerstone (corner plank?) of a diverse collection of blocks and building toys. Kapla planks are crafted from 100% renewable pine grown in the French forests. They are safe, natural, non-toxic, and eco-friendly.

My First Maple Block Set by Hape

If you're looking for your toddler's first architectural blocks, Hape's Maple Block Set is the ideal starter kit. With 50 large and brightly coloured wooden blocks, your child will be able to explore the beginnings of block cities, rocket ships, and creative works parents can never truly predict. The Maple Block Set includes squares, rectangles, planks, triangles, and half-circles to explore the full possibilities of building and early childhood physics. Each block is finished in cheerful blue, green, red, yellow, or natural maple. This block set is perfect for babies and toddlers and pairs wonderfully with other nursery toys.

Block City: Le Toy Van's Petilou Block Set

Want to upgrade to real block city building? The Petilou 60 Piece Building Block Set was designed to turn your playroom into a block skyline. The Petilou set includes a wider diversity of block shapes, sizes, and colors to build with and comes with a handy canvas tote for quick clean-up. Watch your child build castles for toys and forts for themselves. See cities rise and fall and watch the wonderful STEM process of early architectural experiments. What falls down and what stays up? Which blocks can be balanced to make new shapes in the stack? These are the exciting lessons from a large and diverse wooden block toy set.

Magnetic Wooden Block Toys by Tegu

The one great limitation of block play is that blocks fall down. Well the Tegu brand has ingeniously come up with a solution to teach an all-new round of STEM lessons through early play: Magnetic wooden blocks. Each block has magnets embedded in the sides so they adhere to each other for bigger, better, and more spacious block constructions. The starting set is a 24 Piece Tint set. Tegu magnetic blocks are made from natural wood with safely embedded magnets and non-toxic child safe paints, with a beautiful rigid box designed to become your long-term toy storage.

Building the perfect nursery and play room is all about understanding what really matters to children's happiness and early childhood development. Simple yet infinitely possible toys like wooden blocks are the key to encouraging your child to explore their own creative power and learn naturally from the world around them.

You can shop from our carefully curated wooden blocks here.

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