Wooden blocks have been a staple in early childhood development for centuries. Their versatility and timeless appeal continue to make them a valuable educational tool for young children and their grownups. In an age of digital devices and highly-structured educational methods, the seemingly simple wooden block set stands out as a tool that fosters creativity, critical thinking, and social-emotional development in ways that few other toys can.
This article explores just a few of the numerous benefits for young children who play with wooden blocks, emphasizing stem-based learning and social-emotional development. And we will discuss how they can also support something relatively new in the world of early childhood development: media literacy.
I am proud to align with PlanToys as their first kids’ show host spokesperson. In this new episode of Danny Joe’s Tree House, Let’s Make a Plan, we incorporate the PlanToys 50 Unit Block Set to show how play with blocks can manifest a deeper understanding of one’s self and others. In the episode, I model how my PlanToys wooden block set can be used to not only teach early concepts like math and physics, but also as a means to retell and process complex emotions related to unexpected events.
In the episode, a wind storm blows down branches in the playground just below my treehouse, a bossy king named Kingsley and an resourceful leader named Pixie Bell debate the appropriate next steps for how to not only clean up the fallen sticks, but also how to best prepare for future storms. Meanwhile, as the two bicker and quarrel, the bird community decides to take responsibility themselves and work together to pick up the sticks and build some new nests for their chicks. The youngest bird, Sweety, sees her elders using sticks in interesting ways and wants to use a stick, too. This initiates a larger conversation about the big responsibility that can come with using any communication device, from sticks, to wooden blocks, to smartphones.
Our approach at Danny Joe’s Tree House is rooted in using the language of play to safely and objectively examine and process complex emotions related to timely topics. We don’t tell children or their grownups what to think or how to feel. Instead we respectfully reflect the social moment and model a variety of ways for them to think critically for themselves and with deep compassion for others. This type of play can easily be replicated and built upon at home and at school with your own PlanToys wooden block set.
My full-hearted belief that this product can have deep and lasting benefits for both children and their caregivers allows me to endorse it with confidence. The following are just a few examples of the benefits that come with wooden block play.
When children build towers, tracks, ramps, bridges, or other structures, they are honing their ability to understand balance, symmetry, and cause-and-effect relationships.
One of the most well-known benefits of play with wooden blocks is how it fosters cognitive development in young children. With various shapes, sizes, and colors, blocks offer endless possibilities for exploration and problem-solving. As children manipulate the blocks, they are naturally engaging in critical thinking processes, such as spatial reasoning, classification, and pattern recognition.
When children build towers, tracks, ramps, bridges, or other structures, they are honing their ability to understand balance, symmetry, and cause-and-effect relationships. For example, a child might discover that stacking blocks too high causes the structure to fall, leading them to adjust their strategy. This trial-and-error process encourages problem-solving and perseverance, key cognitive skills that will serve them throughout their lives. Furthermore, constructing complex structures with blocks also develops their understanding of shapes and sizes, laying a foundation for later learning in mathematics and geometry.
When children play together with wooden blocks, they learn important social skills, such as sharing, negotiating, and cooperation.
Wooden blocks are also an excellent tool for independent play. The open-ended nature of block play encourages a sense of autonomy, as children have the freedom to explore, experiment, and create in their own time and space. This fosters a sense of pride in their creations and helps them feel more capable of handling challenges in other areas of life.
As the child grows, blocks also provide rich opportunities for social interaction. When children play together with wooden blocks, they learn important social skills, such as sharing, negotiating, and cooperation. Building structures as a group requires children to collaborate, plan, and communicate effectively. These social experiences foster teamwork, patience, and empathy as children take turns, discuss their ideas, and help each other solve problems.
Block play can help children navigate feelings of frustration and accomplishment. As children build, they sometimes encounter the frustration of collapsed structures caused by other children. Whether blocks are knocked down on purpose or by accident, the event presents an opportunity for all participating children to learn lessons in self-regulation, empathy, negotiation, resilience and perseverance. These emotional experiences allow children to develop coping mechanisms for setbacks and build self-confidence when they successfully express their frustration, compromise with peers, and complete objectives.
I have often said that a young child at play is like a lucid dreamer. They are pulling from their first and secondary experiences. If the grownup pays attention to this language of play, they can have the opportunity to gain a deeper sense of what the child is processing and in turn support and guide the child accordingly.
Wooden blocks are a perfect tool for nurturing creativity and imagination. Unlike many modern toys that come with predefined instructions, limited ways to interact ,or at worst, automatically do the work and play independent of the child, wooden blocks offer endless open-ended possibilities for play. A child might start by building a simple tower, but as their imagination takes over, the blocks can transform into literally anything.
I have often said that a young child at play is like a lucid dreamer. They are pulling from their first and secondary experiences. If the grownup pays attention to this language of play, they can have the opportunity to gain a deeper sense of what the child is processing and in turn support and guide the child accordingly. For example, a short cylinder wooden block, in a child’s imagination, might become the representation of that friend who knocked down their tower. As the child recreates the event, they are able to recall and evaluate, consider perspectives of others, self-regulate, and act out a variety of scenarios for what else they might say or do to resolve or devolve the situation. Truly it is completely up to them. They can practice for next time.
Remember, for young children, media literacy is less about learning the specific functions of a device and more about practicing and refining critical thinking and compassion skills through self-guided, open-ended play. No screens required!
When I think of wooden blocks, I can’t help but compare them to other communication tools, ranging from sticks to smartphones. Ultimately, these are all just things. Devices that we sometimes use to share our thoughts, ideas, and feelings with one another. We have a choice of how to use our communication tools. We can create art, build communities and share our stories in kind and respectful ways.
Too often, in an effort to protect our children, we tend to shield them, or even forbid them from using tools which we might perceive as dangerous. But we can introduce core concepts, one developmental block at a time, that focuses on not telling children what to think and how to feel, but instead, how they can start to practice thinking critically for themselves and with compassion for others. These practices are at the core of media literacy.
Imagine a scenario in which a young child is playing with a stick outside. An ancient type of play that goes back to our earliest ancestors. A type of play that we have all experienced in our own childhoods. Imagine the adult that interjects with a well-meaning, “Don’t play with sticks! You’re going to hurt yourself.” The child drops the stick and leaves it alone (at least while the adult is present). But by stopping the play entirely, the opportunity to start teaching the child how to use the stick responsibly is gone. Now, imagine another adult that decides to take a different approach:
“Hey! I see you discovered a stick. Sticks can be a lot of fun. You can build with them and use them to draw pictures in the mud. Why, a stick can be anything that you can imagine. But I’ve learned that you can also get hurt with a stick if you’re not careful. And you might hurt someone else too. So be careful, follow the rules, and if you mess up, I’ll help you to take responsibility, try again and get better.”
Yes, even with the precursor of wooden blocks–sticks–children can start to develop early media literacy skills. Remember, for young children, media literacy is less about learning the specific functions of a device and more about practicing and refining critical thinking and compassion skills through self-guided, open-ended play. No screens required!
PlanToys wooden block sets will remain a timeless, relevant and invaluable tool for early childhood development, making them an essential part of any child’s toy collection. They are an investment in empowering young children as they prepare for all their futures hold. When the blocks fall down, we can simply start to build again. We just need to take it one block at a time.
Explore 50 Unit Blocks & other block options in the PlanToys Blocks & Construction library.
Watch our sponsored PlanToys episode of Danny Joe’s Tree House called, Let’s Make a Plan, now. And then continue the play at home with your very own PlanToys wooden block set.
Danny “Danny Joe” LaBrecque (LA-BRECK) is the creator and host of the streaming preschool series, Danny Joe’s Tree House, certified with a SENSICAL SELECT™ badge on Sensical.tv, backed by Common Sense Media, which has rated the show with four stars. A regularly featured series on Epic for Kids and on YouTube Kids for its ability to create healthy social-emotional habits at an early age, fostering age-appropriate conversations about complex topics that can support long-term practices for families as they grow together. In addition to the traditional passive screen, LaBrecque is also an in-classroom early educator with 25 years of experience bringing regular in-person and interactive live-stream versions of the series into early childhood classrooms across the county. Learn more at dannyjoestreehouse.com