Week 44: Why your baby should be playing with blocks

Your little engineer is still a couple of months away from stacking blocks, but early exposure will help him hone his budding new skills.

One way to play for now is to build a tower of a couple of blocks and let your crawling baby knock it over. Placing some blocks on a low couch will invite your little one to pull up if he is showing signs of pulling-to-stand or even cruising.

It will only be around 12 months that your baby’s starts banging two blocks together and, according to research, you can expect your 12- to 15-month old to stack about two blocks.

But no matter how your baby "plays" with blocks now, he is developing fine motor skills and learning how to use his hands in a coordinated manner. Banging blocks demonstrates hand-eye coordination, focus, intent and an understanding of cause and effect - go, baby, go!

Here are seven reasons why early exposure and block play is so valuable:

1. Imagination – Through block play, children are free to follow their ideas as they embark on a voyage of discovery.
2. Problem-solving – Blocks offer a great platform to develop problem-solving and reasoning skills.
3. Mathematics – Due to the many shapes, sizes and colours on offer, blocks offer loads of opportunity for children to practise important maths skills.
4. Physical development – Block play promotes the development of hand-eye coordination and strengthens their fingers, hands and arms.
5. Creativity – Blocks are loose parts, meaning children are free to combine and recombine them in countless ways. 
6. Science – Blocks help them to become familiar with balance, weight, spatial awareness and gravity.
7. Communication & literacy – As your baby encounters new experiences through block play, there are countless opportunities for the development of new vocabulary.
   
   Start the development journey with MonkiBox. Montessori-inspired toys designed to give your child the best start.