There are all kinds of fancy STEM toys on the market these days, and many of them are great. But did you know that across many years of study, researchers have consistently found that the most engaged play for boys AND girls happens when handling simple wooden blocks?
That’s right, wooden blocks for kids reign supreme!
They are one of the most important toys for children to use in order to develop critical skills for school and life.
Jeffrey Trawick-Smith of the Center for Early Childhood Education, told The New Yorker :
“Blocks for kids promote a terrific amount of problem-solving… and also mathematical thinking.”
Creative building toys like wooden blocks encourage high quality play and studies suggest kids who play with these types of toys may be more likely to pursue math and science as adults.
This holds true for girls as well, who are often forgotten when it comes to construction toys.
So get some wood blocks for your daughter already!
RELATED: The Best Building Toys For Kids
A study conducted by Florida State University that followed preschoolers into adulthood, suggests that those who demonstrated high-quality play with wood blocks performed slightly better on standardized tests.
The authors of the study noted, “there is a statistical relationship between early block performance during preschool and achievement in mathematics…at the later middle and high school levels.”
Wooden Blocks For Kids
Build Critical Skills
If you’re worried that wooden blocks for kids might be…well dull, especially in the face of iPads and video games. Think again!
The best toys are those that encourage and enhance problem solving from a young age. Simple construction toys (like blocks) are ideally suited to this task.
Wooden blocks for kids help develop the following skills:
- Motor Skills
- Hand-Eye Coordination
- Creativity and Outside-the-Box Thinking
- Cooperation and Responsibility
- Language Skills
- Science Concepts
- Problem-Solving
Even better, kids can incorporate the items they construct during block play into their own imaginative pretend scenarios. Make-believe creative play has all sorts of benefits for kids.
Related: Amazing Learning Toys For Toddlers
4 Tips To Get The Most From Wood Block Play
1. Keep your children engaged by playing along side them. Parent participation matters!
2. Combine story-time and wood block play. It will give your kids ideas of what to build next.
3. Create building challenges! Ask your kids to make a specific structure, like a bridge, road, hospital, etc.
4 . Mix in a little make-believe. Give kids wood blocks and other similar-sized wooden toys, like cars, trees, or people so they can create entire pretend scenarios.
5 Amazing Benefits Of Wooden Blocks For Kids
1. Wooden toys are super durable. Seriously, you can’t break these things.
2. Wood block toys will grow with your child. As their skills develop, the structures they build will too.
3. Wood toys are designed to be safe. Yup, no sharp edges or weird little pieces that can break off and be swallowed.
4. Wooden toys are QUIET. Hear that? That’s the sound of silence. You’re welcome.
5. Wooden blocks for kids will get little eyes AWAY FROM SCREENS.
Our Favorite Wooden Blocks For Kids
Are you inspired to get some wooden blocks for kids yet?? The highly-rated wooden toys below definitely fit the bill.
1. Melissa & Doug Wooden Building Blocks Set
The Melissa & Doug Wooden Building Blocks Set comes with 100 solid, safe wood blocks in four colors and nine shapes. Hours of building fun!
2. Melissa & Doug Classic ABC Wooden Block Cart
The Melissa & Doug ABC Wood Block Cart is an iconic classic! It includes a rolling storage cart and 30 blocks that feature numbers, letters, and pictures to build counting and language skills.
3. Lincoln Logs: 100th Anniversary Tin
Talk about a classic! We’ve been building cabins with Lincoln Logs for a hundred years.
This package includes 111 pieces made of real, high-quality maple wood. Each has indentations that can be used to connect it with others.
Pieces are included for the roof, roof facade, walls, chimney, porch, fences, bonfire, and bonfire seats.
4. Melissa & Doug Stacking Train
The Melissa & Doug Stacking Train features an engine and two train cars filled with 14 colorful wood blocks for kids.
The wooden train helps little ones practice color and shape recognition.
5. NEOWOWS 200 Piece Building Blocks
NEOWOWS Building Blocks comes with a total of 200 wooden building pieces. This toy lets children construct towers, animals, castles, towns, dump truck and more. Creativity will flourish!
6. Princess Pink Castle Wooden Building Block Set
We’ve been saying girls should be encouraged to play with wood blocks too, and this Princess Pink Castle Building Set may be just the thing to make that happen!
It’s a 60 piece colored block set featuring a princess, prince, horse, and carriage. Why wait for a prince when you can build your own castle?
7. Melissa & Doug Standard Unit Solid-Wood Building Blocks
The Melissa & Doug Standard Solid-Wood Building Blocks come with 60 natural finished, smooth-sanded hardwood blocks to inspire hands-on, imaginative play.
The blocks are packaged in a cool, wooden tray for easy storage.
8. Edushape Edu-Blocks Set
Okay… so technically the Edushape Edu-Blocks aren’t wood, they’re soft flexible blocks. But if you want to build some awesome BIGGER structures, then you’ll need something lighter than wood. These blocks are it!
The set includes 26 lightweight, durable, washable, safe interlocking blocks. It’s like preschooler sized Legos! How cool is that?
Related: Can Educational Toys Really Make Your Child Smarter?
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