As you will all know at Free Rangers, we ‘LOVE’ to be outside, but we also try to bring the outdoors in, incorporating it into our play. This week in the Nest we have achieved this by exploring our new holistic bricks (Natural logs cut into different shapes and sizes).
The babies were very curious about the objects, using their senses to explore, picking them up and often holding them in their mouths. Some of the babies were able to use the blocks to create their own simple structures and arrangements, holding the pieces in each hand and attempting to balance them on top of each other. Seeing the towers, all the babies enjoyed joining in and being able to knock them down, waiting for them to be rebuilt and knocking them down again. They investigated building tunnels with the adults and looking through to the other end where a toy or another person could be seen. They enjoyed having the adults hide a toy under a shelter of bricks and then them pushing the bricks down to find the hidden surprise. The babies also enjoyed using the blocks to make lots of noise, banging them together and onto the floor.
Using building blocks, to stack is an important process for babies to practice their fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination, increasing their concentration and being creative to produce different shapes.
Madi Frayling