What’s in the Block Center
River Rocks, Leaves, Flowers
Children find many creative uses for the rocks, leaves, and flowers. They sometimes use them to decorate their block creations, or use them for imaginative play (for example, the rocks were recently used for pieces of chocolate in a chocolate factory).
These Tree Blocks are made from real trees, and still have the bark on them and show the tree rings. These are my favorite blocks because they look so natural, and encourage more problem-solving skills than most blocks.
These are flags made with felt and dowel rods. The children designed them with glitter glue. They have used them in many ways: for creative movement, as decorations in the house center, as enhancements to their block creations.
These are fabric remnants (at least 1 yard) and curtain panels. Children use them with their block creations to make tents and houses, or as picnic blankets, as costumes, as a way to hide, and many other things.
We have wooden and plastic animals, jungle animals, farm animals, dinosaurs.
We have wooden birdhouses (bought for $1 each at Dollar Tree).
Read the blog post here: Add Paper to Your Block Center
This is a soft globe of the world.
Children use the carpet squares for hop-scotch style games, paths, cushions for cars or airplanes they build with blocks, and many other things.
Large Hollow Blocks
Children get so creative with the large hollow blocks– there’s no end to what they can make. They can make objects their own size and they can stand or sit on them. I’ve seen houses, stores, motorcycles, airplanes, castles, stages, and many, many things built with these.
Block Idea Book
This is a book made with photos taken of the children’s constructions at the block center. Children can look through the book for ideas of things they can build, or just look through it for good memories. It has photos of current students plus photos of children from previous years which are often siblings or cousins of my current students.
- Wooden Trucks
- Items Made by the Children
- Small Wooden Cubes
- Dollhouse Furniture and People
- Astronauts and Space Shuttles
- Construction Hats, Goggles, and Tools