Constructing | Day 9 – 30DaysTYP

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Welcome to day 9 in the 30 Days to Transform Your Play series. Today we are discussing construction and its ability to make learning visible.

I have wrote about construction previously.

Constructing and engineering with various manipulatives opens up the world to a child and enables them to create visual representations of their learning, ideas and understanding of the world around them and their interests.

Some questions to reflect upon:

• What kind of constructing is your child drawn to at the moment? Are they 3D or 2D (blueprints)?
• Does your child have the space and opportunity to build upon previous constructions?
• Does your child sketch, record and/or take photographs of their creations?
• Do you display construction materials in an inviting way? Is there anyway you can improve on your current system?
• Do you allow for uninterrupted time to construct and a space for the construction to be left to build upon later?

Constructing helps children construct meaning. – Rachel [Racheous – Lovable Learning]*

Construction doesn’t have to just involve blocks, however, they’re an awesome material to manipulate and build representations. I wrote about the benefits of block play here and love watching children tinker with blocks as they’re so versatile and open-ended.

However, remember to make several different types of constructive materials available for your child to create with:

• Blocks (wooden building blocks, tree blocks, mirror blocks, colour blocks, magnetic blocks, etc)
• Lego/Duplo
• Tinkering toys (think magnetix, k’nex, meccano, etc)
• Snap circuits
• Construction with recyclables
• Creating simple machines
• Building forts and cubby houses
• Wire forms
• Creating with clay/plasticine/playdough
• Woodwork
• Just to name a few…

Task:

• Create an invitation to construct. Include media that reflects their interests (a provoking photo, book, previous work, artwork, sculpture, or a combination) but try not to influence their creativity too much.
• Over the coming days, watch your child constructing and take note of the types of construction they are involved in.
• Discuss ways they might like to expand on their creations, including which materials they might need.
• Encourage them to sketch, record and/or take photos of their constructions.
• Allow the construction/s to be left out and built upon.

Share your invitation to construct on Instagram with the hashtag #30daystyp and/or on my Facebook Page.

Here is the rest of the 30 Days to Transform Your Play series!