Block building, jigsaw puzzles, train sets and junk modelling are such common construction activities in early years that their educational value can be overlooked.
Construction and jigsaw puzzles involve children in fitting shapes together, or into gaps. As they do this, they learn about shape properties, estimate size and develop rotation skills. They begin to predict what will fit where or what new shapes they will create. Children visualise what objects will look like when moved, turned, flipped or combined with other objects.
Some children, including girls and children experiencing socioeconomic disadvantage, have fewer opportunities to engage in these valuable construction and puzzle activities, so this provision is particularly important for them.
PROBLEM SOLVING
Finding the correct shape for a specific-shaped space or a specific purpose engages children in problem-solving. Children experience satisfaction when popping the shape through the hole in the shape sorter toy or finding just the right blocks to make a roof for the house they are constructing. There is strong research evidence that these types of activities support mathematical development. For instance, children who are good at mental rotation (imagining what an object will look like when turned) are also good at numerical problems.
COMPOSITION AND DECOMPOSITION
Combining two or more shapes enables children to make new shapes. This is the basis of construction activities such as pattern blocks, wooden blocks, plastic bricks and junk modelling. Opportunities for shape composition (or decomposition, when taking apart) are integral to commercially produced construction kits such as Lego. However, loose parts, junk modelling with packaging and collage work well, and digital alternatives, such as online pattern blocks, also offer opportunities for construction play. Children who are good at block-building also have good number skills. Block play involves visualising, combining and separating, and size comparison, which are all involved in working with numbers.
ACTIVITIES
Babies and toddlers
Young children often enjoy putting objects in and out of containers or posting objects through holes. Cardboard tubes and boxes with cut-out holes prompt children to turn objects to fit.
Adult role: Showing children how to post or move objects into and out of spaces can stimulate children to do the same. Expressing joy when an object fits into a space offers further encouragement. Children often like to repeat these activities many times. Adults can also offer two differently shaped objects for the child to choose from, asking, ‘Which one will fit?’ Where a child is struggling to fit an object in a space, adults can suggest turning the object, with gestures, so they turn the object around for themselves.
When adults show children how to stack cups or blocks to create small towers, children enjoy knocking them down and eventually building towers of their own, putting much effort into placing the next one ‘on top’ each time, which is language the adult can emphasise.
Two-to three-year-olds: With lots of practice, children become adept at manipulating and combining objects, turning pieces until they fit and building towers or walls using blocks. By putting two shapes together, they make a new shape, enjoying construction pieces that connect, or placing loose parts to create a pattern or picture. They also enjoy separating or cutting up objects to make smaller ones, by taking apart construction pieces or cutting playdough shapes.
Adult role: Adults can support these experiences by offering a range of toys (see box) and experimenting with making their own shapes. Adults can also model searching for a specific shaped piece or brick, using gesture and spatial words to describe the shape that they need, or offer two different shaped objects to choose from, or suggest an object that won't fit, prompting children to consider why it is the wrong shape for the job. Asking children to predict which piece will fit in a space, before they try it out, encourages them to visualise the shape and size of the piece needed.
Three-to five-year-olds: At this age, children create more complex constructions. In block play, they create enclosures with spaces in the middle and bridges with spaces underneath. They begin to rotate blocks to make corners or prop them up to make ramps. They fit pieces together to complete jigsaws and can place pattern blocks into outlines. They can also begin to copy models made out of bricks or blocks.
Adult role: Adults can pose a problem, providing a context for block play, such as making a bed or house for teddy, or a bridge, garage or ramp for the truck. Sometimes, the adult might offer a simple model to copy, which can introduce shapes or joins that the child hasn't tried before (e.g., placing bricks across each other or creating corners). Adults can draw out or print outlines for pattern block shapes to fit into and create a pattern or picture. Talking about the shape of jigsaw pieces, turning them around to fit and also asking how they know a piece is not the correct one (without trying it) all help children to visualise, predict and reason. Adults can make jigsaws with children by cutting up old greetings cards or photos to reassemble. Children can swap and do each other's jigsaws.
Supporting construction in your setting
- Provide access to construction resources every day, including construction toys that connect and stack, collage materials, loose parts, and jigsaws of increasing challenge.
- Find ways to encourage all children to have sustained periods of construction play, including girls.
- Continue to play with children when they engage in construction activities, modelling, commenting and gesturing, as well as asking questions to encourage visualisation, e.g., ‘Will this fit?’
- Recognise individual children's differing spatial abilities and how these can be further developed.
- Support children's families to engage in construction activities at home. The Spatial Reasoning Toolkit has a poster and keyring that detail the progression, activities and spatial language we can use to support construction play. The typical stages of block play are well documented online: a useful graphic representing the typical stages of block play is available from the Glow Scotland website: https://blogs.glowscotland.org.uk/sb/earlylevelportal/7-stages-of-block-play
CASE STUDY: Sharon Palfreyman, Corrie Primary and Nursery School, Tameside
Charlotte was tackling the alphabet jigsaw, assisted by her friend, Alice. Sharon, their teacher, knew they were confident with jigsaw puzzles and thought this would be the next level of challenge for them.
The children confidently placed A, B, C, D and K. Next they placed symmetrical letters, like U, T or Y; these were easier as they could ‘face’ either left or right and still fit in the space. However, J was more difficult. ‘Which way does this one go?’ asked Charlotte, unsure if she should turn it to the left or to the right. Alice picked up N, but couldn't fit it in the ‘N’ hole as it was upside down and gave up: not yet feeling so confident in mentally turning shapes in her head. Charlotte tried fitting it in the place for ‘Z’, but found that this didn't work either. When Alice then offered Z, Charlotte immediately turned it around to fit.
Charlotte persevered in trying different ways to make the letters fit. Sharon supported her by suggesting useful strategies, such as, ‘Maybe turn it upside down.’ However, giving clear movement directions, especially to a young child, can be difficult. ‘Turn it upside down’ could mean ‘rotate it’ horizontally or ‘flip it’ vertically. Sharon found that Charlotte understood ‘turn it all the way around’ when she used her hands to gesture this movement, which helped the children to understand.
As the activity progressed, Charlotte became more confident. S, which could be turned several ways, was rotated and flipped so that it fitted. Charlotte was visualising in advance, predicting the moves that would make S fit in the ‘S’ hole. Both children had showed perseverance and a range of strategies in solving the problem of the puzzle.
FURTHER INFORMATION
- The Spatial Reasoning Toolkit is at: https://earlymaths.org/spatial-reasoning; along with a range of ‘Mathematical moments’, many including videos such as ‘The Alphabet Jigsaw’ (https://bit.ly/4404n5E)
