Construction Play and Creative Building Activities for

Mod-Severe Pre-School Readiness Levels

Construction play and creative building skill readiness usually begins when you notice your child is not just moving blocks or toys around but starting to put them together or next to each other on purpose.

Sometimes just combining two building blocks, or stacking 2 blocks, is “making a house,” to your child – when they place a small figure or animal toy next to that house they are creating a “home” – with just these little changes from holding, dropping, or tossing blocks means they are showing signs that they are ready to learn and use new skills and abilities.

Construction play and creative building skills involve manipulating and combining one or more pieces of play materials in order to make or create something different. In pre-school and throughout your child’s time in school and right into life as an adult, the skills involved in combining construction with creative building and imagination will be used on a daily basis.

This type of play and skill-set involves a variety of methods that include stacking items, sticking things together, putting items together, taking things apart, sorting, attaching one item to another, the use of play molds, and taking one item and turning it into something completely different, to name just a few of the ways a child displays constructive and creative play.

The opportunity and experience with construction play and creative building develops a multitude of important life skills and behaviors.

In addition, successful development of your child’s ability to construct, create, and yes, take apart:

o   promotes the development of motor skills (gross and fine motor)

o   promotes the ability to think, plan, and follow through on ideas that they may have

o   helps to encourage the confidence to keep trying when one idea or way of trying does not work out

o   the use of art media in building and creating where fine motor skills are practiced will help later with other fine motor skills needed for buttoning, grasp on a crayon or spoon, zipping and so on where use of one-hand to use of both hands is needed

o   encourages learning about how things connect, feel, are different or the same, how one thing can spark an idea to create something new

o   your child can start to recreate scenes and events from their life, like going to the store, to the zoo, to the park, for example, which helps them process and understand their world

o   helps to develop active pretend play through imaginative thought

o   if building in a group setting, like which may happen in pre-school, gives practice and experience in working with and cooperating with others to complete a project

o   using one item to represent another is a very early step in the development of abstract thinking

What looks like play is actually important learning and growth experiences!

Activity suggestions for developing your child’s constructive play and creative building skills:

o   When building and combining, work alongside your child, helping them at first, then building your own project alongside them, naming the items used and giving cues as to how to put them together to make something else

o   Build an obstacle course that includes jumping over, crawling through, or running around a course they design with you; let them help place the items, move and push things around to make a different obstacle course after each run

o Build a snowman, snow kid, snow dog, snow family!

o   Work with your child to put together a basic train track, talking about how the train will run around the track, and how it will all work

o   Work with your child to build a large scale model with limited pieces

o   Help your child build and use a stand-up marble race trace and other similar child-safe toys

o   Provide dot-to-dot games and connect the dot pictures, domino or triomino game, or paper-pencil mazes

o   Encourage pretend play – help your child put together a box of clothes, hats, costume jewelry, shoes, ribbons, lace, pieces from costumes, plastic cups and saucers, a flag, and such for pretend play and pretend dress-up games

o   For building opportunities add new items and materials to your child’s building blocks and construction leggo-type sets – add empty plastic containers and cartons, shells, bottle caps, small stones, pieces of yarn or ribbon, strips of different textured fabrics

o   Provide materials that can be combined to make new things – for example, provide toilet tubes, buttons, tongue depressors or popsicle sticks, sequins, felt, tape (colored), pieces of lace or yarn or ribbons, washable markers (various colors), pipe cleaners, paper towel tubes, cotton balls, washable paints, paper plates, and so on

o   Play dough (see Blog about playdough and how to make at home)

o   Provide materials to use with the play dough that include molds, stamping tools, rolling pin, sequins, large buttons, cylindrical pegs, and anything else that you might find your child could use and play with in creating new things

o   Commercial toys that include interlocking blocks and building toys (wooden or plastic)

o   Art supplies that include rolls of brown wrapping paper for long sheets to draw and paint on, crayons, washable markers, washable paints, safety scissors, kid-safe glue

o   Sand table, sand box, play time at the beach, and play materials for scooping, stacking, pouring, building within the sand

o   Water table (see Water Play Blog) and play materials

o   Provide toys and materials that allow your child to create at will and where they do not have to follow specific directions or try to make their project look like the picture on the box

o   Build a den or tent area out of blankets and pillows

o   Use large empty boxes to sit in, crawl through, or turn into a pirate ship on the ocean, a balloon to soar through the clouds, a rocket ship heading into space, or a race car zooming all around – let your child’s imagination go wild!

o   Provide empty shoe boxes and containers with lids – maybe making a treasure chest is in order?

o   Build a sandcastle at the beach or in the sand box

o   What other ideas can you come up with?

If your child is struggling it is very tempting to take over and “just get it done” – however try to let your child make attempts and give cues and minimal physical assist. Help when their frustration level starts to get in the way of learning and experience.   

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