When toddlers play and explore with blocks they are learning to experiment with new ideas and pretend. At the same time, their physical skills develop through the moving, balancing and building of blocks. Believe it or not, toddlers learn math concepts and problem solving skills through block play. When they play in a group they are also developing important social tools as they share and work with other children to create towers and buildings from blocks.

As you observe an active toddler playing with blocks, you'll notice that he will pick up, drop, pack around and put blocks into baskets, boxes and bags as he attempts to move them from one place to another. To many parents, block play may not seem like a toddler learning activity, when in reality block play is a very important aspect of toddler learning. Through block activity, toddlers learn about weights, sizes, shapes and colors. They notice through repetition the different kinds of sounds that blocks make as a block tower crashes to the floor. Young toddlers will most often simply gather and carry their blocks around, whereas an older toddler will usually begin to construct towers or lay their blocks out in simple designs on the floor.

How can you add to your toddler's block play to encourage further learning? Introduce easy props to your toddler's block toy box. You can keep block props in separate bins so that your toddler can get to them easily.

Some ideas for the kinds of props to add to your toddler's block activity are: little people, small automobiles, doll house size furniture, paper rolls, small animals and trees, posters of buildings, fences, boats, and traffic signs.

Ideas for encouraging your toddler's block play:

? After your toddler has built a block tower count the number of blocks that he has used.

? Show your toddler the difference in block sizes by helping him use different size blocks and build towers side by side.

? Encourage sharing and cooperative play with your toddler by building a tower with your child. Let your toddler begin building with the first block and then you put the next block on top etc. Talk about whether your tower should be big or little, large or small and so on.

? Provide a variety of blocks in your block box and let your toddler choose and sort the blocks they want to play with.

? Using small flat boards, have your toddler build ramps for small cars and trucks to drive up and down.

? Bring your toddler's toy animals and dolls into their block play and encourage your child to build their animals a house.

? Buy different colored tape and make roads on the floor for your child to build block buildings around and then drive their small vehicles on the floor.

Get down on the floor and play with your toddler. Extend your child's learning by taking time to talk with him about what he's building with his blocks. Although blocks may seem like simple, basic toys, they can be important learning tools for your toddler's early development.