BUILDING TO COUNT, GROUP AND COMPARE | Eleanor was gifted a bag of Mega Bloks for her 1st birthday last year. At first she wasn’t sure what to do with them. However, she just turned two, and they are now one of her favorite toys! They inspire creativity and imagination, they exercise her fine motor skills, and they encourage her to Count, Group and Compare.
Her Mega Bloks come in several different colors, sizes, and shapes. When we are playing together, we help Eleanor think about what pieces will work best for what she wants to build. Since her birthday was recently, she often wants to build birthday cakes. She’ll sort out the colors she wants to use and decide how many layers the cake should be. We love watching her brain work as she makes these decisions. She associates the colors with flavors (pink is strawberry, white is vanilla, etc.) and mostly decides to make two-layer cakes since she is two. Once she builds it to her satisfaction, she’ll blow out the “candles” and have just as much fun destroying it as she had making it!
When it’s time to clean up, we have to take apart all of the Mega Bloks and put them away one at a time so that they will fit in the bag. This allows a great opportunity to compare the sizes of the blocks as we have to think about which ones need to go in first. Eleanor loves her Mega Bloks and we are excited to help her develop early math skills!
By Lizzy Tahsuda