Email Gold

Building Block Towers

Colleen Beck OTR/L
Colleen Beck, OTR/L is a pediatric occupational therapist and the owner and author of The OT Toolbox website. She manages all of The OT Toolbox social media accounts and runs the popular newsletter. Colleen created The OT Toolbox in 2011 and since then has written thousands of blog posts designed to support therapy providers, educators, parents, counselors, admin, and caregivers in promoting the healthy development of kids. Check out Colleen's blog posts below:

Building block activities like building block towers, and stacking blocks support development of many skills for young children. Development occurs through play and play is the job of the child. By using creative block activities in play, children can thrive in their skill development. We’ve shared specifics on fine motor skills using blocks, however, the skill-building doesn’t stop there. Here, we’ll discuss how and why building with blocks is so powerful in development of kids. We’re covering all things building block activities and exactly HOW to maximize skills like fine motor skills, visual perception, and even social emotional skills…all with toy blocks!

You’ll also love our DIY cardboard bricks activity to develop skills!

what type of skill is building towers of blocks or stacking blocks?

Building Blocks for Kids

Most of us have strolled through the toy aisle and found a set of building blocks for kids. Building blocks come in different sizes, colors, shapes, and even patterns. Did you know, however, that despite building block activities being one powerful way to build skills, that most sets are not played with once they are in the home?

That’s right…most of the time, those building block sets just sit they’re collecting dust. Today, we’re talking all about how to use building sets with kids to build skills!

Block activities to improve visual processing skills, fine motor skills, executive functioning and more.

The block set in this picture is our set of Lovevery blocks.

what type of skill is building towers of blocks or stacking blocks?

Toy blocks a are classic toy…and there is good reason. When kids build towers with blocks they are developing skills through play. Knocking blocks over is another set of skills, and stacking blocks to create shapes or forms (a train made from a handful of blocks, for example) is another set of skills. They are all related, however, and together, building towers with blocks results in powerful underlying skills that children can use in later years.

Research tells us that early experiences with blocks stimulate the development of spatial language, cognitive, and problem-solving skills. All of these are the literal building blocks for higher level tasks like reading, writing, executive functioning, math, and communication skills.

We talked previously about the connection between fine motor skills and math. Building blocks are a literal building block to math skills.

There’s more. By building with blocks, kids are establishing concepts of cause and effect (that tower falls down if I build it too high), reasoning (I need to place the blocks flat on each other so they don’t topple over), and creativity, self-esteem, fine motor STEM concepts, early math, language, and motor planning. Wow!

Let’s break this down further.

Building a tower with blocks

When a child builds a tower with blocks, there are several motor and cognitive skills at play:

  • Visual perception
  • Eye-hand coordination
  • Visual motor skills
  • Fine motor skills
  • Gross motor strength and core stability/strength (placing a block on a stack requires posture and positioning, especially as the tower gets taller)
  • Fine motor precision and graded release, or force modulation- It takes a gentle hand to place a block on a tower with precision and manual dexterity.

Knocking a tower over

Every baby, toddler, and preschooler knows the fun of knocking over a stack of blocks, particularly when it’s a sibling or friend’s tower! What’s happening here?

  • hand-eye coordination
  • Cause and effect
  • Self-confidence (I did that!)
  • Emotional practice- when another child’s tower is knocked over, there is sure to be an emotional response. This is not always a malicious act on the part of the tower-knocker! It is a repetition in what will happen however. We see facial expressions, emotions, and outbursts. This can be a good opportunity for problem solving, age-appropriate emotional regulation, personal space, body awareness, force modulation, and language skills.

Building things with blocks

Taking the block tower a step further, we can see more development and precision when creating shapes and forms with blocks. This is another set of skills that are expanded upon:

We’ve covered the fine motor development that occurs by playing with blocks. We’ve also addressed visual perception and block play.

Today, we are discussing the various ways to play with blocks that build more than wooden buildings…blocks build skills!

Block Activities for Toddlers

For the young child, presenting kids with just a jew blocks is the key to avoiding overwhelm. The nice thing about a variety set of blocks is that the various blocks can be used in different ways while working various skill areas.

During toddler play, young children develop many areas that impact functional skills and independence.

Try these block activities for toddlers to support development of skills. We used the Lovevery block set for these activity ideas.

Lovevery blocks for toddlers and preschoolers

One of the block sets in our Lovevery block set.

Sorting Shapes Block Activity– By sorting the colors and shapes of blocks, they are working on so many skills. Visual perceptual skill development begins at a young and age, including the ability to visually discriminate. We know that young babies are able to visually differentiate their mother from another female adult by visual assessment. The same skill can be used and honed with toy blocks

Use a small set of blocks and ask the child to pile clocks into sets according to color or shape. You would be surprised at a young child’s sorting ability and visual discrimination skills.

Sorting block shapes occurs around 15 months and at that time, a shape sorter is the perfect tool for encouraging matching. Visual discrimination skills will improve over the toddler years as your little one begins to recognize differences in shapes such as triangles and pentagons.

Sorting blocks is a literal building block for visual perceptual skills, math skills and executive functioning skills.

use blocks to work on fine motor skills and imagination

Pretend Play Block Activities– Children can use blocks as pretend play items as they interact with adults or other children. Giving blocks a name and a voice offers opportunities act out scenarios, express needs and wants, and practice communication.

By using blocks as pretend people, cars, trains, and animals, toddlers and preschoolers experiment with imagination and creativity. This is the beginning of social emotional skills.

Show your little one how they can set up a little family with the blocks as they talk to each other in words and phrases that your child knows. What a great way to work on communication and language.

building with blocks help development of visual motor skills and fine motor skills

Building Activities- The sky is the limit when it comes to building with blocks. You can show a young toddler how to stack two blocks while the develop the fine motor precision and refined grasp to place blocks and releasing their hand without knocking over the blocks.

Show your little one how to stack one or two blocks with specific colors. By asking them to copy your block form, not only are they working on fine motor skills, they are also building visual perceptual and visual motor skills.

Lovevery block set and block activities for kids

Use Blocks to Make Patterns- Building on the copying skills mentioned above, using blocks to copy and create patterns is an exercise in early visual motor skills, visual perception, and fine motor skills.

It’s also a fun way to introduce early math concepts. Little ones can copy and create patterns using different sizes, shapes, and colors of blocks.

Start out by creating a simple pattern with an AB pattern of blocks. Preschool children can use blocks to create ABB and ABC patterns too.

Gross Motor Skills with Blocks- Just because using blocks with preschoolers is a fun fine motor activity, there’s no reason to leave out the gross motor skill development. Use a small wagon, or create a pulling system to help kids with pushing, and moving the whole body while moving blocks from one place to another.

There is a reason why toddlers and preschoolers love to move their toys around in bags or carts…the proprioceptive input that they achieve by pushing or pulling a cart full of toys provides much needed sensory input that helps them organize and calm their bodies. Pretty cool, right?

Another gross motor coordination activity with blocks is a pretty simple one to set up. Use blocks to create obstacle courses, paths, and games. Kids can animal walk from block to block, tip toe between block paths, or transport blocks one by one in a relay race. Block play is so open-ended and can meet any child’s needs.

Build Letters with Blocks- Block activities for preschoolers can involve building and making letters. Letter recognition begins around 24-36 months and during that time is a great way to teach letter identification.

Use building blocks to help kids trace letters using a finger. Point out how the letters are formed and you can even build those letters higher with another layer. Here is information on how to build letters with correct formation.

Use blocks to make dominos for a fine motor activity

Stack and Knock Over- Building towers with blocks or a trail of dominos is one way to help kids better understand STEM concepts, cause and effect, and problem solving.

Ask your little one how they can make one block fall over by using another. See if they can figure out how far apart to place blocks to make them push one another over in a row of “dominos”. It’s a fantastic exercise in eye-hand coordination.

Building Borders- Use about 10-20 blocks to create small squares and rectangles to form a border or home for small toys, dolls, or other small toys. By creating a “home” for their toys, children can work on shape identification as well as various skills: eye-hand coordination, visual motor skills, fine motor skills, precision of grasp and release, bilateral coordination, and crossing midline.

Take the house building up a notch by adding layers to the walls. Children can begin to stack blocks and attempt to create higher walls without knocking them over.

Amazon links included below.

Lovevery Blocks are a new product created by the folks at Lovevery. The 70 piece set is valued at $90.00 and is perfect for kids aged 12-48+ months (and higher! My big kids are loving this set right now!)

Lovevery has thought of your child as they grow. The set includes an activity guide with over 20 block activities designed to build learning and developmental skills as they grow. These are beautifully made blocks that will grow with your child.

  • 70 wood pieces in a rainbow of 18 different hues
  • 18 different shapes and tools
  • Activity guide with block play ideas to promote skills like visual perception, eye-hand coordination, fine motor skills, gross motor skills, and more
  • Arrives in a wooden storage box that converts into a pull car
  • Drawstring cotton bag for flexible storage
  • Solid wood blocks made of sustainably harvested FSC-certified wood
  • Water-based non-toxic paint and finishes
Lovevery building block activities for kids

Block Activities and Ideas

Some of the smartest and most creative folks I know are the readers of The OT Toolbox. I asked readers to tell me sensory strategies they personally love and use to address sensory modulation. Scroll through the comments…you might just find some new sensory strategies that will work for you! Hopefully we can learn from one another!

Also, check out these other soy suggestions based on therapeutic development through play.

  1. Fine Motor Toys 
  2. Gross Motor Toys 
  3. Pencil Grasp Toys 
  4. Toys for Reluctant Writers
  5. Toys for Spatial Awareness 
  6. Toys for Visual Tracking 
  7. Toys for Sensory Play 
  8. Bilateral Coordination Toys 
  9. Games for Executive Functioning Skills 
  10. Toys and Tools to Improve Visual Perception 
  11. Toys to Help with Scissors Skills
  12. Toys for Attention and Focus 

Working on fine motor skills, visual perception, visual motor skills, sensory tolerance, handwriting, or scissor skills? Our Fine Motor Kits cover all of these areas and more.

Check out the seasonal Fine Motor Kits that kids love:

Letters Fine Motor Kit
Kit de motricidad fina de verano
Summer Fine Motor Kit
Outer Space Fine Motor Kit
Space Fine Motor Kit
Spring fine motor kit
Valentines Day fine motor kit
winter fine motor kit
Winter Fine Motor Kit

Or, grab one of our themed Fine Motor Kits to target skills with fun themes:

Want access to all of these kits…and more being added each month? Join The OT Toolbox Member’s Club!

Colleen Beck, OTR/L has been an occupational therapist since 2000, working in school-based, hand therapy, outpatient peds, EI, and SNF. Colleen created The OT Toolbox to inspire therapists, teachers, and parents with easy and fun tools to help children thrive. Read her story about going from an OT making $3/hour (after paying for kids’ childcare) to a full-time OT resource creator for millions of readers. Want to collaborate? Send an email to contact@theottoolbox.com.

New Feature...DOWNLOAD THIS POST AS A PDF! CLICK HERE

512 thoughts on “Building Block Towers”

  1. Blocks are not only great for building things and letting the creative minds flow. The are great for stacking, making patterns, matching etc.

  3. Building blocks are a fun way to encourage the development of grasp and release for children with conditions such as cerebral palsy. I particularly like the round blocks with a hole in the middle. Kids like to stick their thumb or index finger inside.

  6. I like using blocks in tangram style puzzles because it works for 3D visual perception, and using them for letter building activities. Smaller blocks are also excellent when “buried” in putty for some hand muscle building.

    I’ve followed Lovevery – tis a great introduction!

  7. my son loves to build as high as he can and knock it over, he also uses them with wooden trains and create an obstical course to manuver around and try not to mess up his track

  9. The growing self regulation required for groups of children sharing block play is a wonderful benefit. I’ve had kids partner up and take turns adding to a structure.

  12. I love building blocks, for making imaginative lands with. We combine with animals or little people and make up stories. Also followed Lovevery on instagram.
    Thank you.

  15. My boys love building with blocks… they build the tallest buildings and love to add garages for their cars!

  16. I like to use blocks for grasping and releasing skills, stacking to work on visual motor and force gradation and for sorting by color!

  17. I start with sorting by attributes, and building by mixing attributes. The students really engage when I tell them they get to knock down their buidling with a limited edition ‘lightning McQueen’ car!

  19. I like using blocks to work on grasp and release, visual perceptual skills, motor control, and flexibility with play. It is a great way to build play skills as well!

  20. I like to have my students build block towers while prone on a therapy ball. They get to work on fine motor precision, core strengthening, and crossing midline while having fun with blocks!

  21. I like to read a book with the kids and then have them pick out something to build from the book, like a house, or neighborhood!

  26. Love maki towers, patterns, using as “bowling pins” for fine motor bowling. Can be used in so many ways

  27. We use blocks to de-escalated with some students.
    Also, blocks is a wonderful building activity for social skills.

  28. I used blocks the other day as a compliance task with a student who is greatly struggling with the effects of early childhood trauma. Matching blocks to a pattern card was the “job” part of her first-then schedule. She happily engaged with the blocks while sequencing left-to-right and aligning them in mimicry of tall/short/descending letter placement. This simple task allowed her to feel success.

  32. I like to give the students the blocks and watch what they build initially. Do they only stack or will they build something?
    This gives me a great point to start discussions and see if they can then copy what I build.

  35. Lots of great ideas on using blocks! I will confess I use them with my preschool students mainly to build towers and trains.

  38. sequencing by color color pattern, sorting, stacking, imitation of blocks designs from a demonstration and building from a model, fin emotor skills, 3 point grasp

  39. Block help children be creative, help with grasping and bilateral hand skills. Children can learn to work together when building as they get older. So many good goals from block play!

  40. We build/stack blocks to make towers, houses, patterns then use remote control car to knock them over. Good way to work on copying block patterns.

  45. We use many different types of blocks depending on the student. A few examples include using LEGO or other snap blocks to help with strength or using different sized and shaped blocks to help with developing fine motor skills.

  46. For younger children we build towers and roads for matchbox cars. Older kiddos build letters/words with blocks as well as shapes.

  47. As a pediatric occupational therapist and mom to a vivacious two year old, I love having my students and son set the blocks up around the room in designs of their choice and then use a scooter board or wheelbarrow walk to knock them over or gather them. Kids of all ages love this! Blocks are endless for imagination and play!!!

  48. I love using them for plain old stacking and knocking them down. Kids seem to universally love this activity.

  49. I have a dinosaur toy whose mouth open and shuts with finger flexion and extension. Kids love to have him “eat the blocks and then spit out the food into a bucket”. It’s great for eye-hand coordination, finger strengthening and another way to use the blocks.

  53. I use blocks to encourage cooperative play among my students to build roadways to drive our toy cars and trucks on or around.

  54. I use blocks for concept formation of shapes and colors. I also target work behaviors and sensory modulation by incorporating blocks in an obstacle course.

  55. My son loves to stack as high as possible (and the crash it down?) and also line them up rows according to color.

  57. Blocks are so versatile! They can be used for matching shapes and colors for visual perception skills; stacking blocks are a fun way to work on fine motor precision and grasp/release patterns; you can also work on upper body and core strengthening by building blocks while prone on elbows. Can go wrong with a block activity!

  59. I love “old school toys” compared to technology. Toys, such as blocks help develop many important cognitive skills and are hands on. I love using them as sorting and incorporating visual perception skills.

  60. My boy is 10 months old and we always do the stacking together. It would be very wonderful to win this whole set. He will enjoy it for sure 🙂

  62. Love the determination of some of the littlest kids to make that tower taller & taller! then of course the fun of knocking it down!

  63. I like to use blocks while the student is prone over a therapy ball or bolster and to work on color sorting and matching shapes.

  64. Blocks are great for a variety of fine and visual motor skills. Lying prone to build or using scooter boards to get different pieces and then taking pieces to another area to build.

  65. I like have my students build towers or walls while prone over a ball. Then they “crash” into it and knock it down. Clean up is with tongs and repeat….repeat…repeat…

  66. I like to use blocks to address visual perceptual goals, stacking them to imitate a design or a placing a picture at far point to address copying skills.

  67. We love to build things up and knock ’em down. Blocks are terrific for hand-eye coordination, develop pincer grasp, and following directions. I cannot get enough blocks.

  68. Blocks are such an easy and multifaceted tool to use with kids of all ages. Most recently, I have been using them with one of my students to work on visual attention, visual perceptual skills and grasp development. He is engaging with the activity for noticeably longer periods of time and gives the happiest smile when the blocks “timber” down!

  69. I love having my kiddos build a pyramid and then use a weighted ball to have them roll the ball to knock over the pyramid.

  73. Do you have any idea how hard it is to find normal cube-shaped blocks?! I always have to use the ones out of the Peabody during therapy sessions. My favorites are tower building and pattern imitation.

  76. Blocks are a great tool to use to address many skills and kids love them. A favorite activity is building a structure big cardboard blocks and then going down the scooter board ramp in prone and knocking the block structure over. Then rebuild for the next person or your next turn.

  77. Blocks can be used for visual perceptual skills (matching a pattern or building from a model) and of course fine motor grasp/release!!

  78. I love to use blocks to make robots and monsters in sessions. I also love to hide blocks in my sensory bins and have kiddos go on a scavenger hunt for them and after they have found them then we build things with them. Really gets my kiddos engaged!

  79. Blocks are a fantastic old-school toy that target so many skills. Plus, they are just FUN! I love using them for color sorting,shape matching. building towers and replicating designs.

  81. We use blocks in my Kindergarten class to explore forces by building ramps for toy cars. They explore if one kind of ramp can go faster or slower than another.

  82. I use blocks to create deigns for elementary students to copy, but they are a great ‘old-school’ STEM toy to encourage creativity and design building for any age!

  83. These are great for letting the child explore their creative ideas while also addressing fine motor, gross motor, and visual perceptual skills! The options are endless but most importantly the kiddo will enjoy it! An excited kiddo = happy therapist 🙂

  85. My son LOVES to build garages with blocks, magnets, really anything that stacks together! It’s great for his coordination development.

  86. I like to use blocks to support literacy by attaching letters and numerals to blocks and create games to use them.

  87. I love finding new and innovative ideas and resources, so I am grateful to now be following @lovevery on instagram! Blocks can be useful to address so many different foundational skills and can be used for kids of many ages.

  88. So many ways to incorporate blocks into session. Love building different structures to assist with play skills, fine motor and visual perceptual skills 🙂

  89. I use blocks with my kiddos to engage in symbolic play to help expand their ideation, social emotional skills, and problem solving skills when things don’t always go as planned.

  90. Kids love to knock down towers. I have used towers for children who need to increase ROM due to brachial plexus, neurological deficits, or other injuries. They will work hard to knock down the tower with the affected side.

  92. Blocks work on so many things! Hand eye coordination, matching, manipulation, play and social skills! I like to use them with younger kids to work on social skills of taking turns and playing together.

  95. We use various styles of blocks in our block center along with pictures for ideas of what students can build for those who need some extra support. I love using them as a table top activity along with the family sorters as it opens up a lot of different ways the students can sort, pattern, etc. through their play!

  97. I like to use blocks as “structured free play” to guide students to use cognitive reasoning as well as fine, visual, and gross motor skills. I ask them to start building, then throw in a “suggestion” or another way to think about their creation. See what happens.

  102. Not only do I love using blocks to work on motor skills, but it teaches cause and effect too. If I stack them this high, what will happen? If I have this small block on the bottom and bigger blocks on top, what will happen. Then comes the problem solving… how do we fix this?

  103. We like to use our imagination to try to create animals using blocks. We also love to build tall towers and then knock them down!

  107. I love using blocks as a station in an obstacle course (balance beam, swing, prone or side sitting fine motor activity, etc).One idea is to scatter the blocks around the floor and have the kiddo army crawl to sequence and stack while in a prone position. This can encourage mid-line crossing, weight bearing, grasp and release, and pencil grasp by utilizing the pincer grasp to manipulate blocks.

  108. We like to toss them around and decide what type of shape they landed in!
    I also followed loveevery on Instagram!

  109. We love building towers and then knocking them down using toy cars, small balls, or even blowing really hard. I also love using visuals to help with developing visual perceptual skills.

  111. I like to have the older kids prone on a scooterboard and push themselves all over to get the blocks that are spread throughout the room. I might even have a block design and they have to figure out which blocks they need to replicate that design. At the end, they get to build it!

  112. Blocks are great for connecting shapes, color, and size to make pictures, numbers, ABC’s and a simple message spelled out, such as “I love OT”.

  115. I teach Kindergarten and we do a lot of block play with a variety of different kinds of blocks. But last year we started doing weekly visits to an outdoor space in our neighborhood and building with nature’s “blocks”. Its been amazing.

  116. I love using blocks as a fun way to address fine motor skills as well at pattern and colour matching skills all in one!

  120. The kiddos I work with like to copy designs that I make. They also like to build as tall as they can and make it “crash”.

  121. For kiddos who love to build, I like to encourage them to build something with blocks that can be a part of our obstacle course in the OT gym! For example, a balance beam or a tunnel, etc.

  122. I love using blocks with my elementary aged kids to get them on the ground using lots of muscles for core strength, weight shifting, crossing midline, copying, stacking, etc etc

  123. My son loves building with things, gets our jenga set out to use the wooden blocks to build his own dragon egg hatchery, temples, coliseums, as well as quite intricate symmetrical patterns. Wooden blocks are just the best for seeing his imagination and construction run free.

  124. My kids love blocks to have fun learning fine motor and visual skills. It’s great for focusing, calming, and organizing our minds.

  125. Using blocks to build things, grading the activity up by making the child match patters, sit on a wobbly disc, reaching farther outside BOS, working on pincer gras0/release precision to build as y’all and narrow as they can, etc. Also a great activity to promote social participation and sharing in young kids!

  126. I like to let my students build a tower with the blocks and then knock it over by either throwing a ball or bean bag at it or by using their feet to knock it over working on single leg balance!

  127. I like using blocks to work on matching colors and size but most of all it can be a great end of session incentive for free building. I enjoy interacting with children’s imaginations and being a part of their play. This gives them the chance to be the ‘teacher’ has well.

  128. I love to make patterns and shapes then have my son copy them or he can make the pattern and I can copy him. They are so useful and of course he loves to stack them and knock them down!

  129. These blocks are so cute! I love to encourage creative play with blocks as well as encouraging kiddos to collaborate with other kids to build something. So many good social skills and opportunities to learn sharing and teamwork.

  131. I love to use blocks with my toddler for challenging his balance by reaching for them outside his base of support and for crossing midline. For my older students, I incorporate sequencing/following a pattern quite often!

  132. I love incorporating gross motor activities while building blocks: crawling through the tunnel + building a tower, scooter board + tower, sitting on a therapy ball + building preferred figures. I also like to incorporate visual perceptual skills, such as copying a design.

  133. I love to make a tower and have my student copy it! They then love to make a tower and try to challenge me and point out any mistakes I made!

  137. Blocks and animals go hand in hand in my classroom- making a zoo, building perches for animals. Very rarely is one played with without the other.

  138. I love using blocks for some many different goals!
    They are great for copying patterns and shapes, using imagination to build different shapes and structures, developing grasping skills and sorting blocks into different groups!

  139. Blocks are so amazingly versatile. I love challenging students to stackargest to smallest then smallest to largest and have discussions about why one falls and the other doesn’t .

  140. I love watching children using their imaginations and seeing what they create building with blocks and then why you ask about their creations the mind just explores with the wonders that they have created.

  141. My infant son, who has just started creeping, while enjoying some tummy time plays “babyzilla” block games with my husband and me. We count the blocks as we stack them for him in a tall or short tower and thick or thin tower and position them in various positions/distances around him and he loves knocking them over!

  145. Following Lovett, thanks for the resource. I love block play, there is so much you can do and they are simple and it is like going back to the basics of play:)

  148. I love going back to the basics. There are so many ways to play with blocks working on every area of development. Thank you for the new resource I am following Loverly!

  149. Building blocks are a fun way to encourage the development of grasp and release for children! I also like using a diagram to match the blocks with!:)

  154. What CAN’T you do with blocks? I love using blocks for making patterns, copying designs, sorting colors and shapes, building towers just to have fun knocking them down, using them to encourage kids to cross midline and so much more. They are a must!

  155. I use blocks for both visual perceptual and fine motor skills. I like building, copying from a model, and sorting.

  156. Blocks blocks blocks! What can’t you use these for? I use blocks for building towers, social skills, design replication, making patterns, bilateral coordination, and so much more! My students love using blocks during therapy sessions.

  158. We have been enjoying building structures with blocks and then using a toy (currently a Santa from Target dollar bins) that you squeeze and it pops a ball out to knock the blocks down.

  160. I like working on stacking blocks and building different structures! Knocking them down is favourite for the kids too

  161. My daughter didn’t seem to enjoy playing with blocks. During play time I would show her how to stack and build them but all she does is pull them apart and toss them aside. Perhaps using a set like this would make a difference.

  162. Blocks are so great for creativity, hand eye coordination and learning to grade force. It’s fun and can be a great social activity!!

  165. My kiddo still loves knocking down and re-stacking blocks at this point, but I’m sure she will love using this set for a variety of other activities suggested here!

  166. I love block play! So many things you can do for any age and so easy to create a just right challenge. I use them for design copy, following directions, spatial awareness, stacking with chopsticks, etc, etc!!

  167. I love using blocks for cooperative play where the kids can build structures together and you can work on so many skills with that. I followed the Lovevery with my account xsabbyx.

  168. Pingback: Therapy Tools Giveaway - The OT Toolbox

  169. I use blocks during evaluations for my littles to assess fine motor, visual-motor, and visual-perceptual skills by having them make the same designs as I do.

  173. building with blocks is always great because it hits so many areas at one time.
    You also never know when you will see wonderful problem solving. I had a 3 year old student be frustrated that she couldn’t stack her blocks as high as other students so she stacked her blocks against the wall…great way to solve a problem.

  174. I use blocks for fine motor skills and self-regulation, such as jenga (even a mini set I found at the dollar store), building a tower, copying patterns/designs, or lacing them on a string if they have a hole in the middle for b/l coordination.

  175. I love using blocks with my own children at home to promote learning. We played with blocks all the time when I was young so I love that I can still share this type of toy with my kids.

  178. I like to use the block in pretend play to build something they’re not, such as a train to push around to include even more motor planning and organization to keep the blocks together and moving at the same time.

  179. I love building blocks to promote motor planning, visual perceptual skills and most importantly creativity. Just imagine and build anything kids love and simply have fun!

  180. Building blocks are so valueble for fine motor. It also developes thinking strategies and the kids enjoy building towers and letting them collaps again.

  181. What are blocks NOT good for!? I love them for grasp, color ID, midline crossing, imaginative play etc etc etc

  182. We love using picture cards with different colour or shape patterns and then copying these with blocks to make 3D versions of the card image!
    There is just so much you can do with a good set of blocks.

  185. I love using blocks as a working memory and sequencing activities. It works as a fanatic grading tool to match and challenge the child, promoting extended attention, focus and visual scanning.

  186. Blocks not only help with fine motor, visual perceptual and visual motor skills. It allows children to be more creative and imaginative.

  187. I use blocks both at home and in the classroom. The children do mostly guided freeplay with them, building structures, knocking them down or doing more complex building and practicing their engineering skills. We discuss how to make strong bases or foundations so structures don’t fall down but are sturdy. Of course it all depends on the development of the child/ren too!
    I am following loveevery on insta!

  189. I love using blocks in therapy sessions because they are so versatile and can often address so many different goal areas: visual perceptual and fine motor skills and shoulder strength and stability as a bonus if they student is in prone!

  190. My smallest person would love these blocks! We are learning about stacking towers and shape sorting so this would be a great addition to our day school tool box. I’ll be following love lovevery on insta too 🙂

  191. I love using blocks for the simplicity and basics of play skill development! I like using them to assess and then address fine motor skill control and motor planning.

  193. Kids need to use their creativity and problem-solving skills to enrich their minds with real hands-on activities, like these blocks, instead of being glued to phones or tablets all day!

  196. I use blocks for almost anything from visual perceptual skills to fine motor such as stacking, and gross motor – mazes to move through towers can be bumped over with balls/marbles or paper bats. Blocks are versitile, just like balls.

  197. I love to use blocks for visual perceptual, grasping, reaching while weight bearing, creating shapes and creating letters. Most recently my favorite thing to do with blocks is to use tongs to stack and manipulate the blocks to increase coordination, grasping, fine motor control and hand strengthening. The kiddos love to use blocks and love the challenge of stacking and carrying blocks with tongs!

  198. When my younger students are having a rough day, I pull out some building blocks and let them just play. No instructions or telling them what they have to make, just letting their creative minds flow while they relax in the OT room. It’s pretty cool to see what they build and it opens up communication on why they might be having a rough day.

  202. Blocks are so universal to all. So many skills can be developed by using this most basic toy. My favorite way to use them is scattered around the room, scooter board to a block, pick it up, maintain balance while scooter boarding back to work area, follow a pattern to create design.

  203. I am often criticized for how large of an area I reserve in my classroom for blocks and building. I appreciate when folks say something aloud as it helps me identify who to better inform about all the benefits of block and building play!!!

  206. In my clinic we use blocks almost daily! We love to build tall towers, string them, make patterns and even make large castles. Blocks are a great way to stimulate the child’s imagination and fine motor skills. When building a big structure we then turn around and complete gross motor activity via crashing through the blocks!

  207. Blocks are great for many skills. My kids love knocking them down after stacking. Great for encouraging imagination. Also very organizing to help calm a student.

  209. I have my daughter copy the structure I make to help with visual skills. They are also good for good, old fashioned play!

  210. Hello,
    We like to sort the blocks by color, shape or size. Also we love to use stacking cups and blocks together including hiding the blocks under the cups. Furthermore apply velcro and the blocks will stick to increase FMC strength

  212. I like using blocks in relays. You have blocks on one side and the finished project on the other side of the room. It incorporates gross motor input. I also sometimes have kids do animal walks or follow 2-3 step directions with the blocks.

  213. I like to take turns building a tower and knocking it over with the kids. I build and they knock it over then they build and I knock it over. I like to incorporate different ways to knock down the blocks such as with 1 or 2 hands, a foot, or a toy! So many ways blocks can be incorporated into treatment

  214. stacking blocks to see how tall you can go without having them fall is a great way to improve skills, Making a pattern is another favorite activity for students. I like to use them to sort colors, shapes, and numbers.9666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666

  215. I like using blocks to facilitate creativity and socialization while building fine motor/perceptual skills, as well as motor planning and sensorimotor skills. I like using them to build obstacles we maneuver through and around, building structures we target in throwing games, and building an object that we have to guess what it is.

  217. We love to let little minds create, but using tongs with blocks to stack and sort great for the creative mindset and the fine motor skills development!!

  219. I love to use blocks to teach pattern copying! It is a crucial skill that I feel is looked over, all too often.

  222. I love using blocks to have kids build their name, identify colors, name pictures, and overall build their visual spatial relations skills!

  225. I love placing the blocks into ‘feebly’ bags and getting my clients to guess the shape of the block in their hand. Once we have identified and all the blocks are out we then get creative and do creative play and involve story telling. So many options with blocks!

  226. I use blocks to work on their fine and gross motor skills, as well as pre writing skills, building towers and the best part – nocking them down and incorporating colour and pattern recognition! They are a great tool that can be used for so many things!

  227. I love using blocks with therapy. It is a great way for child directed play and to teach imaginary play skills.

  228. I would love to win any of the items in this event. In my community there is never any funding available to purchase materials or equipment so as a therapist faced with this issue I must be ready at all times to develop/create and construct tools and objects for therapy use with everyday materials that are available or that I can afford to purchase. I use Velcro for many of my projects in constructing vests, hand fidgets, stabilizers, picture boards for communication etc. The ideas are endless. It would be wonderful to have ready made materials and not have to take materials home to construct as the time with the children is so valuable. I have made many weighted blankets and lap pads with home blankets stitching sand into pocket on a separate blanket then attaching to blanket or lap pad, in this manner the weighted on can be removed so main blanket can be washed. Thank you for your consideration. Happy Holidays.

  229. I use blocks in conjunction with gross motor tasks. I have students hold them to go through an obstacle course then build or copy a design at the end.

  231. I love using blocks for basic pattern replication to work on visual memory skills with some of my younger students.

  234. I like to enhance visual perceptual motor skills using blocks to follow patterns or duplicate sculptures.

  235. We use blocks for sorting, stacking, building, etc. But the one thing my kiddos loves most about bocks is knocking them down ? So therefore we work on patience a lot haha

  236. I love using blocks to work on tracing and copying different shapes and designs, followed by trying to draw the same shape/design on a whiteboard. It’s also great for visual memory, to use as a colored pattern to follow.

  237. I love doing first-then with blocks. First imitating my design, then letting the child build a design for me to copy!

  238. I have used blocks to make patterns. Also used them with a toddler to work on strengthen. We put them on the floor and she squated down to pick them up.

  241. I like to have kids build and use play to explore and work on self talk that comes out through building activities. It allows you see their self talk and opportunities to reflect back and model self talk

  242. Blocks are a great way to build a rapport with a child. The majority of children have had some exposure to blocks. It allows individual creatvitiy, but allows us as therapists to then guide activity thru imitation, design copy, eye hand coordination etc. Blocks touch all areas!

  244. My sensory child in class builds houses, castles and shapes. When an animal or vehicle is provided they will build roads, mountains, the park, even an airplane because these are places and items that mean something to them.

  245. I love blocks for the huge variety of visual perceptual and visual motor activities one can do! Design copy, precision with grasping and stacking, visual closure with designs or letters, and so much more!!

  246. I love having students copy a design and recreate it with their blocks or having them plan out what they want to create, draw it, and build it!

  247. With the population I work with I use blocks a lot for CIMT. Having the child grasp and release, sorting, motor control and even pretend play!

  249. I love letting kids just explore with blocks, without directives from me. Seeing what they can create on their own is amazing! Then asking them what it is they’ve created is great.

  251. I love blocks! I use rubber or foam blocks for littles, and various sized wooden blocks for older kiddos. I use blocks for stacking and free play building, but I love using them for color labeling and matching, counting, and crashing into with cars, planes, boats, and other modes of transportation!

  256. Blocks are essential to developing the ability for creative play. Sometimes the best block play is building them up just so we can knock them down. A two year old’s favorite activity!

  257. To practice sequencing letters of a name or spelling words I will write letters on the blocks and kids can stack vertically or horizontally.

  260. I love having my kiddos copy block designs. Having fun contests to see who can build the tallest tower is great too!

  261. Each week or two I like to switch out manipulatives in my “go” bag; with items, such as these blocks I can adjust the task to each student and still address their individual goals. AND my bag is not cluttered with too many items.

  262. There are many reasons I love using blocks, but lately I have been using them to improve visual perceptual skills, developing fine motor skills (pincer grasp), and crossing midline. What I love most is I get to see how creative my students can get with building various towers and shapes!

  263. I love to add in some unexpected item to the block center to entice deeper level of play, dinosaurs, silk scarves, buckets!

  264. I enjoy the social aspect of using blocks. As my students build together they pretend and use language. I teach in a Title 1, predominantly ELL and free lunch school. At the beginning of the year there’s not much language going on and working together with blocks promotes language.

  265. I use blocks to motivate my students to do specific activities: propel self on scooter board to get one, In TV sit, pick them up w/ their feet (no shoes), and work on balance by putting one on top of their foot and kick it off or build a tower and kick it over.

  266. I love using blocks for building causes it uses my kids imagination. They stack so they wont fall. Make furniture or houses for dolls. Add and subtract blocks. Also make patterns. My girls love them.

  267. My favourite thing about blocks is that they allow the builder to be as creative as they want. There are no rules, limits or expectations. I love that.

  268. I like to use blocks in obstacle courses to hide items underneath, like a matching game, or as a part of the course like carrying one through to build with. I love how it can be adapted for all ages too.

  270. I love using blocks to assist with fine motor precision, dexterity, strengthening, and they are great for promoting balance, proprioceptive awareness, and visuomotor skills! It is fun to create structures from a visual cue card while laying in prone, and then have the children knock them down for cause and effect and proprioceptive input. Also a new insta follower of lovevery! (I am @linzy_let_it_be) thanks for these opportunities!

  271. I love using blocks in my classroom. There are so many ways to use them. The best thing is the creativity it brings out in the kids.

  272. One of my favorite ways to use blocks, is having each child take turns stacking blocks on top.of each other. They also have to telll me what color, shape, letter or animal is on the block before they place it. It teaches turn taking and its a fun simple game

  273. I don’t use blocks much because I never realized all the awesome ways to use them! After reading this and the comments I’m excited to try some of these activities!

  277. I love using blocks to work on different grasping skills to prepare for handwriting and holding tripod grasp. Letting kids explore their creative minds is the best when they build their own structures.

  279. I love to use blocks to work on design copy skills, and have my students build bridges and steps. Hope to win!!!

  280. I love using blocks during imaginative play for building, focusing on copying skills, eye hand coordination, color recognition, sorting, grasp, reaching…. you name a skill and I can find a way to use a block!

  282. I like incorporating a mix of pattern matching and creative building skills when using blocks, and love utilizing blocks of all different sizes and shapes

  283. I love using blocks for visual perceptual, VMI, & communication skills! I will take turns with the child describing how I want a structure to be built using words only (of course you can grade this!) to get them using their words & familiarizing them with directional terms. The game “Instructures” introduced me to this idea!

  284. I love how versatile blocks are! Two of my favorites are writing letters on them to work on letter recognition and spelling, and building towers and throwing balls to knock them down…because what kid doesn’t love to destroy towers!

  286. Love to build with blocks for social skill building and learning its OK when things do go as planed (like tipping over towers.)

  287. Block tower Bowling! Building a block tower based on a picture (to work on visual perceptual skills). Then bowl with a ball, bumble ball, weighted ball, large toy car, or scooter board.

  288. Love using blocks to copy patterns! We use small 1 inch block, parquetry blocks, and legos!! We build trains, towers, and pyramids! We also use letter blocks and number blocks.! Add in a scooter board and pick up the blocks along the path.

  289. I love using blocks for stacking, color match (patterns) working appropriate play skills (social skills). All of my kiddos love to build tall towers and knock them over, which we do with hand or by throwing balls at block towers.

  290. I love using blocks for all ages! Stacking and patterning for younger ages and add letters to spell words or use as dice for older ages!

  291. I’m a special needs teacher. Blocks are the most versatile toys! I love using it in class as group activities to encourage peer interaction and work on social skills. Doing shape building and shape recognition. Color matching and color identification, building numbers and letter out of the block is a great way to work on pre-writing skills. My children also love using the block for number quantities counting and matching numbers to amount of block. It’s always a great class activity to build things out of the blocks and encouraging imagination.

    Blocks are amazing for all my kids and a vital part in my classroom!

  292. We’re using our block for retelling purposes. We stack a block for each story retelling element we can answer until we’re done or it tips over. <3

  294. I love using blocks by giving the child kitchen tongs and having them pick them up for FM strength/coordination as well as having them spell their name with them!

  296. I remember my first job as an MSW was doing Early Intervention and I learned so much about the value of manipulatives like blocks for assessing and developing all kinds of basic skills- fine motor, gross motor, cause and effect, consequential thinking, intellectual development (color recognition, counting, sorting). I would love to have a set like this to use in my office as I now work as a psychiatric nurse practitioner/LCSW with individuals of all ages with developmental disabilities.

  297. I like to use blocks to promote problem solving skills, whether that’s by copying patterns, building towers, or fitting through holes

  298. We do a lot of patterns and matching with blocks. Stacking and crashing is another hit. Tracing different designs is another creative way to use them too.

  299. My preschool students are all non-verbal and have autism . My room is pretty quiet throughout the day which is a little sad sometimes. When we play with the blacks though my students love to stack them and make a tower as high as they can then inevitably when the tower falls every one of my students laughs hysterically and gets so excited jumping up and down it’s really heartwarming to see!

  300. I haven’t been using blocks for a while. Then I assessed a TK student and pulled them out. I had him copy my simple and more complex block patterns of pyramid, train, and triangle. Great fun!

  301. Followed on Instagram! I am currently an OTA student but I love using blocks for a transition period with the children before a session. Works on fine motor strength, bilateral coordination, and can add in elements of counting or letter recognition for a whole student learning approach.

  304. I love using blocks to transition from concrete/cause-effect play to creative and imaginative play! Blocks are one of my favorite therapy tools because they can be so easily graded to meet each child where they are at!

  306. Love to you blocks and anything else while doing gross motor activities. It’s a great way to sneak in exercise without the kiddos realizing it.

  310. Tower building with blocks is a good way to increase self-competence and confidence in young children. I remember how proud my son used to look after he built a particularly tall tower (and then of course, knocked it down).

  312. As many others have said, building blocks and knocking them over is always fun. I like to use blocks as manipulatives for math when working on number formation.

  317. I love to use blocks as as fine motor practice and precision tool to build borders around things and build towers to be knocked down. They can be used for practicing counting too. And for playing making dominos like trails that fall over which my daughter lives the best.

  318. I love using blocks with students and my own kids. I get to see how they grasp, sort, and use their imaginations to create their own work and /or copy designs.

  320. I use blocks for so may activities already mentioned , but the one my kids in my classroom by far is an auditory memory race. Set the blocks up across the room call out 2-5 they have to run grab and return. You can do color , shape or both attributes. We also skip , jump , crab crawl or blow a cotton ball etc across to the blocks. Variations also include building towers in certain orders across the room. All super fun! These blocks would rock this activity!

  321. building, making sounds, pretend towns, forests, castles, bridges, sensory toys. My kids love holding a block for the way it feels, giving them an awareness of the now.

  322. I like putting letters on the blocks and letting them build words. Having them spell out the item they are making.

  323. I include blocks into multi step Sensory motor obstacle courses by having a child copy a block design, go through the obstacle, and then come back and copy another block design. It helps keep their attention on this visual motor activity and helps include other skills too!

  326. I love to also use blocks for the older children to copy a structure built and yhe also copy in with paper shapes so 3D to 2D

  327. making new magic places with stories. Blocks create a visual map of a city or forest and stories are told about the place created.

  331. My kid just loves blocks. He would create all these different buildings with them. He also loves to create chain reactions with them and he would to them household items to create the most complex structures that he could think of.

  333. I use blocks to work on fine motor development, grasp patterns, and visual perceptual skills. So many things you can do with blocks!

  334. I love to stack blocks and have my 13 month old try to take them down one by one. He’s into knocking them down these days. 🙂

  336. I stack high to the sky but encourage structural strength. The wind comes in unexpectedly with a fan and the last one standing is the winner of this skyscraping competition!

  340. I loved incorporating block into pretend play. It’s a great way to work on fine motor, motor ideation, and play skills!

  341. I love using blocks to work on so many skills such as visual motor control, executive functioning and impulse control, sequencing and short-term visual memory and so much more!

  342. Using blocks fod gross motor activities such as climbing through obstacle courses to retrieve blocks to build with, or if you are okay getting your blocks a little messy, using them with messy play/ painting activities is also one of the many versatile ways to use them.

  343. Pretend play is my favorite. The opportunity to process feelings and the therapeutic motor activity are a terrific combination.

  348. I love using blocks to build executive functioning skills! We might be focusing on planning and organizing to build a model, on impulse control when waiting our turn. Blocks are also fantastic for social skills groups!

  350. I love to
    Just follow my students lead when playing with the blocks. They are always more creative than my old brain! ; )

  352. I love that there are so many different types of blocks. Magnetic blocks, bristle blocks, snap blocks,regular wood building blocks. Each can provide a different fine motor challenge and the different options can allow those with fine motor, strength, or vision challenges to be able to build.

  353. I love to use blocks to work on different types of grasp as well as some bimanual tasks (depending on the type of block).

  354. I love using blocks for stacking and replication! Great for working on fine motor and visual-perceptual skills!

  355. I love using blocks for calming and for building on pretend play skills! Creating different towers, worlds, vehicles, etc

  356. My son is at the perfect age where he is building blocks, stacking them and knocking them down. He also loves to throw and catch and just be creative in so many ways with blocks!!
    Also, I followed Them on Instagram!!
    Thank you!!

  361. Love blocks for for fine motor control, spatial reasoning, pincer grip, problem solving, patterning, following directions, imaginative play, etc. etc! And just love to see the creations and hear the stories about what they’ve made!

  363. I love using this tool as it is a great way for kids (and adults) to work their fine motor skills, memory, pattern, and hand-eye coordination!

  368. Blocks and shape sorters are the best! So much creativity and learning comes from building with blocks! I love to watch them create and then hear how they describe what they made.

  371. I love to use blocks to work on visual perceptual. Visual memory can be addressed by building a block design, covering it up and having the student replicate it.

  372. I use blocks for copying patterns during my therapy sessions and love them for free play and building as well!

  374. I love blocks for following directions and patterns. Of course, blocks take imaginative play to the next level!

  376. Blocks are the best. We use them for hands on, eye hand coordination plus talking calmly to process feelings.

  378. My favorite way to play with blocks is to provide a visual model for the child, whether it be following a picture card or a model I’ve built, and challenging them to make theirs look the same as mine! The challenge is usually intrinsically motivating, and I get to see pinch/grasp, sequencing, motor planning, and perceptual skills all into one simple activity! I love that blocks are so versatile; you can stack, build/create, do patterns, and use in many other ways!

  381. We also can take turns building a tower or making patterns, introduce spatial orientation (left, right, under, above) . I would like to use them as well with following directions like “take 1 blue block or give me two yellow blocks) and what about picking them up when playing time is done?

  383. We love using blocks to build letters, numbers and shapes – then we trace along them with our finger and write them somewhere fun like the whiteboard, magna-doodle or boogie board. It’s also fun to build the tallest tower you can with your alligator fingers or doing copy the pattern cards.

  385. I love using blocks to build visual motor skills, hand eye coordination. You can also used blocks to start learning patterns, cause effect and building abstract shapes.

  389. I love using blocks for not only fine motor skills, but also cause and effect! Stacking, putting in, taking out, etc! And then for younger or lower functioning kiddos, they can be used to sort and match!

  390. It’s simple, but you can’t go wrong with seeing how tall we can build a tower! It’s always a fun challenge!

  391. I love to use blocks when having kids copy patterns. I also love to have them build something and work on memory recall to have them build something after I take it away.

  392. I like to use blocks with a scooter board. Propel the scooter with your arms over to a pile of blocks, pick up a block, scooter back to the other side using arms and legs, use block to copy or build a design…repeat until all the blocks are gone. Working so many areas and having fun!

  396. We loveeeee Lovevery! We have their infant play mat that turns into the tent and my daughter loves it. When we play blocks now, her favorite thing is stacking and knocking them over. My favorite as an OT is to make designs and patterns for my kiddos to copy and vice versa. These colorful blocks would be perfect for that!

  402. We are big fans of building the tallest tower possible and knocking it down. My 2 year old also loves matching shapes and colors.

  403. I love to stack blocks with kids. They love to see if they can build a tower taller than me and then being able to knock it down. Matching is also a fun and challenging activity with my kiddos.

  407. Oh, how can I pick just one! I love that blocks are so versatile to use with children that have different developmental levels! In my class we use them for sorting, counters, patterning, developing & enhancing find motor skills, cause and effect (Such as how high can we stack them, what happens if you knock them over in different ways, …), and I’m pretend play (building forts, castles, bridges, houses, businesses, barns & fences, … ), and so many other things!

  408. I like to take turns with my students making a pattern with the blocks and the other has to make the same pattern. They love being able to try to stump me! We then compare both sets to make sure that they are the same. Great for visual skills this way, too.

  409. I love to draw shapes for the kids to fill in with blocks. I also like to block puzzles trace the block for kids to match.

  411. I love having my little ones build a tower, then work on impulse control by saying “ready, set…go!” before knocking them down.

  412. I love that blocks and their uses grow with the child, be in banging them together to following complex visual perceptual patterns.

  413. I love playing visual motor copy games with blocks, getting the kids to copy my structure and then taking turns copying theirs!

  415. I have my students focus on building their name, shapes, focusing on a pattern or giving them free choice to explore and enhance their imagination!!

  416. SO many great things to do with blocks, where do I even start! FMS, visual -motor integration, stacking, sorting, counting…. the list just goes on and on! Love them!

  419. I love using blocks to work on visual and fine motor skills by imitating desgins or stacking blocks as high as you can go.

  423. I work with mostly preschoolers so we stack blocks and knock them down a lot. I am often looking for joint attention and imitation skills for them to copy block designs. I use blocks a lot for students to lace and I use many different size blocks for activity.

  424. I love having kids copy block designs! It can be just building a tower and knocking it down with my younger kids to work on grasp and work up to making cool designs. Many of my kids love to make trains out of them!

  426. I love using blocks to work on design copying, cause & effect, working on pincer grasp, using large foam blocks to incorporate bilateral integration & gross motor, counting, pick up with tongs, etc.

  430. I love using blocks to work on design copy and imaginative play from building a rocket ship to a castle. Its also a lot of fun to crash into a tower of big blocks with a scooter or knock over small blocks with a ball popper to get in some extra proprioceptive input and eye hand coordination.

  432. While I love to let their imagination run wild with block building. I also frequently use blocks to challenge my students’ visual perceptual skills by copying patterns and shapes. It can also be a great way to address working memory by making and then hiding a pattern for them to copy.

  433. I like using blocks to practice grasping, visual perception to follow designs, and creativity to build their own designs for me to copy.

  437. I often use small blocks for stacking and/or sorting by color. I use large blocks (cardboard) for sliding and crashing into towers.

  438. Blocks task can be modified for a variety of grade school ages and are fun, plus can work on visual-perceptual and other cognitive areas, making these simple but so important in my “toolbox”

  439. I like to combine blocks with other creative play objects such as animals, small figures or even crayons and paper and see what creative play develops.

  440. I love using blocks to encourage a pincer grasp! And also to have kids recreate a design or print out. Followed lovevery on instagram!

  441. My favorite activity has been to build a large block model based on a pattern, and then to have the kid knock it down while he/she is in the cocoon swing. We call this the wrecking ball! I also followed them on instagram!

  442. Blocks are great for building and destroying, for using as manipulatives for grouping numbers or counting 1:1, for early measuring, for fine motor activities, for gross motor activities, etc.. .

  443. I love using them for so many things – working with peers, copying designs the therapist made, and students love to make their design and have their friend try to make it too!

  444. Love blocks for kiddos to use their imagination, work on grasp, muscle modulation, eye/hand coordination, visual spatial skills……they target so many areas!!

  445. I love using blocks for all ages. Blocks require the use of their hands and their minds to build, working on fine motor and cognitive abilities.

  446. We have been integrating blocks into our math program at home to help with our son’s visual perception issues.

  447. I love using blocks for color identification, color matching, fine motor skills, visual perceptual skills

  448. I like to use blocks for visual motor skills. I take turns with students seeing if we can “trick” each other to make a different shape or letter.

  449. I use blocks with my kiddos to work on bilateral coordination, and concepts such as on/off, put in/take out, taking turns and grasping objects.

  450. Blocks! We love blocks in my house and in my OT practice. Blocks for stacking and creating homes for other little toys, blocks for making our names in block letters and more.

  452. I like to use blocks for stacking and building different structures with children. They also love knocking them down. It is a great release.

  453. We use blocks to stack, imitate designs, match colors, learn concepts like on, behind, in front of, etc., they are often used in our obstacle course as part of the course and at times to be carried and passed off to the next student, we use them to balance on our head to work on core strength too.

  455. I like having students copy block designs from a picture or after demonstration. I often have them do it while prone for the core strength and sensory input.

  456. I love to take a photo and have the kids copy the design with the blocks. It works on so many different things and it’s super fun!

  458. Like others have said, I really like to put them in prone while playing with them! It works on soooo many things and in a society that looks down the majority of our day its good for the neck muscles.

  460. My students love to build a variety of block towers of different heights and than use an “angry bird” Sling shot to knock them down! Works so many skills and students love it!

  461. I like to have them use blocks to build tall and sometimes elaborate structures. I like the idea of “angry birding” them, I bet kids would love that!

  462. Yes! These woukd be great for my daughter. She has autism and needs blocks like these to help steady her hands.

  463. I like to use blocks for tracing incorporating bilateral skills. Also design replication for visual perception.

  465. To build fine motor skills (stacking, building), making patterns and including a literacy component with alphabet/number blocks.

  467. I use blocks to build cooperative play skills with their peers and problems solving skills with spatial awareness.

  468. Love the colours and eco-friendly durable look of these blocks (wood vs. plastic). Great for so many types of activities!

  469. Blocks are so great for many skills – fine motor grasp, eye-hand coordination, visual perception, modulation of force, problem solving – to name a few. I love having my kids copy a pattern or building structure.

  472. Blocks have been a great ‘ice-breaker’ for working with new children. They are drawn to the endless possibilities, but mostly all the different ways to knock them down. Often I will incorporate play dough, cars or toy animals into our block creations.

  476. I love stacking and sorting the blocks…but one thing I do use them for is to teach my students to respond to a sound by placing a block into a container. This will help them when they visit the audiologist.

  477. I use blocks to trace around, sorting for shape, size, and color; replicating designs, free play, stacking , bilateral coordination pushing together/pulling apart, for making a path to navigate to or through and oh so much more!

  480. So many uses for blocks. My favorites are to sort, stack, identify colors, copy patterns, just like others have said. But I also like to use tongs with them to stack with instead of their fingers, pick up with tongs to put away in the bag, and while using smaller blocks have then try to rotate 2 different colored blocks in their 1 hand without using the other hand and not having the blocks “jump” over each other but stay side by side.

  481. I use blocks for students to learn how to play with one another. They have to figure out how to plan a structure or combine efforts to build something they both like. When i pull them to my room I embed about five to ten minutes for play so that they can work on these social skills.

    Lori Cleveland

  483. I like to encourage my kids to use blocks to build houses for people/animals, roads for cars, towers to climb…it gains their interest and makes play purposeful.

  484. As a school-based OT, blocks are my favorite, non-invasive way to build rapport with a student during initial meetings 🙂 Kids warm so much easier when invited to build and create with a wonderful and familiar toy such as blocks! It is a fun ice-breaker and a good introduction into ideation and motor planning when getting acquainted with a new child.

  488. My son loves to use blocks to make ABC’s. He will spend lots of time designing and executing letters to show us. I also love the idea of using a therapy ball to help improve core muscles and midline skills. I’ll have to incorporate that into our play.

  490. My favorite block activity is taping thematic pictures to the blocks as well as pictures of the kids. This encourages and enhances so much language while playing blocks. I also like to use blocks paired with photographs of famous structures and then pull ou tseveral types of blocks onto our big carpet. We mix and match to try to recreate the famous structure using our blocks.

  493. Blocks are so universal. I can use them for visual perception skills for all ages. They are great for my younger students or student with lower cognitive skills for building and developing creativity as well as fine motor skills.

  494. They are great for patters, stacking, knocking over, little ones can be buried in playdough and pulled back out with tiny fingers. Following the child’s lead and building rapport. A great foundational toy

  495. I like to use blocks to stack, have them copy simple designs, make patterns, color recognition. My kids love blocks.

  498. We love building towers, cities, bridges, try to blow it down, etc., but we also like to put it in seasand. Then we feel and guess the shape. Blocks and coloured blocks can the creavltive juices run!

  499. Play-doh and making imaginary food is always a big hit. It can work on so many skills (bilateral coordination , finger isolation, hand strength, etc!).

  501. Wow! I learned a lot scrolling through these comments and going to have to bookmark to go through again when I have way more time! Building, patterning, sorting using imagination — love making villages or animal pens with my kiddos. Thanks!

  502. Scooterboard derby: the little ones set up block towers around the space and then drive their scootrboard around demolition derby style! great sequencing, motor skills and visual perception all in one

  503. Blocks are so versatile! One of my favorite things to do with them is build towers and then have the child lay prone on a platform swing and throw bean bags to try to knock down the block tower.

  505. My own kids are loving blocks lately! It’s awesome to watch my 3-year-old come up with different patterns and designs to make towers and houses. My 18-month-old is learning to stack small blocks and working on his fine motor precision. I like letting them lead the way with what they want to do with them.

  507. I love sorting blocks by colors and counting to stack them then having the child knock over the tower and take turns doing so.

  508. I am starting my OTD capstone next month at a developmental preschool. I would love to implement block stacking and sorting activities into my fine motor groups!

  509. I followed on instagram as keepcalmandcarrieon_
    I look forward to getting ideas for developmentally appropriate play!

  510. Love stacking blocks, having them imitate shapes, identify colors. It’s so versatile and so handy during treatment. I’m so glad I followed @lovevery! They have lots of nice tips.

  512. Where do I start?!?!?! so many great activities to do with blocks: sorting, stacking, problem solving, motor planning, imitation…. So many great skills can be taught using blocks! I need more!!!

Comments are closed.

what type of skill is building towers of blocks or stacking blocks?

More Posts Like This

Quick Links
Explore
My Account
Sign Up for the OT Toolbox Newsletter

Get the latest tools and resources sent right to your inbox!

Get Connected
Facebook Instagram Pinterest Twitter