Playtime with Blocks

Yesterday, while Buddy was at school, Sweetpea and I had fun playing with Buddy's Mega Bloks.  (Yes, it really is bloks, I did not make a typo.)  These are blocks designed like Legos to stack and build but are much larger for toddlers.  Buddy has always loved playing with blocks and Sweetpea has recently discovered these in his room.  I brought them into the living room and she and I had fun playing together.

After some free play time, I decided to turn the blocks into a learning opportunity.   Because each block is brightly colored, Sweetpea is fascinated with them.  As she would choose a block from the bin, I would name the color.  Sometimes she would hand the block to me and I would sort them according to colors.

The purple blocks quickly became her favorite to pull out and she would dig around in the bin to purposefully find a purple block.  By the time we had to go pick up Buddy from school, she was recognizing purple, red, and yellow on a consistent basis. 

Children learn best through play time and this was an easy way to add color recognition to our play with Mega bloks.  I did not push her if she acted uninterested but kept a running commentary of what she was doing.  This block playtime also became a lesson on "cleaning up" as Sweetpea helped to place the blocks back in the bin when we were finished.