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Do you know that there is more than one way to pretend play? Sometimes we see dress up, sometimes it occurs while playing with cars, but my new favorite way to get my boys to use their imagination is our block center!
Blocks allow children to build fences for their animals, houses for their friends, spaceships for their astronauts etc, the possibilities are endless with blocks. We have just recently added these to our homeschool routine and it has made a huge difference. A month ago, my three year old did not even know how to stack blocks, and now he is grabbing little people to add to their homes. It still takes quiet a bit of coaching, but watching him reach for that little people toy today inspired me to write this blog post today! Endless opportunities with a toy that requires no batteries, no sounds that can sometimes be too distracting for my kiddos, just blocks!
After doing some reading about block centers in the preschool setting I learned that, like most things, it is important to give children options. It is recommended that you supply two different types of blocks in your block center. We have chosen the wooden blocks shown above and the foam blocks shown below! My oldest prefers the wooden and my youngest prefers the foam, so offering two choices worked out perfectly for our household!
If you click the pictures it will take you to a link for the blocks that we have in our preschool center. Different types of blocks allows them to explore how different things are created.
Included in every block center should be toys that can be used for play; large cars, animals and people are great pieces to add to your block center to help facilitate pretend play with your littles. These should be toys that the children can use to create around a building, for example a fire house for the fire truck. A zoo for the animals or a house for the people. I mean the ambulance could be used WITH the people to create a hospital, do you catch my drift? Every child has a chance at pretend play, you just have to provide them with the correct tools.
Below are the large animals that we use in our block center. These will be great assets to your block center. These animals are large and sturdy, perfect for toddler and preschool children.
Below are the little people that we use in our center, like shown in the first picture, we use these a lot to stack on top of or place in our buildings. After seeing it a few times, my three year old even participated! Click the photo to get your own set of little people.
Below is how we organize our block center. This shelving came from Walmart, but if you click on the picture, I have created a link to a block center similar to what we have on amazon. These bins are all from Dollar Tree. I find that our toy area stays more organized if we separate our toys by categories!
Pretend play is great for everyone, but especially those on the Spectrum because it helps improve communication skills and helps both prepare and reflect on skills that are used outside of the classroom. Finding the way that your child will enjoy imaginative play is a great step in the right direction! Maybe your block center could do just that for them!
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Supporting Autism Mamas 