DAP-Age Appropriate Practices and Block Play

 Last week we touched on Developmentally Appropriate Practice and the different components that are involved. For the next few weeks, we will take a journey around a typical early childhood classroom.

Let's look at each learning center and discuss how they can be developmentally appropriate and how they relate to block play with young children.

Remember that we defined age appropriate as the difference between a child's chronological age and their developmental age. Say a child is 18 months old but is only developed to a mental age of a one year old. The way that you approach any activity with that child would be at the one year old level versus what you feel that child should be doing compared to a typically developing 18 month old.
So you may be asking yourself "What does this have to do with block play?"

Well, children approach a particular play toy such as blocks with a different view based on how they are developing and learning from peers, adults, and caregivers. For example a six month old will most likely mouth the block with no interest in stacking or building with it. They may also focus on only one block at a time due to their limited attention span.

Now looking at the typical development of an 18 month old who can most likely stack the blocks with no building ideas in mind. They will find enjoyment in the blocks tumbling over and then again re-stacking them. They also have a longer attention span so can sustain play with blocks for a longer period time.

It is not until a child is around 2 1/2 to 3 years of age that they will start to use the blocks to build with purpose. They may only make simple structures to use with cars however be sure to include other things with blocks to encourage further play.

To ensure that you are aware of developmentally appropriate stages you can refer to the following website:   National Association for the Education of Young Children and their policies on Developmentally Appropriate Practices. Additionally, you can refer to the milestone chart from the Center for Disease Control.