Why play construction games?

It is well known that construction play offers children a multitude of educational benefits, particularly during the first years of life.The construction game is one of the most popular educational games. You find it in multitudes of forms such as wooden blocks, wooden puzzles and other construction toys.

WHY MAKE CONSTRUCTION GAMES?

Here are the benefits:

• Fine motor skills
• Hand-Eye Coordination
• Creativity
• Problem solving
• Cooperative play

(photo credit: @canva construction game)

FINE MOTOR SKILLS

When your baby or any child crawls, walks or stretches to grab different toys or blocks, he will learn to strengthen gross motor skills. The development of the small muscles of the hands and fingers helps refine fine motor skills or manual dexterity and therefore makes the body more complete and more developed. It is your mission as parents to provide your baby with learning toys at home to improve this skill.

This is an essential step in the child's development, it will later facilitate actions such as writing or simply easily grasping objects different sizes like wooden cubes or building blocks. This is what has made Lego popular for many years.

For example during a meal where baby will put his little spoon in his mouth to eat on his own like a grown-up or just grab his toys.

(photo credit: @canva baby wooden construction game)

HAND-EYE COORDINATION

Children use hand-eye coordination every time they build or construct something. When they start building things, stacking pieces, handling toys, the The child's eyes send visual information to the brain to tell it where the hand is placed and whether it is legible. Using this information, the brain generates instructions on how the hand should move to grasp a toy in the appropriate way.

This skill is essential for the good baby's development in carrying out daily tasks. It of course differs at different ages and at different stages of development. To find out more about this subject, I invite you to read a very good article from the magazine Being born and growing up on the subject of eye-hand coordination in children.

(photo credit: @canva children's construction game)

CREATIVITY

Everyone, at some point in their life, is led to think creatively, most often at unexpected moments. Helping a child think creatively from a young age helps their brain move beyond a unidirectional way of thinking. As we discussed above, this is where the child’s personal reflection comes into play. If children understand the importance of thinking differently when undertaking a task, they will always use this skill later in life.

This will allow your children to have a different outlook and see aspects of life from different angles. You should know that a creative child will always have greater self-confidence, will be more curious in all areas and will be more open-minded.

Allowing children to be creative is a necessity in education. This is why playing at home at any age is essential and will have a positive effect on the child's happiness.

(photo credit: @boutique l’Enfant Malin)

TROUBLESHOOTING

Thanks to his construction game, or other toy the child learns what works and what does not work. The principle of trial and error is an excellent method for creating structures and modifying methods. Overcoming problems to build structures in a particular way always promotes creative thinking and problem solving. One of the very interesting activities to support this aspect of development is the child puzzle, where the child will be put in a situation where he must find the solution to use the right parts in the right place.

(photo credit: @canva puzzle-type construction game)

COOPERATIVE GAME

It is nice to see children playing together. The construction game helps children learn to cooperate with each other others in order to accomplish tasks and develop their skills. It could be something as simple as doing without wooden blocks or any toy.

In doing so, children strengthen their social skills and become better team players. They naturally improve their sociability and slowly learn to share games whether with their brothers and sisters, friends at school or other children they come across.

These are also values ​​to be transmitted from a very young age to children. Let's not neglect this aspect of life that is so important to making our children better adults in the world in which we live.

(photo credit: @canva wooden construction game)

HOW OLD CONSTRUCTION GAMES?

From a very young age, there are suitable construction games in different materials. For younger children, silicone toys are often recommended because they like to put them in their mouth. silicone cubes in different colors can help them play and have fun in complete safety.

Around 3 to 4 years, the wood construction game is very popular and your child will already have fun building things straight out of his imagination which will promote his creativity. He will even integrate different objects that he finds around him into his creations. This is a time when the child's skills and abilities develop rapidly.

From 5 years, it is recommended to provide children with a construction game that is neither too easy nor too complex. He is at an age where he needs to be confronted with "problems" that he will have to resolve by asking himself why this, why that... Favor games with many more pieces for example, games with many more pieces for example, games with many more pieces for example, t57>smaller wooden blocks.

(photo credit: @canva)

THANKS TO THE CONSTRUCTION GAME, THEY WILL BE AWAY FROM THE SCREENS

While screens and digital technology offer plenty of learning opportunities, why not opt ​​for a simple wooden construction game or activities away from screens when you're at home?

Have you ever watched your child watch television? His inactivity is very negative for him. What skills do you think your child is developing from spending hours in front of a screen while being inactive?

If your child is under 3 years old then construction games are just as important for their development but need to be adapted . Consult our article on the subject: "Which construction game for baby?"

(photo credit: @canva)

Construction play is a method used every day by childcare professionals in nurseries, schools or childcare facilities. The many benefits and benefits of construction play on child development are very important. It has a large place in educational games from a very young age and for many years for your children. Don't forget that from baby on, children want to learn, they are curious and it is up to you parents to prepare them for the world that awaits them. Through play, children develop their skills daily.