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How to ‘Build’ a Smarter Child

September 30, 2014 10 Comments
Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Please visit our disclosure policy for more information. Thanks for your support!

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Disclosure: I was recently invited to become a Partner in Play with Fat Brain Toys. Although I will receive products or other compensation as part of this program, all opinions expressed within are my own and have not been influenced as any way.

I am so excited to tell you that I was selected as a Partner in Play for Fat Brain Toys! This means that I will get to bring you some unique posts about kids and play over the next few months. As an educator, I am always looking for ways to share easy educational ideas that you can do at home with the materials you have in your house, so I hope you enjoy the ideas as much as I enjoy writing them. I have shopped at Fat Brain for almost 6 years, since my first son was born, and have long been impressed with the way they curate items that are high quality and supportive of education.

Build Smart Child

My boys are obsessive about building materials. Our house at any given time looks like LEGOs, KNEX, and cardboard blocks have exploded all over it. Over time, we have developed several ways to use our bricks and blocks to support our math and literacy development.

1. Build Sight Word Recognition

LEGO DUPLO pieces make excellent manipulatives for sight word identification. You can use permanent marker to write high frequency words directly onto bricks or use contact paper cut to size so that you can remove the words when you are finished.

Give your child a base plate and variety of words and see what sentences he can build. You can even make it into a game by seeing who can create the longest sentence using the same selection of words.

Blocks Sight Words

2. Learn to Create and Interpret Graphs

Use a blank paper and some building bricks to have you child graph common occurrences around the house. This is an opportunity to have some real fun and even be a little silly! For example, you might graph how many blueberries each family got on their plate at breakfast or how many times each family member’s name is said in 1 hour. After your child has graphed whatever relationship or occurrence you are studying, then it is time to interpret the graph. Use words like less, more, most, least, and same to help your child describe what they found in their graph!

blocks graphing

3. Do Simple Arithmetic

Bricks are the perfect manipulative for basic addition and subtraction. Want to teach your child to add 4 + 3? Have them create a tower of 4 blocks in one color and three blocks in another color. Have them combine the towers and add them all together for the answer of 7!

blocks arithmetic

For subtraction, start with a tower representing the larger number, and have the child remove the number of blocks that they need to “take away” in the problem. So for the problem 10 minus 6, build a 10-brick tower and then have your child remove 6 bricks to arrive at the answer of 4 bricks left over.

Teachers use these tricks to make math visual for children, so why not use them at home?

4. Create and Identify Patterns

Play “what comes next” by helping your child build patterned towers and having them guess what would come next in the series. If you are getting really creative, have the write out a numerical representation of their “pattern”!

Blocks Pattern

5. Make New Words

Teachers often use a strategy called Making Words to help children make new words out of other words. To play Making Words, label bricks with letters. Each brick in this game should have 1 letter labeled on its side. Choose a big word, say Halloween, and then think of all the little words that children might be able to create from this word. In this case, you might prompt your child to create an, all, wall, hall, lean, wean, and Halloween. The best words to start with have at least 7 letters, and a diverse selection of vowels and consonants.

Blocks Making Words

6. Arrange Shapes

Create larger than life shapes with cardboard building blocks. Have your child use these large blocks to make triangles, squares, rectangles, pentagons, diamonds, hexagons, octagons, and more! Take a picture of your child in their shape to help them remember the attributes of each shape in the future!

Blocks Life Size

Have you checked out Fat Brain Toys yet? Head on over and tell me what you think!

 

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Check out these other ideas while you are here:

  • Duplo LEGO Table {DIY}Duplo LEGO Table {DIY}
  • Superhero Themed Books for Your SuperKidSuperhero Themed Books for Your SuperKid
  • How I Taught My Preschooler to Read in Two DaysHow I Taught My Preschooler to Read in Two Days
  • Duplo LEGO Table {DIY}Duplo LEGO Table {DIY}
  • Building Toys for the Whole FamilyBuilding Toys for the Whole Family

Filed Under: education Tagged With: build, Duplo, Fat Brain Toys, LEGOS

Previous Post: « STEM Ideas for Little Kids
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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Sarah H says

    September 30, 2014 at 10:07 pm

    I love this post!! My Kindergartener is learning to read and starting math. He is always asking me math problems and now we can add learning into playtime!!

  2. Barb @ A Life in Balance says

    October 1, 2014 at 9:32 am

    I love all these ideas, Heather, and I’m kicking myself for giving away our Duplos. DS6 is learning to read in Kindergarten and needs practice with his sight words.
    Barb @ A Life in Balance recently posted…Printable Coupons 10.1.14My Profile

  3. Paige Wolf says

    October 1, 2014 at 1:39 pm

    Great idea for all the LEGOS!

  4. Mary Ellen says

    October 1, 2014 at 1:43 pm

    These are fun-tastoc ways to keep all learners engaged…especially the kinesthetic ones 🙂
    Mary Ellen recently posted…Car Seat Safety & Your Child: Gest Post from Confessions of a Stay At Home MomMy Profile

  5. Heather says

    October 1, 2014 at 3:39 pm

    This is a great post! I am working with my daughter after school and will use your tips.
    Heather recently posted…Wendy’s® Jr. Frosty™ Halloween Coupon Book Benefiting DTFAMy Profile

  6. Gina Badalaty says

    October 1, 2014 at 3:44 pm

    Awesome stuff! Love the photo of your kid in the blocks, too funny.
    Gina Badalaty recently posted…Well Amy Organic Product Giveaway #FoodSupplyMy Profile

  7. Julia says

    October 1, 2014 at 8:28 pm

    What fun ways to play with Legos, and I never thought about doing that with the big blocks, we have some in our basement it might be time to get them out again.
    Julia recently posted…PushMy Profile

  8. Lauryn says

    October 1, 2014 at 8:32 pm

    This is an AWESOME idea! My guy loves LEGOS right now. I can’t wait to try this!
    Lauryn recently posted…Cinnamon Apple Waffles {Recipe}My Profile

Trackbacks

  1. Around the Blogosphere - A Grande Life says:
    October 2, 2014 at 2:04 pm

    […] How to “Build” a Smarter Child by Diapered Daze and Knights […]

  2. 18 Reasons Why Teachers Say LEGOs Can Make Kids Smarter says:
    March 29, 2016 at 8:20 pm

    […] LEGOs can be used for sentence building. […]

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Heather Schugar is an educator, author, and mom-of-all-trades. She holds a Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction, and her work has has been featured in national outlets such as The New York Times, The Atlantic, Real Simple magazine, and Men’s Fitness.

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