STEM Exploration for Infants and Toddlers – Building Blocks

A: STEM education for young children is not just about coding, machines, and AI, but also about guiding them to use everyday materials to solve real-life problems. For infants and young children, their daily “work” is to explore the materials, tools, and objects around them, finding causal connections and solving problems.

A: Infants are naturally attracted to blocks and enjoy holding them in their hands, putting them in their mouths, or tapping them to hear the sound they make. As their motor skills, especially fine motor skills, develop, their block play will become more complex and sophisticated.

A: Soft blocks of different sizes and shapes, various containers (paper boxes, cardboard boxes), foam blocks, Mega Bloks® or Duplos®, magnetic block pieces, etc. are all suitable block materials for infants and young children.

A: Playing with blocks can develop infants’ and young children’s hand-eye coordination, fine motor skills, gross motor skills, and emotional regulation abilities. It helps strengthen their understanding of object permanence. In addition, block play provides many opportunities for infants and young children to cultivate their problem-solving skills, imagination, perseverance, and confidence.

A: Stage One: Carrying

Infants and young children aged 0-2 do not use blocks to “build” but instead like to move them from one place to another or tap them.

Stage Two: Building

Around 2-3 years old, children begin to use blocks to build, stacking them vertically or laying them horizontally. At this stage, children gradually learn to differentiate between different orientations such as “up” and “down” through building with blocks.

Stage Three: Bridging

Around 3 years old, children start to try to connect two blocks or other objects, such as building a “bridge”.

A: – Provide a stable, flat surface for infants and young children to play with blocks, such as a low table or floor.

• Add open-ended materials that attract infants and young children to participate in various game scenes, such as various boxes, animal toys, farm animals, construction vehicles, etc.
• Post pictures of buildings or structures near the block play area.
• Provide containers of various sizes for pouring and filling blocks.
• Provide a woven basket or transparent storage container for easy storage of blocks.
• Take pictures of infants and young children when they build structures and display them in a place where infants and young children can easily see them.
• Avoid intervening too much in infants’ and young children’s play, but provide timely help and guidance when they are about to lose patience or encounter setbacks.

A: Guiding questions can help infants and young children continue to explore, such as: “What is the same and what is different about these two blocks?” “What does the block feel/look/smell like?” “Can you find other ways to build with the blocks?” “Can you imitate the house I built?” “What just happened? Why did the blocks fall?” “Can you build it even higher?”

A: S (Science) – Experimenting with different types of blocks to produce interesting sounds, experiencing the effects of gravity and balance, understanding cause and effect relationships, and more.

T (Technology) – Using various tools to connect blocks.

E (Engineering) – Repeatedly testing and experimenting to figure out how to build higher and more complex structures with blocks.

M (Mathematics) – Noticing similarities and differences between objects, matching, grouping, and classifying; feeling the concept of spatial orientation when stacking and building blocks.