MSU Extension Child & Family Development

An excellent way to teach, practice and support physical skill building with children is by joining them in block play. Practice fine motor and gross motor skills by playing alongside your child, practicing movement, coordination, strength and impulse control. Use phrases such as “Can you find the smallest block?” “Let’s sit down here and build a tower,” and “Put your hands out and let’s see how many blocks you can hold.” Using fun learning phrases along with thoughtful questioning can help increase physical skill development for all ages. In this series of Michigan State University Extension articles, you will learn some specific questions to use when interacting with your child and using blocks to increase their developmental skills.

There are many ways to increase physical skills by playing with blocks. Playing with blocks can increase your child’s coordination, impulse control and overall use of muscles in their body. Block play can lead to increased balance, dexterity, strength and control of overall movement, especially around other children. As you use blocks to play with your children, it is helpful to be aware of some important and fun questions you can ask to support their learning and increasing physical skills.

Questions for increasing fine motor (small muscle) skills with blocks:

• Can you line up the blocks in a row?
• How about picking up a block with two fingers and placing it in my hand?
• Can you add a small block to the top of your tower?
• Put your hands out and let’s see how many blocks you can hold.
• Can you stack two, three, four, five small blocks on each other?
• Can you hold the block and turn your hand over?

Questions for increasing gross motor (large muscle) skills with blocks:

• How many big steps will it take to move this block across the room?  
• Can you stand on your tip toes and add a block to the top of your tower?  
• Can you hold a block and stand on one foot?
• Can you hold this block and jump with your feet together?
• Can you stretch and grab the block you are looking for?
• Can you find the heaviest block and lift it?

Questions for increasing coordination with blocks:

• How tall can you stack the blocks in your tower?  
• Can you add a block to the top of your tower without it falling? 
• Can you take away a block without the tower falling over? 
• Can you line the blocks up by shape, color, size?
• Can you walk around your blocks without stepping on or kicking them?
• Can you put the blocks in a bucket, in a bag, etc.?

Questions for increasing impulse control with blocks:

• Can you walk through these two towers without knocking them down?
• Can you wait to count to 10 before you knock your tower down?
• Can you add these two blocks to your tower without it falling?
• How about we sit down and build a castle, house, etc.?
• How can you add more blocks to your tower?
• Do you think you need to stand up to make it taller?

Using any of these questions while playing with blocks can help a child increase their excitement while growing their physical skills. The National Association for the Education of Young Children provides many activities, ideas and articles for playful physical development techniques and is a great place to find extra resources for helping children increase their overall development.

For more information on child development using block play, see the following MSU Extension articles:

• Questions in block play can support social skill development
• Questions in block play can increase your child’s vocabulary
• Questions in block play can support scientific learning
• Questions in block play can support mathematical learning

You can learn more about child development, find parent and caregiver webinars, and discover family activities by visiting the MSU Extension child and family development webpage and the MI Stronger Family Facebook page.