Wooden toy building blocks make a fantastic gift for boys and girls because they are fun, exciting and never grow old. Developing a child's imagination, these building blocks encourage coordination and dexterity skills for kids. Hand eye coordination and finger dexterity skills are important for young children to develop and one way to accomplish this is by playing with these types of toys. Wooden blocks help to teach kids to play, stack, construct and create structures. There are very few toys that can make this claim, they are one of the most important toys accessible to kids today in the classroom at school, daycare or at home. Block play also helps with fine motor skills which will help when it is time to learn other skills which are more complicated like drawing with a chalk or using a paint brush and using crayons.
Young boys and girls love to play with wooden blocks. Children will use these classic toys over and over. Most children start out with simple projects such as stacking the blocks and watching as they fall over. This is great fun for toddlers because they most often laugh when they crash to the floor. As children get older they advance to more complex structures such as house, forts, castles or the highest tower imaginable. As long as the kids are having fun there is no correct or incorrect way to have a blast with this toy. Selecting age appropriate blocks is strongly recommended because the blocks are available in all sorts of sizes and shapes. For example, you would not want a child under 1 years old playing with wood blocks because they most likely are still putting objects into their mouths and they could get splitters.
There are all sorts of blocks including one with the alphabet and numbers; these are usually painted in bright colors. This makes for great learning as children can use the blocks to spell out their names or line the blocks up 1 to 10. Because they are painted in different colors they can used to teach colors along with teaching concepts of learning their ABC's and numbers. Children love the concept of lining up the blocks in some sort of order as give parents and caregivers the opportunity to teach.
When there are several children playing together this type of play is fun for all because they don't have to wait turns or share the blocks. Everyone can play together and this is especially true if there is an age difference. For example, a 3 year may still enjoy stacking the blocks while a 6 or 7 year will want to build a structure. Perfect for play dates, kids of all ages have fun together as they discover what can be accomplished when playing with toy building blocks.
Blocks help foster the opening of a child's mind by making use of their fine motor skills. Most of the blocks are handcrafted one at a time and many have storage boxes making clean up fast and easy.
Another benefit of wooden blocks is that they promote social interaction. More than a few kids will be able to benefit from playing blocks all together (unlike a stuffed animal, toy car, or doll, case in point, made for individual play). When shopping for blocks pay close attention to the manufacturer recommended age range to ensure safe play for children.
