Build Big with These Kid-Friendly Projects by Highrises.com

Written by Brian Enright

When you're a kid, playing with toy blocks can be a lot of fun. Whether your blocks are made out of wood, plastic, or metal your creations can be endless with some imagination. You can build houses, bridges, skyscrapers, statues, and more. Not only are blocks entertaining, but building with them can help teach you valuable math and engineering skills as well. Grab some blocks and get building with some of these fun projects. Try your hand at re-creating high-rise condo towers like The Independent in Austin and 56 Leonard in NYC, the so-called "Jenga Tower." Who knows: 20 years from now, you may be designing the next big high-rise condo tower!

• Ten Things Children Learn From Block Play: When you play with blocks, you learn how to solve problems and imagine new things to build.

• Build, Create, Play: The Benefits of Playing With Building Toys: You can learn how things fit together as you play with construction toys.

• Five Benefits of Building Blocks: Making a block building demands math and engineering skills to make the blocks fit together without falling down.

• Why Toy Blocks Rock: The Science of Building and Construction Toys: Block and construction play has no limits because you can build almost anything you can think of.

• The Benefits Construction Toys Have for Children: Creating a building out of construction toys gives you a chance to solve problems with many different solutions.

• Social Benefits From Playing With Building Blocks: Building with blocks can be done alone or with others. When building with friends, you learn how to work together.

• Block Play: Building a Child's Mind: Blocks are a toy that will grow as you grow, allowing you to create more complicated things as you get older.

• Let's Build: How Playing With Blocks Benefits Children: You can make up stories and use blocks to create the settings for them.

• How Children Can Learn by Playing With Wooden Building Blocks: Parents and children can play together with blocks.

• Why Is Block Play Important for Toddlers and Preschoolers? What Are They Learning? (PDF): Playing with blocks helps children gain math skills.

• Benefits of Building Toys for Kids: While building with blocks, you improve your hand-eye coordination.

• Why Colors and Shapes Matter: Colored blocks can help you learn about shapes, colors, and sizes.

• Developmental Building Blocks:The Benefits of Block Play: Block play can help with learning words and communicating better, even for toddlers.

• Building Blocks: When you play with blocks with other kids, you learn how to cooperate, take turns, and share.

• Block Play Activities for Home, Child Care, or School (PDF): Unit blocks are blocks that come in different sizes. You can use unit blocks to learn math skills.

• Matching and Sorting: Early Math Development: Using blocks, you can sort and match based on size, color, and shape.

• Creating Homemade Blocks for Young Children (PDF): Make homemade blocks out of cardboard boxes filled with crumpled newspaper and sealed with duct tape.

• What Young Children Learn Through Play (PDF): Building a block tower involves stacking and balancing the blocks, which helps develop math skills.

• Building Blocks and Cognitive Building Blocks (PDF): Sorting blocks makes you pay attention to the size and shape of each block.

• Adapting Activities and Materials for Young Children With Disabilities (PDF): Children with disabilities can play with blocks in many of the same ways as other kids, matching, sorting, and stacking them.

• Kids, Blocks, and Learning: Children usually like blocks because of their bright colors and interesting shapes.

• Fun Developmental Activities With Blocks: You can use blocks to build a tower, train, bridge, wall, or even a pyramid.

• Six Ways to Encourage Block Play: An inviting play area will make block play more fun, especially if parents leave block creations alone so everyone in the family can admire them.

• Ice Building Blocks: Make colorful ice building blocks with containers and colored water.

• Fine Motor Development With Building Blocks: Play with toy animals along with blocks, or use clay as mortar between the blocks.

• 17 Unique Materials for Building and Creating: For new twists on building block play, build with sugar cubes, pool noodles, or extra-large blocks made out of big cardboard boxes.

• Three Fun Gross Motor Activities Using Blocks: Try block bowling or making an obstacle course out of blocks.

• Building Blocks: Opportunities for Open-Ended Play: Playing with wooden and construction blocks without instructions gives you a chance to make things without specific goals and without the possibility of mistakes.

• The Block Center in Child Care: Playing with blocks builds many different skills while you have fun.

• Montessori Activities: A set of blocks provides almost endless opportunities for building, whether you want to build a skyscraper, a house, or a zoo for toy animals.

• Using Block Play to Promote STEM in the Classroom: You can be an engineer with blocks, figuring out how to design a building or a bridge using different combinations of blocks.

• Science and Engineering for Kids: Paper Building Blocks: With colored paper and a few other tools, you can make your own paper blocks.

• Introduction to Block Building With Children: With a set of wooden blocks, you can explore different shapes, learning about squares, rectangles, triangles, half circles, arches, and more.

• Playing With Building Blocks of Creativity Help Children With Autism: Blocks are a great toy for kids who need special help to build math and other important skills.

• Counting With a Block Maze and Remote Control Car: Make a maze out of blocks, then send a remote-control car through the maze.

• Make an Obstacle Course With Blocks (PDF): You can design an obstacle course out of wooden blocks or other construction toys to test your design skills.