What is constructive play?
Constructive play is a play form where your baby uses materials to build or create something from scratch. It entails building, deconstructing, moulding, assembling, stacking, …. Before young kids start building, they always spend some time first to discover the potential building materials and their characteristics. For example, before your toddlers starts building with SmartMax, they will first explore what these magnetic toys do: which bars attract or repel? What colours or shapes work with each other? This is called ‘Functional play’. Both play-types help the cognitive development of your little one.
What makes kids love it?
Kids looooove building things! It allows them to practice motoric skills and to run their imagination wild and create their own narratives. By using their imagination, they boost cognitive, language and social growth. It’s part of their natural learning development and quest towards discovery.
What are the benefits?
Constructive play teaches toddlers what works and what doesn’t. They learn by trial and error to overcome their problems and it encourages creative problem solving. By building, kids learn from their mistakes and learn to not give up immediately. It’s great to see how being proud of a finished construction can aid with developing self-confidence. Constructive play also teaches them about balance, gravity and cause and effect: if you build a big tower and then push it over, it will fall down.
When toddlers join forces to build things together, they learn extra skills, like how to work towards a common goal, how to share, take or give directions and how to play together. Finally, constructive play also enhances the motoric skills of your mini-me.
How can parents support constructive play?
Firstly, choose constructive toys that appeal to your kid and that have sensory features, like bright primary colours and a nice touch and feel. Secondly, try to pose some questions when your kid is working on its next architectural masterpiece! Ask them what they are building, what colours they are using, … This stimulates their language skills. You can also stimulate their imagination by asking who lives in the construction or what happens inside the structure. Thirdly, give your kids some examples to rebuild to develop memory and concentration.
Start building!
Looking for fun sets to get your toddler building? Try the Start XL set! 42 building pieces in various shapes, colours, and lengths. Or go for the smaller Start Plus set. This set offers bended bars for advanced construction-fun! The SmartMax building sets have updated their colours to appeal even more to your little one.
