Construction Play is loved by children of all ages and has so many benefits that support and encourage their development. It provides opportunities to get creative and use a variety of skills to make wonderful things. Cardboard boxes, tubes, blocks and bricks – before you know it they are turned into dens, planes, houses and cars! The only limit is the imagination!

Here at the Spinney, we have a selection of resources to encourage this type of play. At the Spinney Day Nursery Hoole, we even have a designated Spinney Construction Area outdoors in the Secret Forest which we aim to replicate at the Spinney Bell Meadow soon.

In the Spinney Construction Area, the children have access to resources that replicate real-life construction such as sand, soil, toy tools, Digger Trucks, Lorries, Cement Mixers and more!

With our High Vis Vest and Hard hats on, let’s look at 8 benefits of Construction Play.

Fine Motor Skills

Using wooden blocks, Lego bricks and Duplo to build things with is a great way to help support the development of children’s fine-motor skills. By using their vision to coordinate and fingers to connect, grip and move blocks it allows them to practise and hone these particular skills.

Gross Motor Skills

Using a hammer to knock plastic nails into construction resources or building with large blocks is a great way to support and encourage a child’s gross-motor skills. Using pullies to lift things and move them from one area to another is also a great way to support the development of these skills in a fun and innovative way.

Problem-solving

Testing ideas to see what works or what doesn’t. Maybe they would need to use the bigger blocks as a base when building a tower or think of another way to transport sand from one area to another. The process of thought, problem-solving and assessing risk through trial and error is incredibly important for a child’s cognitive development.

Imagination

Whether it’s donning a hard hat to become the Construction Site Foreman or building a road for the Lorries and Diggers, Constructive Play supports and encourages a child’s imagination. Using a variety of resources and materials they can make, create and test a myriad of things.

Focus and Patience 

When children are engaged in Construction Play, it helps encourage and promote their focus and patience. When using bricks to build, or blocks to balance it is often a case of trial and error to see what works and what doesn’t. By enabling the children to opportunity to practice and repeat the process they will retain their focus and have the patience to try again if their construction hadn’t gone to plan the first time.

Cooperative play

playing with others, whether that is working on a building project together or taking turns to you the cement mixer, the nature of Constructive play encourages children to work together, whilst supporting and encouraging their social and emotional development

Maths

Measuring, counting, sorting – these are great ways to encourage and support the development of children’s mathematical learning. Construction play offers many opportunities for this as children measure sand, count bricks needed to build towers, sort resources to make things with and apply these to their play.

Physical Development

Construction Play is a great facilitator to support a child’s physical development. Lifting and transporting items such as pipes blocks and planks to use for their construction masterpieces helps support and encourage their physical development in a fun and challenging way.