Building- No Instructions Necessary

At the YCCF, we know children love to build-- so we give them many opportunities to do so.  We offer blocks of all shapes and sizes, sticks and "tree cookies," small manipulative building toys like Lego, as well as other building options like the Magna-Tiles pictured here.

There's one thing we DON'T offer them, though:  instructions.

So many building toys come with directions included-- many are now sold as sets that you can really only make one thing from (often a movie-themed item, like Star Wars Lego toys.) But do children really need instructions to build?  And what opportunities might be opened up for them if they were given building materials without instruction on what and how to build?

At the YCCF, our philosophy of curriculum includes increasing children's critical thinking and cognitive flexibility, as well as engaging children actively instead of passively.  In addition, we hope to strengthen children's sense of competence and enjoyment of learning.  We know from research that giving children open-ended options best supports these goals, among others.

When building without instructions, children have to form an idea in their mind of what they want to build, and then figure out how to make it work.  If they run out of squares, they may figure out how to put two triangles together to make the same shape.  If their tall building won't stand up, they will need to figure out how to stabilize it.  These opportunities don't come when following pre-written instructions.  In addition, children's engagement and therefore, attention span, is heightened when building from their own imaginations.

IM Pei didn't use instructions.

And besides, I'm guessing that famous architects Frank Lloyd Wright and I.M. Pei never were given instructions for what to build as kids. 

How can you help at home?  Look for building toys that are open-ended. While building sets sold in stores are often of the instructions-only kind, you can find open-ended toys online, or at places locally like Learning Treasures or The Green Nursery.  You can offer your child a bin of clean recyclables to build with, too.  Boxes and cans with no sharp edges work beautifully!