Help Discover the Young Engineers in Your Family

Have you ever observed children creating something from Legos or TRIO blocks? They are very focused. Here's how adults can help nurture these “engineering” skills in young children. 

Organize Blocks

  Sometimes young children need to be left to just play and experiment with their blocks.  Other times families can teach them some engineering skills Does this mean you have to be an engineer? Not at all, here are some simple ideas to help you interact easily. Following step- by- step pictures to build a project is a great way to start.

 Discuss how sorting and organizing materials by color and shape will help each time they build. Then provide and label some see through containers. It will be easier to search for parts and clean up.

Organize Thinking

  Ask children to choose a colored diagram of something they would like to make to make from a book of ideas provided in block kit packages. This book can be a source of ideas and help children come up with their own ideas or make modifications.     Guild children toward a simple project you think will be successful. If you are using a step- by- step book, help children look at the picture guide carefully. Count out how many of each kind of block is needed for building and place in piles. If there are enough blocks, make your own project, too.

  Discuss how you are going to start making the project. Encourage your children to think out loud and ask questions as they build. Say your thoughts out loud. Show what thinking looks and sounds like.  Show them that when they make projects with others it is fun to talk back and forth, ask questions, and share ideas even though sometimes others may not use them. You are helping young children think through math problems, since building teaches geometry and many other skills.

  Compare the project you are building with the picture of the step- by- step photos.  Do the pictures look like your project? Do children have an idea to make it better or different?

What Else Can We Do?

  Challenge each other. Play a game called “Can You Make What I Make?”  The name says it all. Take pictures of the final projects and send them to cousins.  Can they make the projects, too?

  Investigate what happens if a piece is added and it interferes with stability or balance? Encourage family members to give Mega Blocks. Duplo, K”NEX, Bristle Blocks, Gears, or other engineering toys as gifts.

Make a card game with a list of projects like house, truck, fence, airplane, or robot. Pick a card and place it face down. Can one person make the object and the other guess what it is?

  Children can help adults put something together by handing tools for a short time.

  Check the library for engineering books like ‘The Lego Ideas Book” by Lipkowitz, or the “Lego Adventure Books” series.

More Ideas and Activities

For more ways to encourage music and expend energy on long winter days see the authors’ book “Learning Through the Seasons” at area bookstores and grandparentsteachtoo.org. For more help to prepare young children for success in school see the authors’ web site www.grandparentsteachtoo.org.

Also check our audio Podcasts WNMU Radio 90; Youtube video activities; and join us on Pinterest.

Photos: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Child_playing_with_unit_blocks.jpeg
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Houten_blokkendoos.jpg