Greetings!
When it comes to raising a child I always hear the phrase "Terrible Two-Years Old" from elderly people. Those that are saying the phrase is pertaining to the age of a child beginning from two years old where they are very very active they will do whatever they want be it climbing anything or any places they want to, bite something, and even throwing tantrums.
To me beginning at two years old is the age where they are very very active in exploring that begins when they started to learn to walk by themselves.
Today, my son is already 4 years old and soon he will be five years old. I too have seen his terrible years where he always climbs anywhere that he wants in the house. But he is now more into exploring without being terrible. He is now able to mimic things on his own.
So, to help him in developing his motor skill, building skill, creativity, imagination, and also his patience I borrowed multi-colored rectangular wooden blocks from his auntie and right after I got the rectangular blocks I just gave it to him and I carefully watch him day by day if what he is going to do with the blocks.
He Began to Create Things By Mimicking What He Saw
He began to mimic a bridge that he watched on the internet particularly the Golden Gate Bridge. As I was observing he was very patient at building the bridge. Sometimes he got angry because some blocks are tumbling down if he hits them unintentionally. He would seek my help if he is out of patience. But before I help him out I make sure that I mention to him why his blocks are tumbling down.
Another day had passed and he is very persistent in mimicking a bridge where the vehicles are crossing. As you can see in the photo below he is watching a video of the Golden Gate Bridge then he is mimicking it using the multi-colored blocks.
I never had a memory of this kind of activity in my childhood mimicking a structure using blocks. Children of today are really really more intelligent than in recent years.
While he was working on his building I am happy because the blocks are helping in his motor and building skills. The blocks also help his creativity by mimicking a bridge by using just small blocks.
As you can see in the photo he is almost done on his bridge building. At this moment I can see him smiling because he is close to finishing his work.
And when he finished building the bridge I am surprised when he asks me about his black Bat Mobile. I searched for the Bat Mobile, gave it to him, and he put it on the bridge as if the Bat Mobile will cross the bridge just like what he saw in the video that he is watching.
Few days have passed and he keeps on building a bridge also by watching a video on a mobile device. This time he is building on top of a table where the foundation is very shaky.
Building a bridge on top of a table took him more time than building on the ground because the foundation of the table is very shaky. But he is persistent to do the job on his own without asking for my help. He may have remembered the things that I said to him when he first seeks help from me why his blocks keep tumbling down.
Building on top of the table really giving him a hard time because of the table's shaky foundation but he is very patient with this time. As you can see on the photo above there were blocks on top, but on the photo below they are gone now because he unintentionally hits them and they all tumbled down.
Few minutes have passed and he revised his first design, instead of going for three gates on top he just made two, and his work is done. He may have trouble doing three gates on top that is why he opted to just create two gates, good job for him by using his imagination and creativity.
A few days ago, I noticed that he stopped building a bridge. I noticed that he is arranging the blocks in an iPad box. I am just observing him on what he is doing and I noticed that he keeps on revising the arrangement of the blocks until he got them to be uniformly aligned together on the box. He first laid them flat then he laid them on their side. As you can see in the photo he is laying the blocks flat.
After he laid flat all the blocks he then removed them again from the box then started laying them on their side just like in the photo below.
How the Blocks Help in Developing His Motor Skills, Building Skills, Creativity, Imagination, and Patience
By building something his motor skill (eye, hand, and fingers coordination) is being developed since he uses them more in building a bridge and arranging the blocks on a box.
By Building a bridge his creativity and imagination are being developed by creating his own image of a bridge just by using small blocks.
By building a bridge using blocks that keep on tumbling down his patience is being developed since he just keeps on patiently building until he is done.
I am an I.T. professional (Computer Engineer) working in a private company, a blogger, a father, and a husband.
