Mega Blocks Activities

Each week, I've been choosing a different toy in our house to highlight. I'm hoping that way, it will spark interest and get used in different ways. This week, I used Mega Blocks in all of my morning centers with Bo. Honestly, I'm almost sad the Mega Blocks week is over, because there is so much more I could still do! Maybe we'll just have to do Week 2 in a couple of weeks.

I choose to use the same toy each day for a couple of reasons: 

1. It focuses my ideas. Right now, I'm super tired at night and still when I wake up, so I need to be able to wake up and think "what am I going to do with _______?". It makes it much easier. 

2. When kids have the same toy for the week, you can help them through the routine of play. (Honestly, I think I'm making this all up, but it makes complete sense to me). The first day, I usually do an activity that is more the typical way that the toy has been used. Since it's Monday and everyone is tired, I don't try to do much out of the ordinary. As the days go on, I increase the skill and different uses of the toy. I find that Bo is much more open to doing different play on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays. 

Monday: Graphing (Sorting, Counting, Comparing Numbers, Fine Motor Skills)

We started the week off on an easy note. I separated all of the One Stud Blocks (I did my research) and put them in a bucket. Next, I asked Bo to create color towers. Then, he counted the blocks and wrote the number of each on the paper. Finally, he compared groups of blocks. 

This was the most challenging activity, I created all week. It took a whole 5 minutes to set up. He loved feeling like a big kid with lots of steps. I started with something that he knows how to do. He knows how to sort (which he loves) and he knows how to build with Mega Blocks. 

Tuesday: Building Skyscrapers

I put out Post-it Notes with Numbers on them. Bo had to make Skyscrapers with the number of floors on the Post-it and deliver it to the construction zone. Bo decided that Construction Dress Up was a definite must for the competition of this activity. I love that he likes to play the part.  This one has so many different varieties. I did numbers 1 to 15. You could do numbers 1-5 and write the same number on different post it notes. You could also write the numbers in different colors to indicate which block to use. It's Tuesday and my guy is still a little cranky that it's not the weekend so I decided to keep it pretty open ended. 

I decided to do this activity next in the rotation because the blocks were already organized for him to get started right away. All I had to do is put out the post it notes. I've used these post it notes for a couple of activities (they are actually not even sticky anymore) so it makes planning activities easy. 

Wednesday: Building Addition Skyscrapers

 All I had to do for this activity is write addition sentences out. I wrote each number in a different color and Bo had to create buildings out of those block colors. Then, he would deliver them to the building site with that number. I put out the dump truck at last minute because he was super cranky that morning I was hoping that it would help. (Spoiler- it helped!) Bo hasn't really done a lot of addition like this so I just put it out there and sat close by to give support as necessary.

Good Questions to ask with this activity: "What do you see?", "What do you think that means?", and "What happens when you put that all together?"

Thursday: Block Balance Beam

We needed a low key Thursday Morning activity, enter Block Balance Beam. I started this activity off by building the first part. Since this is something absolutely new that Bo hasn't done before, I needed to start him off on the right track. He took one look at my example and said "That's too small, mama", broke it, and created his own. He also created a jump in the middle for a little more excitement.

Pro-Tip: Make sure that you use those two prong blocks to hold the outside blocks together. If you are just the single prongs, they tend to break off the side. By layering the blocks, you can keep it a little more stable.


Friday: Block Races

This game was super fun. I put out one block of each color to start and created a finish line. I then made a color die by wrapping a tissue box in an old TJs paper bag. (You could also do this by just saying out colors, pulling them out of a bucket, or an spinner app). Bo would roll the die and put the block into the race.

This activity provided lots of room for conversations. We predicted what block would win the race and as he built we talked about which blocks had more or less. It was a really easy activity for him to do by himself while I checked email this morning. A win for everyone.

These activities were really fun for kids and parents. It would give me 20-30 minutes to just breathe and take a sip of coffee. Honestly, I pulled out these blocks to see if I should get rid of them. They were a hit at all times of the day. There are so many different things that you can do with MegaBlocks. They are definitely a must in my house now!