Block Play: The Complete Guide to Learning and Playing with Blocks

This book was written by a teacher and geared for preschool and Kindergarten teachers on the use of blocks and block play in the classroom. I read this as a mother and a homeschooler looking for information on how we can best use our "block center". I found this book would be most helpful for teachers (as it is intended).The author has composed long lists of skills that children can learn through block play, itemized under the categories of math, science, art, literacy, physical development, social studies and social-emotional. These long lists would be helpful for teachers who need to prove to someone that playing with blocks is a worthwhile activity where learning thrives. Ideas for setting up a block center in a classroom are detailed and are great for the classroom but don't translate completely to the home setting. There is a very brief section on choosing blocks, too brief, I believe. I was interested to hear about how many blocks one child would use and of which shapes are most played with so I can choose the best sets or a la carte blocks for our home. This information was not provided as the author states such information has been provided in other publications. Well, I was looking for that information in this book! Blocks are recommended to be stored in a sturdy shelf unit which I think is great but is quite costly for parents (the hardwood unit blocks are a large investment)! I also would have liked an appendix with sources for blocks, the best suppliers and best prices. Despite Internet access I am having problems finding these hardwood unit blocks. There are also ideas for making homemade blocks out of recycled products for younger children, such as large blocks made out of paper bags stuffed with newspaper and covered in contact paper.There is a lot of information on assessment of learning in the block center and how teachers can document in the children's portfolios. This would be great for a teacher but almost completely useless for me as a homeschooler. The documentation process is so detailed honestly, I can't imagine any teacher would have time to document it on more than a few children (taking photos, making cassette recordings of the children playing, writing down stories the children make up, etc.). There are also activities for the teacher to do with the children to teach concepts such as balance, math, etc.I would have liked to see more photos of children playing with the blocks and photos of what they did with them. There is plenty of space in the margins; small photos could have adorned those areas. I would have liked more to be focused on letting the child play rather than using so many props to help them along. The author gives about 100 pages of projects and activities that can be done. Most of these require a large amount of teacher-effort and are for projects such as making people to use in the block center, making playmats, task cards (photos of buildings laminated onto a card), and more. My complaints are that the