Article Link: http://exchangepress.com/article/child-care-facility-design-a-place-for-block-play/5011573/
A few months ago, a correspondent wrote that he had 12 to 14 interest centers, or resource-rich activity pockets (see Child Care Information Exchange, July/August 1996), set up in his kinder classroom each day. The children are given their "self-selection" card (a 2" by 3" card with their name on it) at the beginning of self-selection time. They may then select the center in which they wish to play/work. They may change centers at any time, after cleaning up their work area, and they may change as many times as they need to during the self-selection time.My own son's NAEYC accredited child care center has the same procedure for three older-preschool/ after-school rooms. The children put their cards on a cup-hook board, with the maximum number of children per resource pocket indicated above each hook. The children are then free to go to any interest center in any of the three collaborating rooms.
No matter how it is arranged, almost any developmentally appropriate child care, lab, other "pre" school, or kinder center will have at least one such pocket that is a place for block play (Child Care Information Exchange, January/February 1997). So why is block play so important, and what goes ...