Extend Kindergarten Block Play With Toy Animals, People and Cars!
Help me give my students toy people, cars, and animals to make playtime with blocks more fun and engaging!
FULLY FUNDED! Ms. Cusick's classroom raised $420
This project is fully funded
Celebrating Hispanic & Latinx Heritage Month
This project is a part of the Hispanic & Latinx Heritage Month celebration because
it supports a Latino teacher or a school where the majority of students are Latino.
My Project
I love observing my kindergarteners during block play time. We have a basic collection of simple wooden blocks in a variety of shapes. During daily centers play time, the blocks area is one of the most popular spots for my students. They flex their gross and fine motor muscles as they move and stack. They solve problems together: " how do you build that? "How can I make my block tower stand higher?" The blocks area is one that encourages so much collaboration between students. There's plenty of opportunity to share, learn new vocabulary and discuss with peers as they create elaborate block towers together.
For young learners, blocks play is an entry point into STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) work.
My students explore engineering concepts as they create more complex bridges, roadways, and towers. As they design their buildings, they explore math concepts such as balance, symmetry, estimation, and comparison. Blocks play helps kids develop agency- the confidence and independence make decisions and and to create unique things. They take joy in planning a design idea, bringing it to life, demolishing it, and starting all over again. There are no wrong answers in blocks play- just endless opportunities to test a hypothesis by combining and re-combining materials as the child sees fit.
I would like to help my students extend their blocks play by adding toy people, cars, and animals to our existing wooden blocks sets. These "props" will encourage even more creativity in their blocks constructions. When we create a town scene, the posable people and toy cars will help guide more imaginative play. Toy animals will help them to bring a forest scene to life. All of this will increase oral language skills for my students, and make blocks play even more fun and engaging!
More than three‑quarters of students from low‑income households
Data about students' economic need comes from the National Center for Education Statistics, via our partners at MDR Education. Learn more
DonorsChoose is the most trusted classroom funding site for teachers.
As a teacher-founded nonprofit, we're trusted by thousands of teachers and supporters across the country. This classroom request for funding was created by Ms. Cusick and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
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