Get more out of… Verti-blocks

Improve hand-eye coordination, spatial reasoning and fine motor skills. Explain the use of a floor plan. Ask the toddlers to create a floor plan of their own bedroom in the lid of a shoebox. Can they locate their bed, wardrobe, table, etc. (Analyzing)

• Work from a top-down perspective. Use a number to indicate how high a column should be. Can the toddlers complete a 3D assignment card from this perspective? (Analyzing)
• Ask the toddlers to design a creation themselves and present this from a top-down perspective. (Analyzing)
• Ask the toddlers to build the mirror image of an assignment card. You can use a mirror to check their solutions.
• Two toddlers have to cooperate, but there is a room divider in between them. One of them has an assignment card, tries to copy it, and tells the other toddler exactly what he or she is doing. Can the other toddler follow the instructions? Afterwards, the toddlers can check whether they have built the same creation. What went well, and what didn’t? (Analyzing, evaluating)
• Competition! Give the toddlers a single assignment card. The first toddler to complete it shouts “STOP!” The toddlers check together whether the assignment card has been copied correctly. If the toddler has copied the assignment card correctly, then he or she has won!
• Use the verti-blocks as tiles. Create a floor with pretty, repetitive patterns.
• Ask the toddlers to work in pairs. Every pairs receives a single assignment card. In turns, the toddlers throw a dice. The toddler may then place a number of blocks equal to the eyes on the dice. The toddler who places the last block wins the game. This game challenges toddlers to talk about calculations, such as “How many blocks are there still left?” and “What dice throw would make you a winner?” (Analyzing, evaluating”
• Copy the assignment card from many different perspectives. (Analyzing)
• Combinatorics! The toddlers may use one red, one yellow, one green, and one blue block. How many creations can they make with these blocks? They first have to guess and write their answer down. They will be surprised how many possibilities there are! (Analyzing, evaluating, creating)
• Use the blocks to create the letters of your name. (Creating, analyzing)
• A group of toddlers can also create a large building by combining multiple assignment cards.
• Time for cooperation! Place six or eight assignment cards on a table. A toddler now uses the blocks to copy one of the assignment cards, but he or she does not say which card. While this toddlers is building, another toddler must guess as quickly as possible which card is being copied. When he or she guesses the correct assignment card, the two toddlers can complete the card together. Then, the toddlers may switch the completed assignment card for a new card. Ask the toddlers to make the guessing as difficult as possible for the other toddler. For instance, they can first build vertically. (Analyzing)