Who doesn’t want easy learning opportunities for your children? I know I’m always looking for easy ways to incorporate science, social studies, art, and the other subjects that can easily be left behind when you’re trying to make sure all of your children are able to read well and can multiply! In our home, we’ve found that building blocks can open up the whole world for our children.
Learning with Building Blocks:
Building blocks are one of the absolute best resources for a homeschool family! They are versatile, can be stored in one bin, they can be used by both boys and girls, and they can become anything your child dreams up. Your child can use them to do everything from simply learning to add and subtract to creating their favorite scene in a story to test their comprehension of a text.
What is not to love about the amazing building block? Ok, ok. Yes, they are MISERABLE to step on, but I’ll take the occasional pain in the foot in exchange for all the benefits our family enjoys by incorporating building blocks into our learning. We’ve seen a child who couldn’t write a book report sit for hours recreating the world she had just read about, we’ve discussed multiplication using the dots on the tops of the building bricks, and we’ve watched our youngest discuss inertia(at 5!) as he’s raced his newly built cars down the hall. These things are simply amazing!
Building Block Challenge:
How do we keep our children building and experimenting? How do we make sure they don’t get bored and lose interest in this awesome toy? How do we open their eyes to the big, wide, and wonderful world we live in? Well, we challenge them. We give them the basic ideas and let them explore and investigate.
We have a list of challenges to give your child a year of exposure to everything from animal science to history, while keeping their attention and keeping them building. You’ll have kids investigating life on the trail, rocket science, and artists, all with very little work on your part!
How do you use this list?
It’s simple, work your way down the list, week by week…or randomly through the year. Choose a book or movie about the topic listed, and read or experience it with your child. After they’ve learned about the subject, set them free to play and build an idea or replica relating to the subject. The week you study bears, they can build anything from the bear’s diet to a bear’s heart. It’s up to them. Each time they build something related to the subject, they are likely going to have to investigate or revisit the subject to help them build their creation well, depending on their grade level.
Remember, the name of this game is flexibility for you and your kiddos. Don’t feel like this has to be started on January 1st, or like it has to be exactly one week per subject. If it’s something your child is really interested in, give them extra time to research and enjoy the subject. This challenge is created to build their knowledge base and to keep their minds actively building. If that takes longer than a year, that’s fine!
The point of this list is to give your child a subject to learn about and a way to apply their learning, without adding any extra frustrations to your agenda. When it comes to the building portion of the challenge, let it go and let them thrive! With this challenge list, you’ll never go a week without an amazing new creation from your little Brick Picasso!
Building Block Ideas:
Week 1: Submarines
Week 2: Dinosaurs
Week 3: The Solar System
Week 4: Hydroelectric Power
Week 5: A Winter Sport of the Child’s Choice
Week 6: Monuments
Week 7: Bears
Week 8: A Team Sport of the Child’s Choice
Week 9: House Building and Design
Week 10: Camping
Week 11: Butterflies
Week 12: Rockets and Space Launches
Week 13: Child’s Choice: The Pyramids, The Coliseum, or The Parthenon
Week 14: Lions and Tigers
Week 15: Hurricanes
Week 16: George Washington or Abraham Lincoln
Week 17: Solar Power
Week 18: Monet, Picasso, or Georges Seurat
Week 19: Ocean Liners and Cruise Ships
Week 20: A City of the Child’s Choice
Week 21: Gardening or Farming
Week 22: Photography
Week 23: Elephants
Week 24: Cave Explorations
Week 25: A Country of the Child’s Choice
Week 26: Technology: Cell Phones or Computers
Week 27: Scuba Diving
Week 28: Skyscraper Building and Design
Week 29: Hiking
Week 30: A Summer Sport of the Child’s Choice
Week 31: Whales
Week 32: Airplanes
Week 33: Rivers and Lakes
Week 34: Music or Sound Waves
Week 35: A Fiction Book of the Child’s Choice
Week 36: NASCAR or Indy Racing
Week 37: Stars and Constellations
Week 38: An American Artist
Week 39: Birds
Week 40: Volcanoes
Week 41: Domesticated Animal of the Child’s Choice
Week 42: Resorts or Travel Locations
Week 43: Bridges
Week 44: Sharks
Week 45: Child’s Choice: The Statue of Liberty, The Golden Gate Bridge, or The Jefferson Expansion Memorial(The Arch)
Week 46: A State of the Child’s Choice
Week 47: Recycling
Week 48: 18 Wheeler Trucks and Transportation of Goods
Week 49: Survival Skills or Emergency Preparedness
Week 50: A Holiday of the Child’s Choice
Week 51: A Non-Fiction Book of the Child’s Choice
Week 52: Mountain Ranges
Activities for Building Blocks:
What do they build when they’ve read their book or watched their movie? Is there a specific assignment? Nope! The assignment is up to you and how your family is working your way through the list.
Some suggestions for your children’s activity assignments –
Build a replica of a building studied
Build the animal’s diet
Build the childhood home of the person studied
Build an example of a vehicle studied
Build the playing field of a sport studied
Build the mountain range closest to your home
Build a cityscape for a travel location
Build a before and after scene for a natural disaster studied
Build a replica of an emergency kit
Build a replica of an original computer and one of a current computer
Build a replica of a dam or a water system
Build a cave system
Build a replica of an animal
Build the animal in its habitat
Build a body part of an animal
Build a replica of a famous painting or painter
The ideas for assignments can go on forever! Simply let them go and have fun with the challenge. Make this something fun for your family each week, and help everyone thrive through this building block challenge.
Free Building Block Challenge Printable:
Simply fill out the form below for your free copy of the Year of Building Challenge Checklist!