The Stages of Block Play

Stage 1: Tote and Carry: Blocks are carried around to feel their smoothness, their weight and to hear what kind of sounds they make when they fall. Children like to fill containers, dump them out, and refill them.

Stage 2: Building Begins: Children lay blocks on the floor in rows, either horizontally or vertically with much repetition. Children may play alone or near other children, but rarely in a cooperative way.

Stage 3: Trial and Error Bridging: Two blocks with a space between them, connected by a third block. Children learn to bridge by trial an error.

Stage 4: Enclosures: Blocks are placed in such a way that they enclose a space. Bridging and enclosing are amongst the earliest "technical" building problems that children learn to solve. As children work at building enclosures, they learn the spacial concept of inside and outside.

Stage 5: Representational Building: At this stage (usually four and five year olds) add dramatic play to their block building. They name the structures which relate to a function. Before this, children may have named their structures but their names were not necessarily related to the function of the building.

Stage 6: Building Sociodramas: By age five, group cooperative play is common. Children may decide beforehand what they want to build, and they may reproduce structures that are familiar to them. Children may ask to leave their structure standing and play again.

Source: Hirsch, Elizabeth (1994) The Block Book. Washington, D.C.: NAEYC