Easter Gift Idea For Preschoolers

Easter time is a time to gather as families and often gifts are given especially to children. It seems our holidays often become too commercial. A simple, lasting gift can be a good alternative to inexpensive but short-lived trinkets commonly marketed this time of year.

Wooden building blocks can be a great simple, natural gift for children ages 3-5, or for any age child, for that matter. A favorite activity of preschool age children is playing with any kind of building toys. There are many types of building blocks for children but wooden building blocks are a time-tested favorite.

A 3 year old loves the challenge of building a tower of wooden blocks and will play with blocks for long periods of time.They enjoy sorting simple shapes and of course knocking it all down is the most fun of all.

4 year olds have great imaginations and they start to add story lines to their building block play. They will build houses, towns, and castles. They add other toys to be the characters in their towns and forts. Play soldier, animals and cars become part of their creations.

5 year olds start to want to play with friends and together they fuel each other’s creativity. They now have the skills to build quite elaborate structures.They cooperate to each build a section of the city or castle they are creating. Of course there is also the fun in knocking it down and then starting all over again. Wooden blocks are versatile and can be played with over and over in limitless numbers of ways.

Wooden building blocks are an educational toy in many ways. Preschoolers learn size and shape discrimination, basic math and science skills; such as counting, ordering, sorting, learning to compare and contrast and basic spatial relationships, like on top of, behind, and underneath. They experience cause and effect as they build a structure and see it fall. They develop logic skills and problem solve as they figure out how to build and balance.They develop their fine motor skills and visual perception while playing with wooden blocks. Children of this age dramatize their block play with story lines. Playing with building blocks has been shown to increase language skills, and of course they learn social skills as they cooperate in block play time. They learn success as they accomplish a task and most of all they have opportunity to use their fantastic imaginations while playing with wooden blocks.

Many of the plastic, mass made toys of today are broken in no time. Wooden toys such as toy building blocks are durable and will last for years. Many families have their wooden block set from their childhood and even pass them down to the next generation. A quality set of wooden blocks will not only last for years but will be played with for years. Kids continue to play with wooden blocks as they get older building more complex structures and becoming competitive as they try to see who can build the biggest or the best.

Although not a traditional gift, wooden building blocks can be a great gift idea for your child or grandchild this Easter. This could be something they will remember and enjoy for years.

M. Sheffield is co-owner of Back To Blocks. Back To Blocks offers many sizes and styles of hardwood block sets in convenient bright colored storage buckets. All our wooden blocks are from natural hardwood, tested for safety and are made in the U.S.A.

Back To Blocks has several block sets specifically targeted to the preschool age group. See Toys For 3 Year Old, Toys For 4 Year Old, or Toys For 5 Year Old at Wooden Blocks

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