Playing with your kids is dynamite for their cognitive development. There’s a big difference between playing on their own and having the opportunity to share their toys with you.
That time together on the floor with matchbox cars, drawing or building gives them the space to learn in all different ways, trying out new things and sharing with you in a constant running dialogue.
It builds their confidence and helps them feel supported. Games like LEGO are perfect for developing fine motor skills, creativity and the focus to concentrate on a task without becoming frustrated. That takes a while to learn.
We gave our (almost) four-year-old son a marble tower set for Christmas. It’s similar to the one below. Sometimes he insists it be built exactly as it appears on the box. Other times we’ll experiment and find new ways to construct it, his face concentrating and observing as the marbles roll down in different ways.
While playing with him today, I started thinking about how this return to playing games might be stimulating my own mental faculties.
There’s an undeniable satisfaction in building and mucking about with marble towers and LEGO.
As much as it’s helping my son, it’s also giving me some quiet meditative time to focus on the blocks. Guess what? It’s also fun for me to see the marbles rolling down. Childish? Sure. But that’s fine.
It made me recall A LEGO Brickumentary from 2015. The documentary explores why the Swedish blocks have been such an incredible success all across the world.
Watch this LEGO movie with your kids and get into LEGO together. Something about those little colourful blocks will improve your life and relationships.
