Building Motor Development In Young Children Through A Classroom Block Center!

In this post, I am sharing how I build motor development in young children through a block center in my classroom. Motor development is the strength and growth of children’s bones, muscles, and ability to move and explore surroundings.

Motor Development Skills

Developmental goals are usually broken down into fine motor and gross motor skills. The difference between fine motor and gross motor involves the muscles that the child is using. Gross motor skills involve large muscles and fine motor skills involve smaller muscles.

While creating classroom centers, especially my block area, I like to have activities for the children that encourage both gross and fine motor development.

I switch up my block center and the activities monthly. This keeps my classroom centers fresh and inviting. The images below are the block center activities I am using for the month of September.

If you’re wondering how to set up a block center, check out this post here.

Block Center Ideas

I have been a provider for over 16 years. One thing providers like to do is collect toys and materials! I’ve Listed below some fall themed block center ideas, but their are so many other cool block center toys that you can use! Some of the toys that I have are not longer for purchase, such as my Fisher Price Happy Apple.

When setting up your classroom block center, please do not feel like you have to have the same materials shown in the images. The most important thing is having a good mix of toys that will encourage both gross and fine motor development.

• MagnaTiles
• Letter Blocks
• Lock and Key House
• Lock Puzzle
• School Bus
• Fisher Price Happy Apple
• Learning Journey Apple
• Building/Block Themed Books ( I like to put out 1-2 different books each month)

Block Center Activities

Some classroom favorite fall block center activities include a Melissa and Doug Lock House and Fisher Price School Bus. One of our themes for September is All About Me! I love to theme all my centers in the if possible with our monthly theme.

Block Area Activities

Melissa and Doug Lock House

This Melissa and Doug Lock house is perfect for small muscle development. The children get to use 4 different keys that unlock a door on each side and place or take out a doll from behind each door. My toddlers go nuts for this toy, and it keeps them occupied for a very long time.

Fisher Price School Bus

This Fisher Price School Bus is a new block area activity. This is a great fine motor activity as the children pretend to load the bus with children, and then a gross motor activity as they push the school bus around our classroom.

I have to add how excited I was to see the wheelchair lift on the back on the bus. This school bus even comes with a child in a wheelchair! As a mama to a child in a wheelchair this was everything to me! Fisher price did a great job making an assessible vehicle that chilldren of all abilities can see themselves in!

Motor Development Milestones

I hope this blog post gave you ideas on how to help your little learners reach motor development milestones through play! I love sharing ideas with other daycare providers.

If you want even more block center ideas- check out this main page

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