I show you toys and every day material to inspire creative and imaginative play. I introduce the rainbow blocks and create a model out of them, and I add other toys as I play.

The rainbow blocks are in the shape of an arc in different sizes from smallest to biggest, and look like a rainbow when stacked together. Though in my opinion, it doesn’t have to stay like that. I explore different ways to set the rainbow blocks up as I explore mathematical concepts such as a making a spiral, halves, curved shapes and lines, designs and colours.

I model how to carefully place each block, using the right pressure and control and the pincer hold, which is a pre-requisite to other skills such as using a pencil for writing or colouring. I try pushing cars under different sized arcs, and test which arcs are ‘too small’ and ‘just the right size’. This helps develop perception of size (and great fun too)!

The activity is open ended and not planned so I surprise myself when I finally make something quite cool 😉 It’s also practice for when we make our final model.

It’s interesting to experiment with blocks of different shapes and sizes. I enjoy searching for a variety to play with though less is more. I recommend to introduce a few blocks at a time not to get overwhelmed. Sorting the blocks is also a great educational activity and lends itself to different outcomes too.

To make the most of the 8 videos in this series I recommend watching them all in order. Though it’s also okay if you watch them randomly. The play experiences are filmed spontaneously and I don’t work with a script.