Castle Blocks - A Lakeshore Learning Product Review

When is the last time you witnessed 4 boys, ages 4, 6, 7 and 9, play with blocks for hours on end?  Today happened to be one of these occasions.  We got this really nifty set of Castle Blocks from Lakeshore Learning and the boys are in heaven.  The blocks are high-quality wooden blocks that are printed on every side with realistic details.  The doors can be laid down and flipped over to make a bridge. There are cubes and cylinders, pyramids and cones.  Certainly enough pieces to make the grandest castle.

Upon opening the package, EMan was immediately enthralled with the blocks.  He was excited about the possibilities and focused on how many different ideas there were presented on the back of the box.  CJ quickly returned with the neighbor boys and all four of them really dove into exploring the possibilities.  

 It was interesting to listen to the collaboration and sometimes dictatorship that was unfolding before me.  I was simply a spectator intrigued by what would happen with this group of boys and the castle blocks. There were strong opinions about how the blocks should and shouldn't be used.

  "This is looking so cool!" says EMan as he jumps with excitement onto the sofa.  Apparently their game has now included Minecraft characters. They have built a castle and a barn and are utilizing their Minecraft toys to make it into a full game.  Each boy is responsible to be one character from Minecraft.  I'd highly recommend either small dolls or characters such as these Minecraft ones to make the building of the blocks into a game of creativity.

 I love how they put "Steve" on top of the castle with a sword.  He is the defender after all. Oh, and the skeleton is trying to get in but can't.  You best still watch out for him though because he might just shoot you with his bow and arrow.

 We were down in the basement (the dungeon of amazing stuff that is disorganized and slightly overwhelming) when EMan noticed the Lakeshore Learning catalog next to my desk.  It featured the castle blocks on the front and he excitedly said, "MOM! Is this where you got the idea from?" It was so cute.  He and CJ then spent the next hour taking turns flipping through the catalog and deciding what we should save our money for next.

Thanks to Lakeshore Learning for making such a fantastic product and letting us test it out for you!  If you want to head on over to get your own castle blocks or find something handy for your classroom be sure to use our coupon! 20% off your purchase good through 3/31/2015

Using Blocks to Teach Math

It was nice to admit outloud to another homeschooling mom the other day that I completely failed at teaching math.  See, we have officially reached CJ's actual learning level of math and I'm so used to him picking it up super easy that I was lazy and didn't teach him the concrete subtraction that borrows from each greater place value.  I taught him the shortcut.  On paper.  Bad homeschool mom.  I know better, and since I was able to admit my fault to a dear friend I was ready to go back and commit to making it right.  So today, we did subtraction with blocks.  LOTS of blocks.  And got through 3 problems in a full hour.  ONLY THREE!  I had to keep telling myself (in my head) to chill out.  Because seriously it was SO slow.  So there you go, a little error on my part.  It happens to the best of us.

Preschool Blocks

EMan is working his way through the Math-U-See Primer book.  He's gotten bored with the reviews happening in preschool and was ready to move on.  We flew through the first lesson and then stopped short at his instructional level.  He is working on identifying combinations that make ten.  I knew I needed to pull out CJ's old set of blocks and just play with them making groups of ten.  So, this is what I've done with what's on hand.  I happen to have a ton of unifix cubes.  I picked some colors that matched Math-U-See the best I could, stacked them together and then labeled them with numbers.  It was then Eman's job to identify what two stacks of blocks would equal 10.  Though successful, I would love for him to work more on this concept, however he is bored with it already.  Any ideas to make the game more fun?