How to Use Blocks Rock! to Develop STEM Skills

When you think of STEM (aka Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics), what springs to mind? For many people, these areas may seem technical or intimidating. For Blocks Rock!, we strive to make STEM learning fun, interactive, and exciting for learners of all ages!

Our game is specially designed to offer an engaging and educational experience in the classroom, at home, or on the go. Learn more about how Blocks Rock! can help develop STEM skills for your students or kiddos with different studies, tips, and tricks below.

Playing Blocks Rock! Improves STEM Skills Naturally

When we say Blocks Rock! improves STEM skills, we have the data to back it up! Playing with blocks and engaging in friendly competition is not only fun, it helps build spatial awareness, mental rotation, and addition and subtraction skills.

Improving Spatial Reasoning | Indiana University Study

Through an Indiana University study, it was confirmed that structured block play lights up the areas of the brain associated with spatial reasoning. Participating in mental rotation tasks also positively impacts deductive reasoning and can lead to heightened STEM skills.

Improving Mathematics | University of Alabama Study

In a separate study from the University of Alabama’s College of Education, the impacts of structured and free block play on mathematical skills were observed. While both forms showed improvements for subtraction, structured block play, like Blocks Rock!, was found to benefit a broad range of math skills, including addition and subtraction. Therefore including Blocks Rock! for your child’s educational journey can help strengthen those all-important math techniques!

Ways to Use the Game in Your Classroom

While our Blocks Rock! game already includes a variety of STEM learning elements, there are plenty of additional options to integrate the traditional game with intentional skill building. By adding purposeful introduction and reflection activities with the gameplay, you’re helping to reinforce those important STEM skills. Check out some intro and post-activity ideas below:

Introduction

• Invite students to identify different shapes and colors of each block

• Practice pattern recognition with teacher-led activities

• Encourage kinesthetic learning and ask students to make the shapes of each block with their bodies

Post-Activity Ideas

• Ask students to count the cards they won to tally their success. You can even track these numbers over different weeks for an additional challenge!

• Reflect along with your young learners on what was easy or difficult about creating different block structures.

• Extend their learning by creating a block structure with certain pieces missing, then ask students to identify where the gaps are.

Ways to Use the STEM Cards in Your Preschool Classroom

For younger learners, the preschool STEM cards can be a terrific addition to make Blocks Rock! more accessible. You can integrate these cards to break down the steps students are taking as they create their block structures. Start by introducing different colors and shapes and showing clear examples of how they should match their blocks to the picture on the card. This is a great way to introduce structured block play for kids as young as 2 years old to work on their beginning STEM skills.

Explore the Blocks Rock! Curriculum Guides

If you think Blocks Rock! could be a good fit for your classroom or home, we have some handy curriculum guides ready to go and geared for K-6 age groups. Check out one of our 9 different options to see if there’s a curriculum guide that could benefit your classroom.

Learn more about Blocks Rock!

One of the best things about Blocks Rock! is how versatile our game is! As you can see, there are plenty of ways to utilize structured block play to improve and practice STEM skills. If you’re looking for more ways to utilize Blocks Rock! (maybe as a Soft Start activity in the classroom?), check out our past blog with ideas and suggestions.

And head over to Amazon to purchase your Blocks Rock! kit today!