Why I Play with Blocks

Yes, I play with blocks although I am an adult, and I'm not afraid to admit it.

Whenever I would visit my Grandma's house, I was excited to play with her set of blocks. I never had my own, but continued to want one. About a month ago, I bought some lumber from the hardware store, borrowed my neighbor's saw, and created my own set of blocks. Yesterday I spent about an hour building various kinds of towers, and I realized some very specific reasons why I enjoy playing with blocks.

Here are some of the top reasons that I play with blocks:

• It allows me to be creative. I can easily move the pieces around to get just the right look. There's a sense of freedom not worrying about what others will say if I make something that's kind of weird.
  
• It develops a sub-skill of creativity: spatial visualization (the ability to picture something before it is tangible) with things like the length of certain pieces.
  
• It develops my appreciation of both aesthetics (right brain) and precision (left brain).
  
• It refines my fine motor skills.
• Some problem solving skills such as patience and determination are refined when facing challenges with construction.
  
• It's very relaxing and can effectively take my mind off stress.
  

Psychologists tell us that the most formulative years in a person's life are when they are age 5 and younger. What else happens before age 5? A lot of playing with blocks and other activities that stimulate the mind. Could it be that the development of the mind slows down after that because people move away from activities that stimulate the mind? When we continue to do things that we are already good at, we don't get much smarter. The learning curve is steeper while we are doing new things.

Although I have several reasons for playing with blocks, if I only play with blocks, I'll eventually find myself in a rut. As a general rule, when a friend wants to introduce me to a new game, always accept, even when there's another game that I know and enjoy more. I force myself to learn new rules and new strategies. I find that these new approaches to thinking are helpful in daily life (not to mention adding some spice of variety).