How construction play supports child development

Watch a group of children building things with construction pieces and you'll see far more than play. Every connection, challenge and little decision is helping to develop skills that will support learning both in school, as well as in later life. Open-ended construction play is not only great fun, but also a powerful self-directed learning tool.  

What is construction play?

Construction play involves assembling building materials to create structures – but it goes deeper than simply building and knocking over blocks. It’s imagination, visualisation and problem-solving needed to make it real, using the materials they have.  

A bridge isn’t necessarily just a bridge either. It could be an old stone bridge leading to a princess’s castle with a fire breathing dragon underneath it. Construction play helps children build somewhere to escape to and let their imagination run wild, even sharing it with others.  

What are the benefits of construction play?

Construction play offers so much more than simply building models. When children connect, create, test and rebuild, they develop a wide range of skills that support their learning, confidence and overall development.  

From fine motor control and hand-eye coordination to problem-solving and critical thinking, construction play brings together multiple areas of learning in a meaningful and engaging way. As children experiment with different designs, they learn to plan, persevere and think creatively to bring their ideas to life. 

Developing fine motor skills

Tiny muscles creating big designs while improving their hand-eye coordination and strengthening their hand muscles. When building with Polydron it requires careful manipulation of the pieces to click, connect, stack and create adventures. As they build and create, children naturally strengthen their pincer grip, helping to lay the foundations of confident handwriting.  

Encouraging creativity and problem solving 

Polydron encourages open-ended play and creativity. Afterall, there is more than one way to build a tower. With Polydron it allows children to create their own fantastical worlds from towering castles to rockets exploring mars and boats sailing the rainbow sea. Polydron gives children freedom to turn their big ideas into reality.  

Building communication, social and emotional skills

As they build, children naturally practice their communication and language skills by discussing their plans, explain their thinking, asking questions and negotiating roles. This helps them to expand on their vocabulary while building their confidence in expressing themselves along the way.  

This also strengthens their collaborative skills and teamwork, so when their ideas don’t go to plan, they are able to come together to support one and other to build something even better and stronger.  

Sometimes creations don’t stay standing, and that’s okay as well. It’s one of the ways little learners can understand how to regulate their emotions and engage their problem-solving skills by having another go. They can ask themselves or each other questions like ‘how can I make it even stronger this time?’ and discuss ideas, building friendships at the same time.

How construction play and STEM connect

Every bridge, tower and colourful creation is an opportunity for children to explore STEM concepts in a hands-on, meaningful way. Children become curious thinkers, creative problem-solvers and confident developing their skills in the classroom and beyond.  

Developing planning and critical thinking skills

When building a set with hundreds of pieces, children often need to think ahead. By following a sequence and adapting plans, their structures take shape and ideas grow. This leads into engineering concepts with forming their own clear plan, following instructions step by step and making thoughtful decisions along the way.  

These skills support wider classroom learning, making sure to follow other instructions carefully and expanding their capacity for everyday problem-solving. 

Considering weight and measurements in designs 

A fundamental part of construction is making sure that the structure being made can take the weight of what it needs to do. So, if children plan on putting their favourite small world play character up top, what they’re building needs to be strong enough. If the structure falls down, they can think about why it didn’t work and what’s needed to reinforce things. 

The same goes for looking at the shape and size of different construction play items. If they have a mix of big and small pieces, they’ll need to see how they can best put them together to bring what’s in their imagination into the real world. 

Bring maths to life

At its heart, Polydron is a fantastic tool for making maths meaningful, hands-on and fun. For many children, especially those who learn best doing, maths can be a scary and daunting concept to grasp on paper. Polydron puts those mathematical concepts into their hands to explore instead, like examining the different nets of a cube.  

Rather than simply looking at diagrams in a textbook, children can discover how each net folds into a 3D shape for themselves using just six Polydron squares. That extends to pyramids, prisms and even footballs (truncated icosahedrons, to be exact), so children can get a deeper understanding of geometry and three-dimensional structures. 

The Polydron Geometry Bulk Set and Frameworks Geometry Set provide a way to introduce concepts into the classroom supporting learners of all abilities.  

When play leads into later life

Construction play is a great starting point for equipping children with the skills they’ll need for KS1, KS2 and beyond. And it doesn’t feel like learning for the most part. But the more they take part in construction play, the more they improve a variety of practical skills. 

This can even develop into a lifelong interest in building things or imaginative hobbies, evolving into a career in engineering or digital design later in life. It all starts with putting that first construction tool like Polydron into their hands. If you’re ready to introduce more construction play in the classroom, these free classroom activities can help get you started.