Toy blocks (also building bricks, or simply blocks), are wooden, plastic or foam pieces of various shapes (square, cylinder, arch, triangle, etc. Wood is hard fibrous lignified structural tissue produced as secondary Xylem in the stems of Woody plants notably trees but also shrubs Plastic is the general common term for a wide range of synthetic or semisynthetic organic solid materials suitable for the manufacture of industrial products The most general definition of foam is a substance that is formed by trapping many gas Bubbles in a Liquid or Solid. Classification A square (regular Quadrilateral) is a special case of a Rectangle as it has four right angles and equal parallel sides A cylinder is one of the most basic curvilinear geometric shapes the Surface formed by the points at a fixed distance from a given Straight line, the axis An arch is a structure that spans a space while supporting weight (e A triangle is one of the basic Shapes of Geometry: a Polygon with three corners or vertices and three sides or edges which are Line ) and colors that are used as building toys. This article is about playthings For other uses of the term see Toy (disambiguation. Sometimes toy blocks depict letters of the alphabet. An alphabet is a standardized set of letters basic written symbols each of which roughly represents a Phoneme, a Spoken language, either

Contents 1 History 2 Educational benefits 3 In popular culture 4 References 5 See also

History

1693: Alphabet Nursery Blocks were originally developed in 17th century England. The philosopher John Locke, in 1693, made the statement that "dice and playthings, with letters on them to teach children the alphabet by playing" would make learning to read a more enjoyable experience. John Locke (29 August 1632 – 28 October 1704 was an English Philosopher. ^[1]

1798: Witold Rybczynski has found that the earliest mention of building bricks for children appears in Maria and R.L. Edgeworth's Practical Education (1798). Witold Rybczynski (born in 1943 in Edinburgh, Scotland) is a Canadian architect, Professor and Writer. Maria Edgeworth (1 January 1767 &ndash 22 May 1849 was an Anglo-Irish novelist Richard Lovell Edgeworth (31 May 1744 - 13 June 1817 was an English writer and inventor Year 1798 ( MDCCXCVIII) was a Common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Called "rational toys," blocks were intended to teach children about gravity and physics, as well as spatial relationships that allow them to see how many different parts become a whole. Gravitation is a natural Phenomenon by which objects with Mass attract one another Physics (Greek Physis - φύσις in everyday terms is the Science of Matter and its motion. ^[2]

1820: The first large-scale production of blocks was in the Williamsburg area of Brooklyn by S. L. Hill, who patented "ornamenting wood" a patent related to painting or coloring a block surface prior to the embossing process and then adding another color after the embossing to have multi-colored blocks. ^[3]

1850: During the mid-nineteenth century, Henry Cole (under the pseudonym of Felix Summerly) wrote a series of children’s books. Sir Henry Cole ( 15 July 1808, Bath, England – 18 April 1882, London, England) was a Civil A pseudonym is a fictitious alternative to a person's legal name (see Alias) Children's literature is an age category of literature written for published for or marketed to Children roughly through age 12 Cole's A book of stories from The Home Treasury included a box of terracotta toy blocks and, in the accompanying pamphlet "Architectural Pastime. Terra cotta ( Italian: "baked earth" is a Ceramic. Its uses include vessels water & waste water pipes and surface embellishment in Building construction A pamphlet is an unbound Booklet (that is without a hard cover or binding) ", actual blueprints.

2003: National Toy Hall of Fame at the Strong Museum, inducted ABC blocks into their collection, granting it the title of one of America's toys of national significance. The National Toy Hall of Fame is an American hall of fame that recognizes the contributions of Toys and Games that have sustained their popularity for many ^[4]

Educational benefits

• Physical benefits: toy blocks build strength in a child’s fingers and hands, and improve eye-hand coordination. They also help educate children in different shapes.

• Social benefits: block play encourages children to make friends and cooperate, and is often one of the first experiences a child has playing with others. Friendship is a term used to denote co-operative and supportive behavior between two or more beings Blocks are a benifit for the children because they incourage interaction and imagination. Creativity can be a combined action that is important for social play.

• Intellectual benefits: children can potentially develop their vocabularies as they learn to describe sizes, shapes, and positions. The vocabulary of a person is defined either as the set of all Words that are understood by that person or the set of all words likely to be used by that person when constructing Math skills are developed through the process of grouping, adding, and subtracting, particularly with standardized blocks, such as unit blocks. Mathematics is the body of Knowledge and Academic discipline that studies such concepts as Quantity, Structure, Space and A unit block is a type of standardized wooden Toy block for children Experiences with gravity, balance, and geometry learned from toy blocks also provide intellectual stimulation. Gravitation is a natural Phenomenon by which objects with Mass attract one another In Biomechanics, balance is an ability to maintain the Center of gravity of a body within the Base of support with minimal Postural sway. Geometry ( Greek γεωμετρία; geo = earth metria = measure is a part of Mathematics concerned with questions of size shape and relative position

• Creative benefits: children receive creative stimulation by making their own designs with blocks.

In popular culture

Art Clokey, the creator of Gumby, has stated that Gumby's nemeses, the Block-heads, evolved from the blocks that appeared in the toy store that originally provided the setting for the stop-motion series. Arthur C (Art Clokey (born Arthur Farrington October 12, 1921, Detroit Michigan) is a pioneer in the popularization of Stop motion Clay Gumby is a dark green Clay humanoid figure who was the subject of a 233-episode series of American Television which spanned over a 35-year period The Blockheads are clay animated characters in the Gumby Television series, created by Animator Art Clokey; they are a pair of humanoid Stop motion (or frame-by-frame) animation is an Animation technique to make a physically manipulated object appear to move on its own ^[5]

References

1. ^ The History of Alphabet Blocks. Nuttybug. Retrieved on 2008-02-14. 2008 ( MMVIII) is the current year in accordance with the Gregorian calendar, a Leap year that started on Tuesday of the Common Events 842 - Charles the Bald and Louis the German swear the Oaths of Strasbourg in the French and German
2. ^ Witold Rybczynski, Looking Around: A Journey Through Architecture, 2006
3. ^ The History of Alphabet Blocks. Witold Rybczynski (born in 1943 in Edinburgh, Scotland) is a Canadian architect, Professor and Writer. Nuttybug. Retrieved on 2008-02-14. 2008 ( MMVIII) is the current year in accordance with the Gregorian calendar, a Leap year that started on Tuesday of the Common Events 842 - Charles the Bald and Louis the German swear the Oaths of Strasbourg in the French and German
4. ^ The History of Alphabet Blocks. Nuttybug. Retrieved on 2008-02-14. 2008 ( MMVIII) is the current year in accordance with the Gregorian calendar, a Leap year that started on Tuesday of the Common Events 842 - Charles the Bald and Louis the German swear the Oaths of Strasbourg in the French and German
5. ^ gumbyworld.com

• Barclay Woods
• Block play: Building a child's mind, the National Association for the Education of Young Children

See also

• Unit block, a popular standardized wooden toy block
• Kapla, a wooden block construction toy
• LEGO, a line of popular plastic building toys
• Lincoln Logs, a toy consisting of notched miniature logs
• Stickle bricks, a plastic construction toy primarily intended for toddlers
• Froebel Gifts, a range of educational materials first used in the original Kindergarten
• Tinkertoys, rods and wheels. History In the 1920s concern over the varying quality of emerging nursery school programs in the United States triggered Patty Smith Hill to gather prominent figures A unit block is a type of standardized wooden Toy block for children Kapla is a wooden block construction toy for children and adults Lego, officially trademarked LEGO, is a line of construction Toys manufactured by the Lego Group, a privately Lincoln Logs are a Toy consisting of notched miniature logs about ¾ inches (1-2 cm) in Diameter. Stickle Bricks are a construction Toy primarily intended for toddlers invented by Denys Fisher. The Froebel Gifts ( German: Fröbelgaben) are a range of educational materials designed by Friedrich Froebel. The Tinkertoy Construction Set was created in 1914&mdashone year after the A

---

© 2009 citizendia.org; parts available under the terms of GNU Free Documentation License, from http://en.wikipedia.org
Dapyx Software network: MP3 Explorer | Ebook Manager | Zenithic