Wooden Building Blocks - The Standard Unit Block

One of the most important aspects of wooden building blocks is that they are wonderfully disguised learning tools. As children play with these simple toys, they learn how to handle and manipulate them to make extraordinary structures. In so doing there is eye hand coordination development happening, reasoning skills honed, problem solving being learned and a host of other developmental activity going on.

These wooden building blocks come in all shapes and sizes. You can find sets that replicate farm items and animals, medieval knights and castles, assorted random shapes, and many others. All these sets have their place and offer some educational value but none so much as the standard unit block set. The standard unit block was devised by Caroline Pratt, an educator in the early 1900’s, to not only be a toy but also have specific dimensions that would facilitate learning as well. The unit block therefore is standardized as a block 2 ¾” wide, 5 ½” long and 1 3/8” thick. If we examine these dimensions closely we find that there is nothing random about these measurements as the width is twice the thickness and the length is twice the width i.e. a 1:2:4 relationship. (See graphic).

With the various dimensions being multiples of one another children soon learn that there is a relationship between the different sides. They experiment and discover ways in which these blocks can be stacked or laid out and that different configurations can end up doing the same thing (height/length etc.).

The unit wooden building block set uses the dimensions mentioned above as a reference and develops smaller and larger blocks all based on multiples of the base unit block. This allows for a myriad of shapes and sizes for children to experiment with and learn from. A triangle formed by cutting a unit block from corner to corner provides a new shape that can become a ramp, a steeple, or when placed just so will become the same as the original rectangular block. An arc cut midway into a unit block’s length provides many opportunities for experiential learning as arch ways, bridges, etc. Pillars, whose diameter is the thickness and length is either the length or width of the standard unit, add even more creative possibilities.

When children are left alone to experiment with these types of wooden building blocks they not only get all the benefits of play but they also start to lean points of reason and problem solving. When children play together they of course learn social skills such a sharing and cooperation but they also learn to help one another problem solve. One child may want to do something like make a bridge and a playmate may suggest that it could be done using such and such.

A wooden building block set constructed on the unit block standard offer children both a toy and a learning tool. As marvelous structures are being built life long lessons are being learned.