under construction! this week's summer spotlight!

1 day ago
11 min read

Monday, July 13, 2026

We each had a great summer weekend filled with sun and fun

and we hope you did, too!

How is it already the middle of July?

This summer, our series This Week’s Summer Spotlight!

focuses on favorite themes that you can use and adapt

as you enjoy special times with your Littles…

Perhaps while caring for them while parents are at work

during an evening or weekend visit

even when on a FaceTime call with those sweet faces!

So far, as part of this series,

we’ve shared activities and adventures focused on the following themes:

Fun in the Sun Activities Jar!

How Does Your Garden Grow?

Pajama Jam!

Going Buggy!

And now… onto this week’s theme!

If your Littles are intrigued with how things work,

tools and building things or engineering,

this post will definitely be a hit!

Our Littles are natural engineers,

constantly imagining, designing, testing, building, and rebuilding

as they stack blocks, create structures, balance towers,

and solve one "construction challenge" after another.

Whether your little one dreams of driving an excavator,

designing the next great invention, or simply loves to tinker,

we’ve got plenty of hands-on activities this week

that are sure to inspire Littles of all ages!

Before we get started though, let’s delve into a bit of background about why this type of play is so important for a Little’s growth and development. Research shows that when given a choice of free play activities, constructive play is chosen more that 50% of the time by young Littles! As Littles work to put blocks, bricks, or other construction materials together in new and creative ways, they often learn to think outside the box and they learn, through experience, how to test their own ideas! These opportunities provide the following benefits…

Yes, playing with construction toys is powerful…

Not to mention, lots of FUN!

Our GRAND Tips for Successful Constructive Play!

#1 - Play with Your Littles!

Demonstrating and modeling (without telling) helps your Littles, especially our younger ones, discover different ways of doing things! You’ll also show them how to cooperate and share with others! PLUS, your Littles will love having you join in the fun!

#2 - Add Other Characters & Accessories!

Additional toys, like play people and vehicles, provide more new ideas for creations and encourage pretend play that mimics real life situations! Don’t forget to combine different materials, too! Your Littles will love mixing blocks with Legos as they create!

#3 - Storytime Fun!

Pick up a few fun construction stories from the library to enjoy together during a quiet moment! After reading stories, Littles will be even more excited to pretend as they build! (Here’s a few titles from Homeschool Preschool to get you started in your search.) NOTE - While we always prefer holding books and reading directly to our Littles, we also know that isn’t always possible. So, check out the library as an option, or you could also search titles on Youtube and watch 1-2 as you snuggle together!

#4 - Challenge Your Littles!

While free play is very important for our Littles, many of them (especially our older Littles) will be excited by the challenge presented when given a specific task or asked to use a picture or diagram to create a structure! Think about how fun it would be to see what your Little creates when challenged to build the tallest structure possible OR to build something using only 10 or 20 construction pieces! Providing these specific guidelines helps our Littles problem solve in new and exciting ways!

What could this Little build with toothpicks and gumdrops?

There’s nothing quite like it…

The feeling of creating something out of nothing!

That is precisely what makes construction toys,

from trucks to hard hats to tools to building blocks,

so engaging and empowering for our Littles!

There are many wonderful manufactured construction toys widely available - Legos, Bristle Blocks, Tinker Toys, Magna Tiles and Lincoln Logs are some of our favorites!

Another option is to find building materials around your home… You’d be surprised by how many simple and inexpensive materials are found in our homes that Littles will eagerly use in their pursuits to build, design, stack, assemble and create!

Straws, toothpicks, paper and plastic cups, craft sticks, noodles and more!

Setting the Stage with Infants & Toddlers!

Prior to 15-16 months old, our Littles will not yet be developmentally ready to play with construction toys. HOWEVER, at these younger ages, we can provide LOTS of experiences to strengthen those little muscles with simple fine motor activities that include reaching, grasping and manipulating objects! These skills also involve tracking with eyes, often referred to as hand-eye coordination!

When Littles are very young (0-6 months)

you can support fine motor development by doing the following:

Rattle Grab! To help strengthen your Little’s arms, offer him/her a rattle to grab onto. Gently, pull on it! With practice, you’ll be able to feel your Little holding on to the rattle more firmly! You can do this with shaky toys, too… or simply move them in front of your Little as you watch his/her eyes track the toy!

Tummy Time! Prop your Little up on a rolled up towel so his/her hands can reach out for toys nearby. Such a great way to exercise core muscles, too!

Follow, Follow! Use a toy, a stuffed animal or a small object and slowly move it around the space between you and your Little. Watch your Little track the object! You can also play the classic game, Peek-a-Boo with babies! They will giggle in delight!

Each of these is fun to do with Littles who can sit up on their own!

Putting pom poms (or cotton balls) in a wire whisk

and then letting your Little pull them out!

Making your own DIY Tugging Toy with ribbon tied on both ends,

strung through a cardboard box!

Pulling painter’s tape off the wall!

NOTE: In each instance, watch your Little carefully so that objects don’t find their way

into your Little’s mouth!

And who could forget these favorite ideas from past posts…

Colander Fun… with feathers, flowers or more!

Popsicle Stick Push… make it more difficult as Littles get older!

A Tower of Post It Notes… simple and easy to create!

A Q-Tip Jar… takes lots of hand-eye coordination!

Threading Fruit Loops… excellent fine motor practice!

Popsicle Stick Drop… such fun and can be adapted t

Each of these activities, using mostly common household items, will help your Littles strengthen skills - fine motor and hand-eye - that will, undoubtedly lead to successful play experiences in the future!

Toddlers & Constructive Play… Transitioning Ideas!

Once Littles can stack three or more blocks on top of each other, they are ready to be introduced to construction toys! Here are some suggestions to try with these Littles!

👷 Block Towers!

Beginning at floor level, put a few strips of painter’s tape up on the wall at varying lengths to mark how tall each tower should be. Challenge your Littles to use blocks to build a tower to match each strip of tape!

NOTE: In these photos, Little L was a little young to do this activity independently, but she sure had fun adding to the towers! And… we found that the stacking toys worked very well at her age and were a great way to adapt this activity!

👷 Building with Disposable Cups & Index Cards!

You don’t have to have blocks or other constructive play materials in order to build structures with your Littles! We rounded up whatever paper/plastic cups we had left over from past events and also provided index cards and, before we knew it, the creating began! Now… granted, Little L at 18 months old, was much more interested in knocking the structures down but we still had loads of fun on multiple occasions!

👷 Construction Zone Rice Bin!

Take out that rice bin again and fill it with some construction vehicles and blocks. Encourage you Little to move the blocks around with their cars and trucks.

If you don’t have rice available, use other items easily found around your home… dry beans, pom poms or cotton balls, sand, paper shreds, noodles or sticks and stones, even oatmeal are all possibilities! Better still, switch it up from time to time!

👷 Vroom… Vroom… Painting!

Put out some washable paint and a few construction vehicles and let your child paint away! Roll the wheels in the paint and “drive” across the paper.

When you are done, run your cars and trucks through the car wash after to clean them all up! (Check out our past post, A Summer Fave! At the Car Wash! for ideas about setting this up!)

👷 Recycled Buildings!

No wooden or plastic boxes around your house? Just gather a collection of boxes from your recycling bins! How fun, building and creating with different shapes and sizes!

In fact, there’s not much that entertains a Little more than some markers and a big box!

👷 Contact Paper & Block Buildings!

These foam blocks have been a hit over the years! Our Littles could play with them in the bathtub or on the floor or counter.

They could even be used for this fun project!

We started by taping a large piece of clear contact paper to the wall (with the sticky side facing out). Littles simply get busy using the blocks to create towers and buildings by pressing them on to the contact paper! Older Littles can even create a map or a mural of a neighborhood using this idea!

This Idea Works Perfectly for Any Age!

Here in Minnesota, we refer to summer as Construction Season! You can almost always see trucks and builders somewhere around your neighborhood and traffic often comes to a standstill no matter the time of day!. There is nothing more fascinating for a young child than to watch real-life trucks and workers! Scope out the area and take a walk with your Little.. Bring a blanket and just sit and watch the action.

Then, when you get home,

lay out some toy trucks and blocks,

and watch your child’s imagination go wild!

Older Littles & Constructive Play… Creativity Soars!

Keep in mind that many preschool Littles (and even older kiddos)

will enjoy many of the constructive play activities

previously outlined in this post!

Meanwhile, once our Littles turn three, their block play becomes even more creative and imaginative. They may start building a variety of things - houses, skyscrapers, bridges, tunnels, and more!. They will also start to make patterns and will make roads. They may even tell a story about what they are building! Developmentally, a lot is going on!

Even older Littles - school age kids and tweens - benefit from playing with blocks! They have lasting appeal and are a perfect activity for Littles of varying ages! Check out a few favorite activities described below!

⚒️ Big Box Drive In!

We first shared this idea in a post last summer when Laurie and her Littles participated in this memorable activity during a visit to their local library!

It would be a cinch to recreate at home with your own Littles!

You’ll need a box large enough for your Little to fit in. In fact, you’ll want one large box for each Little, so plan ahead!

The library supplied paper plates for wheels and a steering wheel, paper cups or muffin liners for lights and a photocopied license plate for each “vehicle.”. However, you could use whatever materials you like. You’ll also want to provide the typical craft supplies - scissors, glue or glue sticks, crayons or markers! (Older Littles would love having paint and aluminum foil available, too!)

Time to build! This is a great time for your Littles to let their creative juices flow! Support and help as needed - we recommend taking direction from your Littles and their visions!

When your Littles’ cars are done, it’s time for them to hop in! At this point, you can serve a snack and turn on a movie to watch. At the library, we watched the video of the children’s book, Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus by Mo Willems.

Of course, don’t be surprised if you get persuaded

to “push” your Littles around so they can practice their driving skills!

⚒️ Stack ‘Em High!

Oh, how kindergartners love to play this game! Sit in a circle with each Little holding a cube. Go around the circle and each person stacks their cube on the tower. Their faces as the tower gets taller and taller and the tension that mounts are priceless! This was always a good time to talk about sportsmanship and how to react when the tower ultimately tips over! This is also very easy to play with 2 players. Each player gets a pile of cubes and you go back and forth adding them. Keep a running record as you go!. Can you beat your best tower?

⚒️ Construction Zone… Dramatic Play Center!

Setting up a dramatic play center at home is always fun and a Construction Zone dramatic play center could offer hours of play, as well! Check out this post with general tips for creating a play center. (In that post we detailed our Animal Hospital play center.

Items to put in a Construction Zone play center might include toy tools (hammers, screwdrivers, screws, saws), toy construction hats and vests, safety goggles, a variety of blocks and building materials, safety cones, "keep out" tape, measuring tape, foam pieces or cardboard boxes and toy construction vehicles!

Your Littles will get to work very quickly

building with the blocks, measuring their concoctions

and working together!

NOTE: We had styrofoam on hand and it was a bit messy,

so be forewarned

😳

⚒️ Graph Paper Blueprints!

Give your older Littles (third grade and up) some old fashioned graph paper (you can also print it on your computer) and encourage them to design a house or building on it! Your Littles will love it if you create a blueprint, too!

⚒️ A Room with a View!

Have you ever come home from the liquor store with your purchases packed in a box, with slotted cardboard inside? We took that box and cut the flaps off and set it out for our Littles to enjoy.

Little D used the box as a castle for her princesses and Little People, carefully finding “a room” for each figure. Little P filled the slots with plastic animals and other little objects that were safe for her. She LOVED pulling them out and putting them back in!

⚒️ Craft Stick Creations!

This was an easy project to set up for our Littles to do during quiet time or even when traveling in the car! We added self-adhesive magnets to one side of both ends of a variety of craft sticks (we had colored ones) and then we also provided a magnetic cookie sheet for our Littles to use as their “canvas”. We housed the craft sticks in a Ziploc bag for easy storage, too!

⚒️ Nothing Beats Free Play!

Sometimes freeplay is just best of all! Give your Little(s) the time, space and resources to use their imaginations and just watch to see what they create!