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Unit Block Building
Caroline Pratt, a pioneering progressive educator and founder of City and Country School in New York City, developed unit blocks in the early 1900s as tools for thinking, expression, and construction. For Pratt, blocks weren’t just toys—they were a language children could use to represent the world and test their ideas about how it works.
Her block system was carefully designed to be proportional and open-ended, inviting children to build, imagine, collaborate, and solve real spatial and social problems. Block play supports math, storytelling, negotiation, and planning—all without adult instruction. It reflects Pratt’s belief that learning grows out of doing, not from passive instruction.
In classrooms that follow Pratt’s vision, block building is a serious intellectual and emotional activity. Children return again and again to projects, revise their structures, and often incorporate drawing, signs, and dramatic play. Teachers observe, document, and support—not by directing—but by noticing what questions are emerging and offering space for deeper exploration.
This approach resonates with the Reggio Emilia emphasis on symbolic representation, material exploration, and the teacher as researcher. It also aligns with constructivist traditions that value the child's perspective and the integration of head, hand, and heart.
Related Reading
- I Learn from Children by Caroline Pratt
- City and Country School – Block Program
- Teaching with Blocks – NAEYC
- The Power of Block Play – Community Playthings Articles
- Learning and Teaching with Froebel Blocks for historical context
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