Montessori Mom

"Play is the work of the child." — Maria Montessori

Blocks are one of the most timeless and powerful learning tools you can offer a child — from the very first soft cube placed in a baby's hands to the architectural masterpieces a preschooler builds on the living room floor. In this lesson, we explore how blocks grow with your child, introducing concepts of grasping, stacking, geometry, measuring, and early math in a natural, hands-on progression. Whether you sew your own soft pillow blocks or invest in a beautiful set of wooden cubes, your child will return to block play again and again — each time learning something new.

🎒 Materials You'll Need

• Soft fabric/cotton material and stuffing for homemade pillow blocks (see free pattern below)
• Small wooden alphabet blocks — classic cube blocks for stacking and letter recognition
• Montessori Pink Tower or nesting/stacking blocks
• Architectural block set with various shapes (triangles, rectangles, cylinders, arches)
• A tape measure or yard/meter stick
• A work mat or rug
• Printed symbol cards for greater than, less than, and equal to (see free printouts below)
• 👉 Wooden ABC Block Set on Amazon
• 👉 Montessori Practical Life Tray on Amazon

🔎 Free Printouts

Use these free printable resources to extend the lesson:

• 📄 Cloth Cube Pattern — Sew your baby's very first soft block set
• 📄 Block Measuring Printout — Cut out and tape together a block "measuring tape" for hands-on measurement

🧸 Part 1: Soft Pillow Blocks for Babies & Toddlers

Why Start with Soft Blocks?

Pillow blocks shaped as cubes were one of the first toys I introduced to my babies. I received homemade soft cube blocks from a clever friend — and they were the best! Made from soft cotton material and filled with gentle stuffing, just holding a soft cube is an exciting academic achievement for a baby who can grasp objects. These first blocks should all be the same size.

When your infant can sit up, it's the perfect time to offer one soft block to hold and feel. Later, introduce a second same-sized block. The magic really begins when your toddler starts to stack!

Activity 1: First Stacking

When it's clear your toddler can stack objects, show them how to stack two blocks. Slowly place one block on top of the other — your toddler will copy you and do the same! Gradually add one more block until your child can stack three. This simple activity builds concentration, hand-eye coordination, and a long attention span. They'll be entertained by this for a wonderfully long time.

🪡 How to Sew Your Own Pillow Blocks

Making your own soft blocks is a lovely project — and they make beautiful baby gifts, too!

1. Choose your fabric: Use washed cotton material. Recycled material such as denim jeans works well. Make sure the fabric is soft, clean, and safe.
2. Cut six squares for each cube (each block has 6 sides). You can choose the size you'd like.
3. Sew them together with wrong sides facing out, forming a cube shape. Leave about a two-inch opening at the last square.
4. Turn the block right-side out through the opening.
5. Fill with stuffing of your choice — cut-up nylon stockings work well!
6. Hand-sew the opening securely closed.

💡 Tip: Make various sizes from felt material for older preschool children to sort by size. I've made sets from pink felt — they turned out beautifully!

🧱 Part 2: Small Wooden Cube Blocks

After soft blocks, I would introduce small wooden cube blocks next. Ours had belonged to grandma — it's amazing how long quality blocks last! They featured uppercase letters with an object starting with that letter on the other side. Just make sure any blocks you use are lead-free and non-toxic.

Holding and stacking the smaller wooden blocks helps refine your child's grasp and coordination beyond what the soft blocks offered.

The Pink Tower & Nesting Blocks

The Montessori Pink Tower is usually introduced after your child has had plenty of stacking experience. If you don't have access to a Pink Tower, you can purchase a set of 10 nesting blocks instead. Use them two ways:

1. Stacking: Show your child how to build the tower from largest to smallest.
2. Nesting: Let your child fit them inside one another. This exercise helps demonstrate size, volume, and shape in another way.

🏗️ Part 3: Architectural Blocks & Geometry

Sets of architectural blocks with different sizes and shapes are wonderful for conceptual learning. Your child will discover that:

• Two triangles make a square
• Two square blocks make a rectangle
• Two half circles make a whole circle

These are basic geometry concepts learned through the hands! The ideas of gravity, balance, and design are all part of building block structures. Blocks are toys your children can use well into elementary school.

🎯 Block Play Activities for Older Children

• Body measurement building: Have your child build structures as high as their ankle, knee, hips, elbows, waist, shoulder, and head. This teaches measurement in proportion to the body while reinforcing body part vocabulary.
• Shape exploration: Ask your child how many different shapes they can make from the blocks. Introduce how to combine shapes — two triangles into a square, two half circles into a whole circle, and so on.
• Measuring with tools: Using a tape measure or yard/meter stick, let your child measure the dimensions of their building. Which side is longer? Which is shorter? How tall is the building? How wide? How long?
• Measuring with blocks: Use the block measuring printout (linked above). Use larger blocks if your child is just beginning to understand counting. Print several copies, cut out either the large or small blocks, and tape them together to make a "measuring tape." Add onto it as your child learns to count higher quantities.
• Spatial vocabulary: Teach names for positional concepts such as on top, beside, behind, underneath, next to, above, and below — as well as shape names like square, triangle, rectangle, cube, cylinder, and circle.

🔢 Part 4: Greater Than, Less Than & Equal To

This is a wonderful advanced math game using blocks and symbol cards. Use the three-period lesson to introduce the symbols, then use blocks to build equations.

Here's how you would lay the blocks and symbol cards on a table or rug:

You can use these symbols with other objects around your home or classroom too — comparing groups of shells, buttons, crayons, or anything your child enjoys counting!

🌟 Purpose of This Lesson

Block play introduces children to three-dimensional geometric shapes and supports learning in math, counting, size comparison (less than, greater than, equal to), spatial reasoning, and measurement. It develops visual perception, kinesthetic learning, and lays the foundation for geometry concepts that will serve your child for years to come.

From the first soft cube a baby grasps to the complex structures an older child engineers, blocks are truly one of the most complete Montessori materials you can offer. Enjoy building together! 🧱