Overall, as early childhood professionals, our goal is to support and guide the on-going development in children. Curricula created from this perspective is called integrated. Children represent their thinking by creating objects such as walls or tracks or houses as well as counting and patterning. They are using their vocabulary to describe what they are doing. Listen to children as they talk to themselves while they work.
Children build a sense of autonomy and achievement as the blocks are stacked higher.
They practice turn-taking and develop persistence. Certainly, you could add more skills to this list. All of these experiences are happening at once while playing with blocks. Professionals in early childhood also recognize that children learn best when these integrated experiences are based upon the developmental level of each child. For example, think of the 24-month old in your care.