Children Playing With Imagination Blue Foam Blocks Outside

You may have seen them. You probably have heard of them. You may be wondering about them. What are Big Blue Blocks?

The Big Blue Blocks from Imagination Playground are, literally, big blue blocks – think of a combination of Tinker Toys, Lego, and Lincoln Logs on steroids. But these blocks are also so much more. Hidden within the blocks and only revealed by imaginative minds are mazes, castles, rockets, race cars, giraffes, voyaging canoes, and musical instruments. Created by an award-winning architect inspired by his own children's play, the big foam blocks are basically a portable playground that can turn any space into a place for learning, social interactions, and open-ended play.

Hailey ('26) plays with the Big Blue Blocks at recess.

Elementary Principal Steve Ross was instrumental in bringing the Big Blue Blocks to ISLAND PACIFIC ACADEMY, and is very supportive of the unstructured, student-directed play that they encourage.

"The Big Blue Blocks provide a wonderful opportunity for all of our students, K-12, to engage in open-ended play," said Mr. Ross. "They give students an opportunity for unlimited self-expression. The only rule that we have for them is that 'Big Blue Blocks are for building'."

Through their play, the students are also putting in to practice many of the things they are learning in class.

"The students are learning about balance and gravity as they play with the blocks.  Real opportunities for problem solving are practiced, as children use the blocks to design and construct," said Mr. Ross. "And more problem solving skills are practiced as they work together to get all of the pieces back into the carts!" Not an easy task.

Fourth graders Gary and John create a structure with the Big Blue Blocks.

ISLAND PACIFIC ACADEMY purchased four large carts of Big Blue Blocks, and was mindful to select storage options that would allow the students to take charge of the blocks. The full carts are light enough that even younger students can roll them in and out for recess, fostering independence and giving the students a sense of ownership and responsibility.

The Big Blue Blocks are not only for the elementary students at recess. They are also an innovative educational tool and students in all grade levels, from K to 12, are able to use them in classes. In the upper school, Mrs. Dul's drama class has already put them to use, to the delight of the older students. As part of her 9th-10th grade unit on theatre and media, Mrs. Dul asked her students what they wish adults understood about them.

"The common theme I heard in their answers was that they know they are growing up, but adults need to understand they are still kids who still need time to play," said Mrs. Dul.

Hearing what they had to say, she incorporated the Big Blue Blocks into her activities exploring communication and trust as links between theatre and media. The students used the blocks to construct and creatively present their own communication devices, with towering structures taking up the majority of the classroom. The maze of block structures was then used to segue into the idea of trust by having the students take turns guiding their blindfolded classmates through the "minefield" of blocks.

"At the end of class they were still kind of playing around with the blocks, so I said 'Do you need 5 to 10 minutes of just non-agenda playtime?' and they said 'Yes, please!'," explained Mrs. Dul, so she ended the session with some free block play, letting the students know they had been heard.

Mrs. Dul's 9th and 10th graders used the blocks for their class activity.

Mrs. Dul plans to use the blocks again with her other classes in the near future.

"I'm really excited and I keep thinking of other ways (to use the blocks). It doesn't have to be the whole lesson, it can just be part of a lesson," she said.

In the elementary school, Ms. Stanton's and Mrs. Uesugi's 1st and 4th graders used the blocks when the two classes got together for Reading Buddies out on the lawn this week. The 1st graders are exploring the concept of housing/shelter in their current unit of inquiry, so the Reading Buddies worked together in pairs to build shelters with the blocks. Each structure was unique and ran the gamut from simple houses to elaborate mansions. The buddies then sat together in their newly constructed shelters to read to each other.

Sofia ('25) and Emma ('28) read in their Big Blue Block shelter during Reading Buddies.

The ISLAND PACIFIC ACADEMY faculty and staff even got in to the fun of the Big Blue Blocks, using them to facilitate team building at one of the leadership training sessions held before the start of the school year.

Island Pacific Academy faculty and staff unleash their creativity with the Big Blue Blocks.

IPA students will be able to enjoy the Big Blue Blocks for a long time to come. They are built to last and are waterproof and sun/heat resistant. An additional plus is that the Big Blue Blocks are green! They are made of biodegradable materials and can be returned to Imagination Playground for recycling.

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Source: https://islandpacificacademy.org/what-are-those-big-blue-blocks/

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