BLOCK FEST

Sumner School District to host BLOCK FEST ™ in conjunction with the District K-12 Science Fair & Art Show

Bring the young children in your life to play and learn with little blocks, big blocks and very big blocks, square blocks and round blocks, wooden blocks, foam blocks, cardboard blocks...lots and lots of blocks! Block Fest™ is a building extravaganza for parents and children 8 months to 8 years of age. Block play helps children develop early math, science and literacy skills. Early learning helps prepare children for success in school and life. It is an interactive exhibit that provides families with young children under the age of 8 with a rich, hands-on math and science learning opportunity. The exhibit has been shown to increase parent knowledge of early development in the areas of math and science education, while providing opportunities to increase social skills and literacy opportunities for young children.  

This event is free and open to the public.  

Saturday, February 5, 2011 10:00 a.m. -12:00 p.m. and 1:30 – 3:00 p.m. Mountain View Middle School is located at 10921 199th Ave. Ct. E. in Bonney Lake

Research shows that children build math and science skills from the earliest years of life and that play provides a natural learning lab for such development. Block play offers a rich opportunity for early math and science learning and the development of social, emotional, language, motor and cognitive skills.

University of Idaho survey results show that:

• 95% of parents gain new knowledge about how their child learned through block play.
• 90% of parents learned ways to support early math and science learning for their child.
• Parents incorporate math and science talk in their everyday experiences with their child.

The Block Fest™ exhibit consists of  5 different block stations. 

• Parents and children spend about 10 minutes playing at a block station. Upon signal, parents and children clean up their block station and move to the next area. Station facilitators guide this process. The entire time in the exhibit is up to one hour.
• Information about how children learn math and science concepts is offered at each station by facilitators and by reading informational exhibit pieces.
• Parents receive a take-home booklet, Playing and Learning with Blocks!, written by Block Fest™ developers. This booklet brings the Block Fest exhibit home.
• Parents complete a brief evaluation at the end of the exhibit. In addition, a web-based evaluation is available for parents to complete for 2 months after attending the exhibit.

Block Fest was developed by Idaho Parents As Teachers and is presented by the Sumner School District Teaching & Learning Department.