How to Use Mega Bloks in Your Homeschool
Does your family have a collection of Mega Bloks? These over size construction bricks are a great building tool for younger children. I discovered last year they also make an excellent learning tool for math and language arts.
They are customizable so that you can work with each child at the appropriate level. These Bloks are also enjoyable, helping to break up the workbook routine. My kids love learning through play!
If you want to use Mega Bloks in your homeschool, here’s a quick overview to get you started.
Gather Your Supplies
Turning Mega Bloks into a learning tool is simple. You won’t need a ton of supplies. All you need is:
● Mega Bloks
● Dry Erase Markers
● Baby Wipes
Decide What to Teach
What you plan on teaching determines the number of Mega Bloks you will need. Here are some ideas:
Math
● Number Identification
● Counting
● Sorting
● Addition and Subtraction Sentences
● Multiplication and Division Sentences
Language Arts
● Letter Identification
● Capital and Lowercase Matching
● Decoding Words
● Sight Word Recognition
● Word Family Practice
● Recognizing Letters to Spell Name
Once you figure out what to teach, you or your child, depending on his/her abilities, will have to prepare your Bloks. Just give her a Dry Erase Marker and show her what to write on each Blok, or you can do it yourself beforehand.
How to Prepare the Bloks
Use the Dry Erase Marker to write on each Blok.
You can use single prong Bloks by:
● Writing a letter or number on each
● Writing a capital letter on some and corresponding lower-case letters on others
To use multi-prong Bloks, you can:
● Write a letter of a word on each prong
● Create a math sentence, with one component on each prong
● Write a sight word on the base of the Blok
Ready, Set, Play!
Once your Bloks are ready, it is time for learning through play. Here are some of the games my children enjoy most:
Hunt and Find
I ask my kids to step out of the room, while I hide all the prepared Mega Bloks. When they are hidden, the children come back into the room and search for them.
As they find each Blok, the kids bring them over to the table and organize them. If they are looking for the alphabet, they put the Bloks in ABC order; if the game is to read words, they try to place them into sentences.
Stack and Read
After I have written letters on single pronged Bloks, I ask my kids to build words. They have to look through the Bloks, find the letters they need, stack them up to spell the word correctly and read it aloud before starting on the next word.
A Pen of Numbers
After giving my children Bloks with numbers on them, I ask them to build a pen or a wall. They must ensure the numbers are in order when read. They would place the number one next to the number two and so on as they build. You can do this with letters as well.
Building Words
Using a two-prong Blok as the word family, children can readily add a single prong Blok in front to make a new word. It is a quick way to practice reading word family words.
Sort
To help improve critical thinking, I sort the Bloks quickly and then ask my child to figure out how I grouped them.
Once the pattern is determined, it is the child’s turn to sort. You can group Mega Bloks by:
● Color
● Shape
● Number of prongs
Clean Up
Finished learning? Let your child clean off the Bloks. A Baby Wipe or damp cloth will clean the Dry Erase Marker off the Mega Bloks with just a bit of elbow grease. You can then put everything away until the next time you are ready to bring Mega Bloks into your homeschool.
Lisa Tanner is a homeschooling mom of eight. She loves writing about balancing diapers and deadlines, and ways to make learning fun.
