Copy-the-Model Block Building

Show your child a small block structure and challenge them to build one exactly like it. This simple “make a twin” game is one of the most-studied ways to grow spatial thinking — the child has to look closely, break the model into parts, and work out where each piece goes in space, soaking up position words like on top, beside, and between along the way. Start side by side and easy, then make it more of a brain-stretch.

  1. Build a tiny model. With your child watching, build a structure of just 3–5 blocks — say, two blocks side by side with a third bridged across the top. Keep early models small and low.
  2. Hand them a matching set and sit beside them. Give your child the same blocks and say “let’s make one just like mine,” and let them copy it one piece at a time, looking back and forth.
  3. Talk it through with position words as you both build: “the red one goes on top, between the two blue ones,” or “this green block sits beside the yellow, not on it.” Naming the relationships is where much of the learning happens.
  4. Check the match together — instead of fixing it for them, ask “does yours match mine? what’s different?” and let them spot and fix the mismatch.
  5. Try a photo next. Once copying a model that’s sitting there is easy, snap a photo of one you built (or use a printed model card) and have them build from the picture — now they’re turning a flat 2D image into a 3D build.
  6. Play the memory version. Let them study a model for a slow count of five, then hide it behind a book; they rebuild it from memory, then lift the screen to compare. This is the biggest challenge — holding the whole structure in the mind’s eye.

Variation — take turns being the builder: let your child build the secret model for you to copy. Designing a model to be copied stretches their planning even more (and they love catching your mistakes).

Variation — rotate the model: turn yours 90° before they copy it, so they have to mentally rotate it to match. A LEGO or DUPLO set with step-by-step instruction booklets is the everyday, real-world version of the very same skill.

Requirements

  • Space: A small clear patch of floor or tabletop, about an arm-span wide — no special space needed.
  • Surface: A flat, stable surface; a rug helps quieten falling blocks and keeps pieces from rolling away.
  • Materials: Ideally two matching small sets of identical blocks — wooden blocks, LEGO or DUPLO, wooden cubes, or magnetic tiles — one each, so you can build side by side. If you only have one set, take turns or rebuild after taking the model apart; 6–12 well-matched pieces are plenty to start. A printed model card or phone photo (free) lets them copy from a picture; a book or box makes the screen for the memory version.
  • Participants: One child (around 5) plus an adult or older sibling who builds the model to copy — or two children taking turns being builder and copier.
  • Supervision: Light to moderate — a five-year-old can mostly play this independently once it's set up; stay close to feed in position words, keep builds low and stable, and watch any under-3 sibling near the small bricks.

Rationale & Objective

“Make one just like mine” trains spatial assembly — looking at a configuration of parts, breaking it down, and reproducing where each piece sits relative to the others. This skill reaches well beyond the playroom: in a study of three-year-olds, performance on the Test of Spatial Assembly (a copy-the-model task) independently predicted early mathematics ability, even after accounting for verbal skills (Verdine et al., 2014), and the same children’s assembly skill went on to predict both spatial and maths skills at ages four and five. Block building is one of the most-studied and most teachable spatial activities we have — a classroom block-building programme produced measurable gains in kindergartners’ spatial visualisation compared with a control group (Casey et al., 2008) — and copying a model (rather than free-building) adds the explicit analysis, mental rotation, and spatial language that researchers point to for boosting spatial thought. A long-running study even found the complexity of children’s preschool block play predicted their later school maths achievement (Wolfgang, Stannard & Jones, 2001). The activity fits the kindergarten geometry standards of building shapes from parts and describing where things sit in space (Common Core K.G.B.5 and K.G.A.1).

Honest framing — most of the links between early block or spatial skill and later maths are correlational: they show the two travel together, not that blocks alone cause maths success. The strongest causal evidence (Casey et al., 2008) shows real gains, but mostly on closely-related spatial measures rather than broad maths scores. Block play is one good, low-cost route to spatial reasoning among several — well worth doing, but not a magic lever.

Progress Indicators

  • Early: builds something block-like but largely ignores the model’s actual arrangement — gets the number of blocks or their positions wrong, or just stacks a tower regardless of what was shown.
  • Developing: matches a simple 3–4-block model that’s sitting right beside them, especially with some coaching and position-word prompts (“where does the red one go?”), and may need reminders to look back at the model.
  • Proficient: independently copies a 5–8-block model placed beside them, checks their work against it, and self-corrects mismatches without being told exactly what’s wrong.
  • Advanced: copies from a 2D photo or model card, rebuilds a structure from memory after it’s hidden, and copes when the model is rotated — mentally turning it to make the pieces match.

Safety Notes

  • Small bricks (LEGO, small wooden cubes, magnetic-tile parts) can choke a child under 3 — anything that passes through a toilet-paper tube (about 4 cm across) is unsafe for a toddler, so keep small pieces away from babies and use large DUPLO or big wooden blocks if a little one is around.
  • If you use magnetic tiles, make sure no small magnets can come loose — swallowed magnets are especially dangerous and need emergency care.
  • Keep builds low and light; tall or heavy stacks can topple onto little hands, faces, or heads, so use lightweight blocks for anything above chest height.
  • Sweep stray blocks back into the play area between rounds — stepping on a loose block hurts and causes slips.
  • Set a clear blocks-stay-in-our-hands-or-on-the-floor rule — thrown blocks can hurt eyes and faces.

Hints

  • Playfulness: frame it as making a “secret twin” or a “copy machine” game — build behind a peek-wall (a propped book) and do a dramatic reveal to compare, cheering the match, not just the building.
  • Sustain interest: make a little menu of photo cards together and let them pick which to copy, and let them be the model-maker so you have to copy their design — kids stay hooked when they set the challenge.
  • Common mistake: starting too big — a 10-block model overwhelms a five-year-old, so begin with three and add one only when they nail it — and narrating nothing; say the spatial words out loud as you build (“on top… between… beside”) so they hear the language.
  • Limited materials: no second set? Take turns with one shared set, or build your model, let them study it, then take it apart and hand them the same pieces to rebuild. Two paper cups or any identical household objects work as blocks in a pinch.
  • Cross-domain: this quietly grows positional language (on, under, beside, between), counting (“how many blocks did I use?”), fine-motor control (placing and aligning pieces), and persistence.
  • Progression: copy a 3-block model sitting beside them → grow to 5–8 blocks → copy from a photo or model card → rebuild from memory after the model is hidden → copy a model you’ve rotated 90° for mental rotation.

Sources

  • Verdine, B. N., Golinkoff, R. M., Hirsh-Pasek, K., Newcombe, N. S., Filipowicz, A. T., & Chang, A. (2014). Deconstructing building blocks: Preschoolers’ spatial assembly performance relates to early mathematics skills. Child Development, 85(3), 1062–1076.
  • Verdine, B. N., Golinkoff, R. M., Hirsh-Pasek, K., & Newcombe, N. S. (2017). Links between spatial and mathematical skills across the preschool years. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 82(1).
  • Casey, B. M., Andrews, N., Schindler, H., Kersh, J. E., Samper, A., & Copley, J. (2008). The development of spatial skills through interventions involving block building activities. Cognition and Instruction, 26(3), 269–309.
  • Wolfgang, C. H., Stannard, L. L., & Jones, I. (2001). Block play performance among preschoolers as a predictor of later school achievement in mathematics. Journal of Research in Childhood Education, 15, 173–181.
  • Newcombe, N. S. (2010). Picture this: Increasing math and science learning by improving spatial thinking. American Educator, 34(2), 29–35, 43.
  • Common Core State Standards for Mathematics, Kindergarten — Geometry: K.G.B.5 (model shapes in the world by building shapes from components) and K.G.A.1 (describe relative positions using above, below, beside, in front of, behind, next to).
  • Head Start Early Learning Outcomes Framework (ELOF), Mathematics Development — Goals P-MATH 9 (composes shapes) and P-MATH 10 (explores the positions of objects in space).
  • HighScope Preschool Curriculum — Mathematics KDI 35 (Spatial awareness); Teaching Strategies GOLD Objective 21a (Understands spatial relationships).