Brain Power Blocks

MY9TV.COM - Not all toys have to be high tech this holiday season.
Before you buy-in to all the bells and whistles.
You might want to consider a simple set of blocks.
As Brenda Flanagan explains its a gift that actually helps make your kids smarter.

Blocks don't break! They don't need batteries, they're completely non-toxic and there's some assembly required, but Even three year olds can build things!

Like the Brooklyn bridge, suspension cables, the whole thing, reconstructed from scratch every year by second graders at City and Country School. Nate's 13 but vividly remembers his Brooklyn Bridge.  He tells us, "We had to figure out how to make it work.  We used practically every block on the shelf!!"

That's a lot of blocks!  Blocks come in all sorts of shapes and sizes but without blueprints. That's the whole point,
according to the school's director of admission, Elise Clark.  She tells us, "Blocks have been used in our school for decades and now they're used the world over."

Not just in schools, often blocks are the first toy a baby picks up. Playing pretend stretches a toddler's imagination.

Elise says, "The blocks are limitless, and the children have to come up with the ideas."

Go holiday shopping at most toy stores: you'll find lots of pricey, plastic presents often based on today's popular movies or tv shows. But a $20 set of wooden blocks doesn't come pre-programmed so it's always ready for the next adventure.  And who knows perhaps among all these kids having fun there's the next Einstein. Maybe even the next Donald Trump!

I'm Brenda Flanagan, The 10 O'Clock News.