Reviews of

Creative Block Play

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American Journal of Play,

Rebecca McMahon Giles

"Hansel’s ideas are both informative and inspiring, making the book an invaluable resource for any adult wanting to expand the learning inherent in block play."  

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School Library Journal,

Alicia Eames

"Hansel provides everything teachers and caregivers need to know about the benefits of block play along with pointers for scaffolding children’s exploration. Hansel outlines the ways in which block play supports social, emotional, cognitive, and physical development as children learn to solve multifaceted problems on their own; use language, writing, and drawing to share their work; and physically interact with their environment. Finally, Hansel demonstrates the use of block play in long-term learning projects on a variety of topics with detailed examples from actual classrooms. Throughout, crisp color photos highlight the expansive creativity, deep concentration, and obvious joy of young children at work and play."

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The Christian Librarian, 

Kristin A. Vargas

"Creative Block Play was written by Hansel out of concern for the “laser-like focus” on paper-and-pencil tasks, e.g. math, language, and literacy skills. While these skills are important and gear children for employment as adults, the lack of basic social, gross and fine motor skills, means children are entering grade school already behind and are underprepared to tackle creative problem solving and deep thinking. Hansel points to the lack of spontaneous, unorganized three-dimensional playtime for children as the main culprit, and far too much two-dimension screen time for the very young."