Every time I visit Rosa Parks ECEC, I am taken aback by their creativity and dedication. Their rooms are beautifully adorned with child-made chandeliers, inspirational documentation,  earthy tones, and it is clean, very clean! It inspires me to come home and declutter my house every time! It is a win-win for all. On my last visit, they graciously allowed me to snap some pics of their gorgeous construction provocations. I wanted to share them with you in the hopes you will be as inspired as I am by them.

This is a beautiful example of a construction provocation. Placing pictures of real architecture gives students an opportunity for reference without limiting their possibilities. The teachers also placed various sized blocks and loose parts for the students to use in their constructions. I especially love that the teachers took it a step further and provided paper and writing/drawing materials. The students can use these to plan their design and/or sketch their final product.

In this invitation to build, the teachers have given the students multiple ways to extend their construction. The following pictures are closeups of all the provocations contained on this one table.

If you do not have the book Iggy Peck Architect by Andrea Beaty get it! It is a great companion to any construction area. I also love the way they have glued the children's pictures on the blocks! Genius!

Measuring blocks with dice as the non standard units! So simple, but also a great way to get students thinking beyond just building with blocks as well as reinforce counting and number sense.

Here they used the blocks to create a frame and showed how to count how many blocks it took to make the frame. The children could also use the frame for counting, they could use the blocks and the shape cards to see how many blocks it takes to create all of the shapes and then compare which shape to the most/least blocks. So many possibilities.

This is another great book for any construction provocation. I also love that the teachers provided standard units of measurement as well with the basket of measuring tape.

This building provocation features Magnatiles. While it seems so simple, I assure you the students are not only creating amazing engineering skills, but the Magnatile magnets allow them to experiment with magnet play and build science concepts as well.

I love love love how this provocation uses various measuring tools that can be used for straight edge in planning and sketching as well! That green ruler is a bendy ruler – super cool!

I like to call this little nugget the “Timeless Collection” because it features two different versions of the timeless book, The Three Little Pigs and  Lincoln Logs! I don't know if there is a person alive today that hasn't at least heard of Lincoln Logs-totally timeless.

I saved this one for last because it is probably the most simple, yet has incredible possibilities. Here the teachers have simply placed notepads, clipboards, and pencils with a book filled with pictures of various structures the children have built previously in blocks. This allows children to be inspired by their peers and their own previous work but scaffold to a new level as well.

Thank you so much for reading and I hope you feel inspired to use what you have seen here today to create your own construction provocations!

Comment with your favorite construction provocation from above OR share a construction provocation you have used in your classroom!