Rosanne Regan Hansel has been both a teacher and administrator for a variety of early childhood programs. She was also the Early Childhood Specialist for the Math Science Partnership at Rutgers University and currently serves as Education Program Development Specialist for the Department of Education. Ms. Hansel received her MS Ed in Early Childhood Leadership from Bank Street College of Education.
"An essential resource, Creative Block Play by educator Rosanne
Regan Hansel, provides everything teachers and caregivers need to
know about the benefits of block play along with pointers for
scaffolding children's exploration . . . Throughout, crisp color
photos highlight the expansive creativity, deep concentration, and
obvious joy of young children at work and play." --School Library
Journal"The imaginative, exploratory play inspired by blocks
uniquely contributes to children's development in every
domain--social, emotional, cognitive, and physical. Creative Block
Play firmly positions the time-honored tradition of playing with
blocks as an essential component of today's curriculum for young
children. This all-inclusive manual to learning through building
addresses how children's free and spontaneous block play can foster
such twenty-first-century skills as initiative, persistence,
critical thinking, problem solving, and collaboration while also
encouraging creativity and aesthetic awareness. 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." --American Journal of Play
"Hansel supplies a wealth of instructional ideas for block play
that correlate to topics such as transportation, travel, and world
culture. [Creative Block Play] should be on every early childhood
educator's bookshelf." --Library Journal
Creative Block Play is profusely enhanced with photos that
illustrate block play in real classrooms and stories contributed by
teachers who have successfully used block play to encourage
children's development in a variety of domains. Thoroughly 'user
friendly' in tone, commentary, organization and presentation,
Creative Block Play is enthusiastically recommended for college and
university library Teacher Education collections and supplemental
studies reading lists.
--The Education Shelf, Library Bookwatch, Midwest Book Review
Creative Block Play presents an amazing new look at explorations
with blocks. It is both sophisticated and playful. This easy to use
book is filled with information, stories and images that will
inspire any teacher's imagination. This is a great resource for a
college course or for a teacher's professional collection. I highly
recommend it! --Karen Nemeth, author and founder of Language
Castle, LLC Rosanne Hansel has written a terrific book. Hansel
offers one great idea after another - from the most practical tips
on arranging the block corner, to creative suggestions for
enriching and guiding children's play, all the while conveying
important and subtle ideas about child development. Any teacher who
reads this book will come away brimming with new plans for the
classroom and an enriched understanding of the role of play in
children's education. --Susan Engel, Williams College Creative
Block Play is a book for practitioners. With considerable skill
Roseanne Regan Hansel draws from her extensive knowledge and
experience in early childhood teaching and leaning to provide both
theoretical background and practical guidance for early childhood
teachers on using blocks in the classroom. But this is more than a
book about block building as the title subtly implies. It is a book
about the importance of children's play and the inventiveness,
creativity, and joyful learning that happen when adults provide the
appropriate environment, materials, and guidance. Blocks are
featured but the book invites the reader to consider many ways
blocks are used by children, and the many other materials that can
elaborate and extend children's ideas. Wonderfully integrated
throughout the book are pictures and brief vignettes of real
classrooms, culminating in Chapter 5 in which 5 stories illustrate
what the book is about and what creative block building really
looks like.
--Karen Worth, Department of Specials and Early Education, Wheelock
College This book addresses the importance of block building in all
domains of learning and a variety of environments, with much
information about documentation, theory and practice, references to
STEAM, the role of the adult in block play, and so much more. It
was so enjoyable to read that I read the entire book in one
sitting! It made me want to sit down and build.
--Dr. Janis Strasser, William Paterson University
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