Talk:Toy block

Anchor Stone Blocks
Can we add a link to Anchor Stone Blocks? Seems to be missing from the Froebel Gifts article too? It took me ages to remember the name of them! Chockyegg (talk) 13:55, 25 March 2015 (UTC)
 * If its an article it can go in this list of articles - so yes - I just added it. Fountains of Bryn Mawr (talk) 21:23, 25 March 2015 (UTC)

Sir Hugh Plat, 1594
In 1594, Sir Hugh Plat wrote a book of inventions titled “The Jewel House of Art and Nature". In it, he describes the use of dice to teach the alphabet. This predates the references to Alphabet Blocks made by English philosopher John Locke in 1693. See https://archive.org/details/jevvelhouseofart00plat page 42 (invention 44: "A ready way for children to learn their A.B.C.")

“A ready way for children to learn their A.B.C. ''Cause 4 large dice of bone or wood to be made, and upon every square, one of the small letters of the cross row to be graven, but in some bigger shape, and the child using to play much with them, and being always told what letter chanceth, will soon gain his Alphabet, as it were by the way of sport and pastime. I have heard of a pair of cards whereon most of the principal Grammer rules have been printed, and the School-Master hath found good sport thereat with his schollers.”''

I think that this can be added as an earlier date in the history of toy blocks. --WoutR (talk) 11:47, 3 September 2018 (UTC)
 * Listing it without making a claim such as "earliest toy blocks" may be ok. Sources list Locke as the earliest but as stuff gets digitized I have seen such claims fall by the wayside, we are all suddenly in a world digital research library. Fountains of Bryn Mawr (talk) 20:23, 3 September 2018 (UTC)
 * Here is a source listing Sir Hugh Plat as the inventor: Sir Hugh Plat combined dice and an educational technique to create a toy that could be used to teach children the letters of the alphabet.
 * I think that Locke promoted and popularized the idea in his influencial work (but I am no expert on this subject).
 * Locke wrote in Some Thoughts Concerning Education: “But then, as I said before, it must never be imposed as a Task, nor made a trouble to them. There may be Dice and Play-things, with Letters on them to teach Children the alphabet by playing; and twenty other ways may be found, suitable to their particular Tempers, to make this kind of Learning a Sport to them. Thus Children may be cozen’d into a Knowledge of the Letters; be taught to read, without perceiving it to be anything but a Sport, and play themselves into that which others are whipp’d for."  WoutR (talk) 21:19, 5 September 2018 (UTC)
 * The Earle source does not make a claim of "inventor" but it does give us a (old) secondary source so I went ahead and added it. Also cleaned up the section, MOS formatting and removing an unverified claim. Fountains of Bryn Mawr (talk) 15:11, 6 September 2018 (UTC)
 * ThanksWoutR (talk) 16:35, 6 September 2018 (UTC)