Blocks in every colour, and they came over and started pushing them together.
One wouldn't go on. That got cross.
The two of them were different sizes — that was why. So off they went to find one the same size, and it went on.
An adult was joining blocks up, and somebody came over and pushed some on as well.
The row got long enough to walk along, so they walked it, one at a time so nobody bumped.
And they said the colours on the way, and found the ones an adult named.
One child remembered the trolley game, picked out the big cube-shaped block, and pushed it round the room.
Another watched, then started trying to join a second cube onto it.
An adult pushed the two together properly, and the second child sat straight up on top and pushed off with both legs.
Others came over and started joining blocks as well.
An adult built a car shape out of them. “Press it down here” — and pressed one on to show how, without saying any more than that.
The first child gave up pushing and climbed on to ride instead.
“Off we go, off we go,” an adult sang, and they went along with it.
Two of them got the blocks out of the basket and put them down on the floor.
One joined them up one at a time into a square, then went over the finished thing with a hand, feeling it.
“I want to do it too” — and that one came out bigger.
Watching the shape change as more went on: “It's like a house.”
They ended up side by side, adding blocks the same way round.
Somebody else was stacking them instead. It fell over, and they laughed and started again.
“Red!”
“Blue one!”
They said the colours as the blocks came out.
“Shall we make a rainbow out of these?”
“Yes!”
So the blocks went on, one colour after another.
“This is a road.”
“It's like a bridge!”
And when it was long: “It's a rainbow bridge!”
Then a toy car went along the top of it.
“Brrm brrm.”
“It's going across!”
One child started joining the blocks up, on and on.
“You've made that really long.”
“It's a train. It's long.”
“A choo-choo train? It is long.”
Then the same blocks came apart and went back together as a square, and that child climbed on and pushed with both feet.
“Now it's a square, and you're on top of it.”
“Brrm brrm.”
And off along the road stickers on the floor.
After that the animal figures went in, one at a time, inside the square.
“Look, I gave them a ride.”
Then fruit came over for them. “Eat this.”
“Shall I give the rabbit something? What do rabbits like?”
“Rabbits like carrots.”
And a carrot came across.
“Choo-choo,” said one child, joining blocks on one at a time.
“Shall we make a train together?”
“Yes!”
“Choo-choo.” And to the others: “Get on.”
“Where's our train going?”
“The seaside!”
A wave, and they were off. They sat along the blocks and rocked.
“We're going!”
One child carried a block over to an adult. “This!”
“What shall I make you?”
“A square!”
The square came back and got sat in like a chair. Then more blocks went on the end of it, and it was a train.
There was a guard's hat and a whistle on a string to go with it.
“Where are you going on the train?”
“The supermarket!”
And laughing.
There was a picture on the wall of the things that go on the sea. One of them was an icebreaker, and it took some explaining — a boat that breaks the ice so the other boats can get through.
“The icebreaker is kind.”
“Shall we make a submarine, one that goes under the sea?”
“I want to make a submarine.”
The blocks came out. One child gathered up the yellow ones and pointed at the wall.
“That one.”
“The icebreaker?”
A nod. “I'm making that one.”
Somebody built a long rectangle. “A boat.”
An adult built alongside them. “I'm making a submarine.” Then held it up. “Down it goes—” and moved it up and down over the mat.
The blue mat was the sea. “The submarine's going right to the bottom. Whoosh.”
After that everybody's boat was moving.
One of them dropped theirs while carrying it round the room, and it came apart, and that was upsetting. Another child went over to say it was all right.
There was an ant hill up on the wall, and photographs with it.
“It's an ant.”
“Is that the mummy ant?”
Out came a magnifying glass. Somebody walked an ant made out of an egg box across the floor.
“I want to make an ant too.”
So they drew them. “Here's a leg.” “This is the head.”
Then the blocks went down in a line, end to end, to make the road that goes to the ant hill.
And stickers went onto the hill itself. “That's the ants' food”