Alpha blocks history11/24/2023 ![]() In fact, one of the few to give Prat credit for his work throughout history is the 19th century historian Alice Morse Earle, who wrote of Locke’s influence on the alphabet block in her book Child Life in Colonial Days, but properly gave Prat his credit for the idea.Įarle explained, while quoting a series of letters, how General Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, later a military leader in the Revolutionary War, learned the alphabet as a result of the wooden blocks he was given. ![]() Plat is perhaps better known for some of his other works, including his gardening book Floreas Paradise, from 1608, and his recipe book Delights for Ladies, from 1602.īut his block idea deserves some respect! Plat was ahead of the curve on this concept in the Elizabethan era, and he hasn’t received very much of the credit into the modern day. “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,” he explained. He added that the idea was also inspired by early teaching techniques. “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,” Plat wrote. In case you don't want to struggle with reading this, I basically rewrote this directly below. It also, most interestingly, includes an illustrated example of what alphabet blocks should look like, along with a basic description of their use case and their point of inspiration. The book is full of interesting inventions and discoveries by Plat, including a form of portable ink designed to be carried around in a powder form, a ready way to catch pigeons, a way to defend a horse from flies, a cheap way to build a wooden bridge, and numerous other ideas gathered by Plat. The book, which can be read in full over this way, discusses “Divers Rare and Profitable Inventions, together with sundry new Experiments in the Art of Husbandry,” gathered from the “Authours own experience.” (I’m sticking to Plat’s own writing as much as possible, for full effect.) The person who perhaps deserves credit for formulating the concept was Sir Hugh Plat, the English writer who wrote of the idea in a 1594 book of inventions titled The Jewell House of Art and Nature. Locke, however, was not the first person to make the case for blocks to be used in this way-if anything, in fact, he simply popularized them. “There may be dice, and play-things, with the 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,” he was quoted as saying in the work. ![]() English philosopher John Locke is closely associated with the wooden block, based on his 1693 work Some Thoughts Concerning Education, which briefly makes mention of the general concept behind alphabet blocks. ![]() The evolution of wooden alphabet blocks shares a lineage with dice, which are similarly cube-shaped, and similarly convey different kinds of information on each side.ĭice, of course, are one of the oldest forms of gaming on the planet, with roots in ancient Egypt and ancient Greece, along with associations with the earliest board games, which date back to 5000 B.C.-which is a very long time.Īlphabet blocks, on the other hand, are a somewhat more recent invention, with dice providing a clear point of inspiration for the blocks, which were generally first conceptualized in 16th and 17th centuries. ( Skitterphoto/Pixabay) “A ready way for children to learn their A.B.C.”: The guy who likely invented the alphabet block doesn’t get enough credit
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