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.
![spell words in block letter alphabet spell words in block letter alphabet](http://fromabcstoacts.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/Block-Letter-Mats-for-Preschoolers.png)
![spell words in block letter alphabet spell words in block letter alphabet](https://img.etsystatic.com/il/625519/1215966771/il_fullxfull.1215966771_2oz8.jpg)
“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