Consider...Ted and Carl

Three-year-old Ted is in the block area trying to build a tower with small blocks. He places four small red square blocks on top of one another and then puts a large blue rectangular block on top. The tower falls. Ted attempts to build the tower again and it falls once more. Ted is determined to build the tower and he starts stacking the small blocks again but this time he adds a fifth red block before trying to put the larger blue block on top. It once again falls. Now Ted is visibly frustrated. He kicks his foot out and scatters the blocks.

Carl, one of the early childhood educators, noticed Ted building and saw his frustration when his tower fell. He approached Ted and said, “I saw that you were building a tall tower with the blocks, but it fell down. I wonder if you try starting your tower with the blue block and then put the red blocks on top. Do you think that will work? Let’s try it.”