Block construction tasks are highly complex, yet even young children engage in these tasks in both informal and formal learning settings. In this paper, we ask whether the specific paths through which children build a structure are unique to the individual, or alternatively, constrained by similar principles across individuals and over age. Our results show that although children between 4 and 8 make frequent errors in copying model constructions, there is a striking amount of consistency in specific attributes of their paths of construction, and this consistency mirrors that of adults. The build paths suggest that although children sometimes build inefficiently, they tend to build layer-by-layer, consistent with a role for intuitive physics that enables the creation of stable structures.

Spatial construction—creating or copying spatialarrangements—is a hallmark of human spatial cognition.Spatial construction appears early in development, predictslater spatial and mathematical skills, and is used throughoutlife. Despite its importance, we know little about the cognitiveprocesses underlying skilled construction. Construction tasksare highly complex but analyses have tended to focus onbroad-stroke measures of end-goal accuracy. In this paper weintroduce a novel behavioral coding formalism to characterizean individual’s entire construction process, examine manyindividuals’ processes in aggregate, and summarize patternsthat emerge. The results show high consistency at certainpoints occurring throughout the construction, but also indicateflexibility in the interim paths that lead to and diverge fromthese points. Our approach offers a new method that can moreprecisely describe the behavioral patterns observed duringconstruction in order to reveal the underlying cognitiveprocesses engaged, and capture individual differences inbuilding expertise.