The Six Bricks approach was created by Care for Education to address a critical gap in early childhood learning in underserved South African communities. Many children enter primary school without foundational skills such as gross and fine motor coordination, early problem-solving, language development, and social-emotional abilities, which are essential for academic success. These gaps are often compounded by overcrowded classrooms, limited resources, and untrained teachers, making it difficult to deliver quality learning experiences.
Six Bricks was designed as a simple, “plug and play” tool that could be easily integrated into daily teaching without adding extra workload. Using just six brightly coloured bricks, it offers hands-on, interactive activities that support learning across multiple domains, including numeracy, literacy, communication, cognitive development, and socio-emotional skills. The bricks help children explore concepts, develop spatial awareness, and build confidence through active engagement.
Importantly, the approach complements the existing curriculum, allowing teachers to address learning gaps efficiently and effectively while remaining cost-effective and scalable. By placing manipulatives at the centre of foundational learning, Six Bricks empowers both teachers and learners, ensuring children develop the skills they need to succeed in the early years and beyond.
The innovation of Six Bricks is that each student has a physical manipulative on their desk at all times, making it a constant tool for learning rather than a shared or occasional resource. Unlike interventions that require putting tools away or sharing, Six Bricks ensures every child can engage hands-on, supporting exploration, problem-solving, and the development of spatial and perceptual skills throughout the day. In our project, each student uses six DUPLO bricks to build and conceptualize their knowledge and understanding. The key is consistency: every learner has access to the same tactile object, integrating it alongside pen and paper as a normal part of classroom practice. This daily, hands-on engagement strengthens foundational understanding, builds confidence, and transforms manipulatives from an optional activity into a core part of learning, ensuring all children develop the skills needed for success in math, literacy, and broader cognitive tasks.
Initially developed for a South African context, Six Bricks gained international attention when Danish teachers visiting the pilot recognized its potential. In Denmark, students already had strong foundational skills, but teachers sought a tool to maintain engagement, regulate classroom energy, and scaffold cognitive development through activities like progressively complex memory games, supporting children to “learn to learn.” Following this, requests from other countries increased, and the methodology began spreading globally. Today, CFE-accredited facilitators in 42 countries use Six Bricks in teacher trainings, as well as with therapists, medical personnel, and even in old age homes. In Ireland, the tool has been adapted into a teacher training programme at CPD College, which is extensively attended. Both the South African and Ukrainian Ministries of Education have requested national rollouts, demonstrating the methodology’s flexibility, scalability, and relevance across diverse educational and professional contexts, while supporting engagement, spatial awareness, and cognitive development worldwide.
Six Bricks has been continuously enhanced to increase versatility, curriculum relevance, and cognitive impact. Additional materials found in classrooms can extend numeracy activities, while a variety of easily printable, open-source mats focus on specific learning objectives. A dedicated app makes activities more accessible for teachers globally. Curriculum-specific adaptations, including unplugged coding, allow teachers without computers to use the manipulatives to teach basic coding principles. The most recent addition is a literacy and working memory game, which includes 38 double-sided mats and cards. These can be used by students in groups, or by specialists and therapists for inclusive teaching, targeting executive function skills essential for cognitive development. The B-line mat also helps children develop spatial awareness, a key skill at age 4 that is one of the best predictors of math ability at age 8. Together, these innovations strengthen hands-on, manipulative-based learning, support foundational skills, and expand the methodology’s application across diverse educational and therapeutic contexts.
If you want to try Six Bricks, there are several ways to get started. The Care for Education website (https://www.carefored.co.za/) offers simple tutorial videos demonstrating basic activities to help you begin using the manipulatives immediately. Our CFE YouTube channel and various social media platforms also share practical examples, tips, and inspiration for classroom and home use. For more structured learning, CFE and accredited providers around the world offer in-depth training, either in person or online, to help teachers, therapists, and other professionals integrate Six Bricks effectively into their practice. You can also contact CFE directly to find out where there are active facilitators in your region who can guide you and provide support. Whether you are looking for quick, hands-on activities or a comprehensive programme, these resources make it easy to explore Six Bricks, develop spatial awareness, support foundational learning, and build cognitive and executive function skills in children and learners of all ages.
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