I’ve worked with kids for so long that I keep defaulting to teaching this the most ‘All ways keep improving your basics’. BB is the most painstaking part of any process, and the most overlooked or stagnating part of it too, and after years I can still see that even me (a supposed adult) fails to remember this sometimes.

I usually use a lovely metaphor for this, the “Jenga”. It’s a quite good visual effect when you talk to little kids and, for me, being able to take action to understand this concept is really helpful.

I hope you know the game, so let’s proceed with this little mind activity.

Imagine that you are building the tower to start the game, and you get that X-pieces tower going. I’m hoping your image starts at the bottom and you put that first three-block floor, and move into the next and so on till we reach the top. Now here comes the interesting part for most: were you too precise on putting every piece as it should, or did you put them as best as you could and then aligned the top after it was built?

We all want the tower up,steady and tall (as tall as we can make it).
Some of us lay the first blocks fast, eager to have it ready; the rows might lean a little, but the game is alive yet this sometimes prevents you from keeping building up.
Some of us pause after every piece, lining things up just right; the tower takes its time, yet the wait feels safe but the tower never grows as much as it could.
And some of us set a row, give a gentle tap to straighten, then reach for the next level building and balancing as we go; this is BB in a shell: I will help you build up and scale while we review the base to keep it stable enough to keep going to new heights.