"Building blocks" sounds correct, but misleading. It sounds like this is a lot of "perfect practice makes perfect" combined with "play begets understanding".

"Building blocks" sounds correct, but misleading. It sounds like this is a lot of "perfect practice makes perfect" combined with "play begets understanding". Memorization is a pre-requisite for perfect practice; and, if the core of what you're playing with isn't immediately at hand, how can you play with it? (If you have to look up every function every time, you'll have too many interruptions to grok much more). I memorize in order to practive, and I repeatedly practice in order to understand. Does that sound right?