The symbolic representational block constructions of twenty 4-year-olds and twenty 7-year-olds were analyzed from Werner and Kaplan's (1963) theoretical perspective. Each child was read a story and then asked to use the blocks to represent the story. Older children included in their representations a larger number of features that were central to the story. The older children's representations also consisted of story-relevant materials, while the younger children included irrelevant material. The younger children's block representations were structurally more global and diffuse. Findings are discussed in terms of the theoretical relationship of representation to a given referent and of early concept development. (Author/MP)