Lego: More Than A Toy

Lego bricks are among the toys that have stood the test of time and will likely continue to be part of the lives of many children in future generations. Its secret, which Lego shares with other popular toys and even video games such as Minecraft, lies in the fact that it is open ended. Lego can be used to create endless different structures for a myriad of different purposes.

No matter the play style, any child can enjoy Lego — and that continues well beyond the early ages. Small children might like to build houses, or invent elaborate worlds where they can role play with their friends, while older ones might like to take on the task of building a supremely complex set like the Death Star, or making stop motion Lego videos.

Playing with Lego encourages logical thinking and reasoning skills, promotes a number sense, and inspires kids to share their play with peers, siblings and parents alike. Lego is timeless, and it isn't merely a toy. Playing with it can offer your child many psychological benefits, in addition to being a lot of fun.

A Brief History Of Lego

Lego started off in the workshop of Danish carpenter Ole Kirk Christiansen, who began making wooden toys for children in 1932. The name "Lego" — which means "play well" — was introduced in 1934, and the company first started making plastic toys in 1947.

An early version of the interlocking bricks that are now simply known as "Lego" appeared in 1949, along with other toys. The company continued to place a heavy emphasis on quality as Ole Kirk's son took over the company, and a modern version of Lego bricks that are still on the market today was designed in 1958.

Since then, various themes were added to Lego's repertoire. If you have kids or played with Lego when you were small yourself, you may recognize pirates, robots, space, the Wild West, town and city and other themes. Lego's pieces have become increasingly complex, and go well beyond the simple building bricks today. 

Indeed, those wheels, flat boards, window pieces, traffic lights and others can add a nice new dimension to play. Mini figures add a whole other side, allowing children to role play and create original characters. But they are not necessary, and it can be good to go back to basics. 

Lego: A Toy For All Ages And Abilities

The only other two toys that come to mind that have similar staying power are baby dolls and balls. Both of those continue to provide many hours of play for children of both sexes (given the opportunity), because they tap into two human needs — the need to mimic adults and prepare for caring, and the need for competition and speed.

What makes Lego bricks so appealing? For one, they meet a need for creative play in children of nearly all ages and ability levels. Even babies can play with the larger and simpler Primo and Duplo cubes, but kids can start building with standard Lego bricks as soon as the oral exploration phase ends and they stop putting everything in their mouth (before that, Lego bricks can pose a serious choking hazard).

A simple stacking action may be the first thing a young builder engages in, but larger and more complex structures will soon start appearing.

Those kids that like following instructions and creating pre-determined structures can follow along with the suggestions offered in the manual or find ideas on the internet. Those that like to use their own imagination can do so.

How Lego Can Help You And Your Child

Lego Connects

Stop thinking about toys as something your kids play with while you do chores around the house or check your emails. Bonding works best if you do it over something that is truly meaningful to your child, and collective play is one of the most powerful ways to connect with your child. 

Lego provides a wonderful way for you and your child to build on that pre-existing connection. So first, dump those bricks and accessories onto your floor and then get busy, together with your kid. Don't force your creative ideas upon your offspring, but play the supporting role and help your child realize his own building ideas.

Once you have created a structure you are happy with together — whether it's a house, castle, garage, nursery, school, police station, or something else — get into role playing using those little Lego guys. 

Lego encourages shared play between siblings and friends as well. Big projects take ages to complete (if they are ever really done), and tackling them together just adds to the fun, but also teachers sharing and compromising. 

Social Play

Social play is, after all, one simple but effective way to allow children to express their feelings and explore society. If something is bothering your child at school, in relationships with relatives, or at home, role play with Lego folks can eliminate some of that tension and give rise to an easy expression of emotions. 

If you are facing a potentially stressful situation in your family, you can initiate this type of role play. Are you moving? Having a new baby? Is your child starting school? Did you recently have a death in the family? Acting your scenario out with Lego can be therapeutic and much less forced for a child than "sitting her down for a chat".

Creative And Mathematical Thinking

Lego's obvious strong point point is that building new, stable structures from scratch encourages both creative and mathematical thinking. You just don't get that level of creativity with ready-made playhouses. Parents can help the younger crowd build houses that are strong and don't fall down easily, while enjoying figuring out the more complex, technical Lego projects together with older kids. 

You can also actually use Lego in your child's school work. We're a homeschooling family, and we've used Lego cubes of different colors to master number bonds.

You can do the same with fractions and multiplication. A very simple idea is to make "stairs" with Lego — first one brick, then two, three, and four next to that until you reach 10. This shows what increasingly large numbers actually mean. Later on, you can use a single brick to represent a higher number such as 10 or 100. 

Another idea is to build a simple structure and then asking your child to guess how many bricks were used. You can also set out a number of bricks and ask how many different structures one can build with them. 

It's clear that parents and kids can do much more with Lego than build houses. How you use Lego's creative possibilities in your house is totally up to you and your children.