Lego is one of the most recognisable, long-lasting and valuable toy brands in the world, and has been for many years! Wikipedia defines Lego as a line of plastic construction toys manufactured by The Lego Group, a privately held company based in Billund, Denmark. Lego ranks as the world's largest toy companies as of 2021, and its flagship product, LEGO, is a set of variously coloured interlocking plastic bricks accompanied by minifigures and other accessories. Lego pieces can be assembled and connected in a gazillions different ways to construct objects, including vehicles, buildings, animals, characters, and working robots. Anything created can be taken apart again, and the pieces reused to make new things.
It's no surprise that the Lego Group's motto, is "only the best is good enough", and the company believes that there is so much potential in every child, and that that there’s so much to unlock from a child’s first brick to a more difficult one.
Whether you are a parent, caregiver, or teacher, watching your children play brings us all a multitude of joy, and we we observe their joy when they accomplish tasks and projects, it fills us up! Lego is one of those fantastic produts that our children can do in their own, but we can also find great enjoyment from building with them!
Whether together with a parent, with a friend, in a group, or solo, Lego is brilliant on so many levels. We can often overlook the educational or developmental value of building block style products, and just seeing them as a TOY. However, toys like Lego, offer a lot more than meets the eye. Continue reading to learn how playing with Lego can benefit your child!
10 benefits for children, of playing with LEGO!
1. GOOD FOR THE BRAIN - did you know it's just as important for toddlers to exercise their BRAIN as it is to get exercise their BODIES, for proper development?! 90% of the child’s brain develops by age 5, so the more the brain is being used the better the brain will develop. Playing Lego will help master a child’s emerging skills like problem-solving and learning complex tasks. Pre-schoolers can follow simple instructions at a young age, so encourage them to play with age-appropriate Lego see what they can create!
2. IMPROVE SELF-ESTEEM - It can be challenging for children to connect all the small pieces of Lego to create a final product, so it can give an immense sense of satisfaction and pride when they produce and finish their completed project, which in turns gives a positive effect on a child's self-esteem.
3. IMPROVE COMMUNICATION SKILLS - Lego is a great way to relieve stress and engage in meaningful and joyful conversations. With Lego, children are able to explain their ideas, work and troubleshoot the process, and talk about the difficulties and challenges they had along the way.
4. MATHEMATICAL THINKING - Following instructions to assemble Lego has enormous benefits with children's problem-solving focus and attention to detail. Ideas, symmetry, balanced shapes,, and sizes are all explored. During play with Lego, children learn different ideas, designs, shapes, and sizes. Children will also learn simple mathematics like addition, subtraction, and division from playing with LEGO as they work out how many small pieces can fit into a large piece.
5. PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT - Children learn how to grasp with natural hand strength by having to push them together and pull them apart. In addition to strengthening hand-eye coordination, Lego also develops bilateral coordination since both upper extremities must handle the pieces. This requires different amounts of pressure to assemble and becomes a wonderful exercise for little fingers, which supports children in being able to control the pressure they apply while writing.
6. ENCOURAGE TEAMWORK - By creating, working and building Lego projects together, children learn how to share and take turns. Before playing, they begin by agreeing on a general idea of their play or a project that they'll build. They learn to follow each other's lead and discover how different ideas can contribute to and extend their play. Additionally, children also learn to negotiate roles and responsibilities in order to have a great experience with a rewarding outcome.
7. IMPROVE CREATIVITY - By using Lego of different shapes, colours, and sizes, children can construct intricate designs, whether a police station, mini-city, a dollhouse or a spaceship travelling to the moon. A child's imagination and creativity soar when there are no limitations to what they can create. There's no right or wrong, so children can explore their creativity without the fear of failure.
8. PLANNING - is a skill that needs to be practiced, and lack of planning skills will show in how a child lays out their work at school. Some will run out of space on the page, begin without a clear direction and change course later, or ask to start over from scratch. Lego is great for practising having a plan in your mind and then carrying it out. When a pre-schooler first experiments with Legos, he or she may notice they connect and can be stacked. As their brain develops, they begin to build structures with an intention.
9. ENHANCED FINE MOTOR SKILLS - Connecting Lego pieces requires precision and coordination, which helps kids develop and strengthen their fine motor skills. As Lego is for children of all ages, Lego Duplo is ideal for skill development at the very beginning, while more complex sets continue to challenge and teach fine motor skills as your children grow.
10. PERSISTENCE AND PATIENCE - Playing with LEGO can be frustrating when the bricks fall apart because of a single move - initially, this is frustrating, however, repeated play can actually help children to develop perseverance and overcome frustration, knowing that their masterpieces can always be REBUILT. Nothing is FINAL with Lego! Nothing can't be FIXED with Lego! Therefore, Lego is a really great way to explore new ideas without the fear of failure, because children know that mistakes can be fixed and fallen pieces can be replaced - things might not have gone according to plan, but they can manage and overcome this. Children's patience can be tested when building with LEGO, especially when a piece is difficult to find. As children (just like us adults!) often desire instant gratification, the building process can teach them that good results take time, and that hard work can pay off. That great saying, "Persevere, nothing worthwhile is easy" is so true with it comes to Lego.
Your toddler, pre-schooler and child (of all ages!) will benefit from playing with a Lego set, something that will grow with them as their skills develop. While Lego may at first seem like just a toy, it offers so much more!
Lego is primarily considered a children's toy but has become a huge collector's item among adults. LEGO collections are among the most popular and easy-to-access hobbies out there.
The adult Lego sets are more challenging, but just as entertaining as the kids sets, and are an ideal activity for a rainy weekend, an indoorsy relaxing kind of day, an evening with the family away from the screens, or just when you want to do something with your hands and MAKE SOMETHING! Here are some of the best Lego sets for adults:
Adults are increasingly interested in playing with and collecting LEGO. Lego fans are so passionate that they have their own nickname: AFOLs (Adults Fans Of Lego). Just check out #AFOL on Instagram - there are MILLIONS of posts using that hashtag! Worldwide, there are thousands, if not millions, of AFOLs. Many of them joined LEGO communities in order to share their passion and to build together. The LEGO communities are not all about fun and games. The LEGO communities are highly competitive when it comes to building the best LEGO creations, always trying to outbuild each other. The LEGO brand features in several television programs such as Brickfilms, Lego DC, Lego Star Wars, LEGO Friends, and LEGO Masters (an Australian reality TV show based on the British series in which teams compete to build the best Lego project).
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