Making imaginative models (Lego in General)

Member Name: Kukana

Product:	Lego in General
Date:	20/11/03 (371 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Long-lasting and well-built, Encourages imagination and creativity, Low-key educational toy

Disadvantages: Some sets a bit pricey, Tends to appeal less to some girls

Lego at its most basic consists of brightly coloured building blocks which snap together to form reasonably strong walls or other constructions. When I was a child, in the 1960s, there was not much more to it, and although I had a few pieces of Lego furniture, it didn't hold my interest for long. I can remember my brothers building cars and garages and playing all kinds of ingenious games, while I read books and thought of Lego as a 'boy' toy.

So when I had two sons of my own, I assumed they would play with Lego. Sure enough, they seemed to gravitate to it whenever they saw it, and by the time they were about three or four, were beginning to collect it themselves. Of all the toys they've had over the years, Lego is in my view the best value, and the longest-lasting!

* Modern Lego sets *

These days Lego usually comes in expensive boxes with special parts to make models, and step-by-step instructions. While there are some plain bricks included in most models, there are also specific pieces of almost every imaginable shape, to create - for instance - complex spaceships, Egyptian temples, or even Hogwarts School. Each kit has an age recommendation, with the most basic ones being for children of about five to eight, and some highly complicated ones including motors and very fiddly construction being recommended for those of twelve and over.

Partly due to the generosity of relatives, we've built up quite a collection over the years. Now my sons are 17 and 15, and although they have no intention of getting rid of any of their Lego, they don't often do much with it. It only really comes out when younger children are here, when it provides hours of entertainment.

* Building models *

We found that while it was fun to build the model on each box once, as described in the instructions, it simply gathered dust if left on a shelf to be admired (and trust me - dusting lego is not easy!). Inevit
ably they got taken to pieces again, and re-built in alternative designs, or incorporated into a larger construction of my sons' own invention. At first this bothered me, but of course the point of Lego is to be creative and make things - not to have a load of dusty space-ships sitting on shelves, untouched.

The only semi-permanent Lego model in our house now is a huge 'city' built on a large piece of hardboard, which lives mostly on top of a wardrobe (gathering yet more dust, but I don't worry about that these days) and brought out for other children to play with. Since it takes a significant number of the basic bricks in the collection, it doesn't leave a whole lot for other building, but this doesn't seem to be a problem.

* Lego people *

One of the best things about modern Lego sets is the little Lego people who come with them. They have different coloured bodies and legs (which are interchangeable with others), appropriate faces, with an eye-patch for the pirates, for instance. They usually also have hats of various sorts, and sometimes extra apparatus such as spears, or tools, which can be clasped in the little lego hands. Hundreds of these little lego people stand around our model city and inspire creative games amongst our visitors. The only problem is that there are far more male than female models; my sons didn't mind, and nor do the small boys who play with it now, but it does mean that some girls seem less likely to develop an interest in it.

* Lego as an educational toy *

Apart from the obvious constructions skills and imagination required to play with Lego, there are other more direct educational benefits. For instance, when my sons were about three or four, they understood conceptually about odd and even numbers, due to the different sizes of basic Lego bricks. There are thin Lego pieces, just one 'block' thick, and also wider ones, two 'blocks' thick.
The wider ones, then, have an even number of connecting spots on the top - most commonly four or eight, but also six, ten, or longer. Why, my sons wanted to know, wasn't there a wider Lego piece with five or seven spots on the top? I helped them work it out, and explained about even numbers, and dividing by two.

Simple arithmetic comes naturally with Lego, when building walls. If you have a wide twelve-spot brick (six long, two wide) then it can be covered exactly by two six-spot bricks, or three four-spot bricks, or even six two-spot bricks. While I didn't point this out directly, it was clear that my sons had a good understanding of the lower numbers and how addition (and, indeed, subtraction) worked, before they ever met these things formally on paper. I learned much later that a concrete understanding of numbers is vital for most children before learning the symbols. It led me to theorise that one of the reasons why boys seem to pick up early maths in school rather better than girls may be that small boys are often a lot more interested in building with Lego than girls are.

* Value for money *

Lego kits are really quite expensive for what they are, and just one or two kits on their own aren't very useful from the point of view of being creative. A basic beginning bucket of bricks can cost upwards of £20, and may only be available at large toy shops such as Toys 'R' Us. While there are some smaller kits at £5 or less (and tiny stocking-filler ones at about £2), most of the reasonable sized ones are at least £12, and some of the huge ones can be five or six times that much - or more. Occasionally they can be found on special offer at somewhere like Woolworths.

However.. in terms of lasting value, I can't think of anything which works out better than Lego. I don't know any other kind of toy which can be enjoyed by children of three, and also of thirteen (and, indeed, twenty-one pl
us!) Most of the other toys and games my sons had when they were little have long since been passed on to other children, or broken. Even Meccano and K'nex have been put away, and rarely come out. But Lego apparently lasts forever, and can be played with for many years, at different levels.

* Conclusion *

I have not yet met a boy under the age of 12 who did not like Lego. If you have sons or grandsons, then I can highly recommend it. Start with the basic buckets of bricks (or indeed with Duplo, the large-size toddler version which can be manipulated by tiny hands) and simple models of topics that the child is interested in. Trucks, fire-engines, and so on seem to be the most popular for the under-fives. Then add to the collection as and when opportunity strikes, suggesting it to relatives for birthdays: it doesn't even matter if a duplicate set is bought as they can be used in so many ways.

On the other hand it doesn't seem to appeal so much to girls any more than it did when I was little. There are exceptions, obviously, but the general trend is reflected in the designs: machines, weapons, vehicles - all typically 'boy' toys. There are pink safari beaches which were intended for girls, but most of the girls I know thought them rather condescendingly dull. The whole Harry Potter theme may be more successful in attracting girls as well as boys, but the largest Hogwarts kits are excessively expensive, and the smaller ones don't give much scope for imagination by themselves.

Still, I give Lego five stars for its versatility, the wide age-range of its appeal, and its general educational value.

* Web-sites *
The Lego web-site for the UK is at http://www.lego.com/eng/ and includes a shop, which will ship to most of Europe and the USA.

There are also many sites which feature Lego models of remarkable creativity, which can be found easily with Google; however my favourite o
f all is the brilliant 'Brick Testament' site, at http://www.thereverend.com/brick_testament/ This site tells Bible stories using Lego models and brief text... and even gives warning ratings: for instance, the Lego version of Genesis, which has 37 different chapters currently, in over 500 pictures warns the viewer about nudity, sexual content, violence and cursing!

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