What is LEGO?
LEGO bricks are a line of plastic construction toys. Founded in 1932, the LEGO Group has been passed down from generation to generation. The LEGO brick has come a long way over almost 90 years and continues to be as popular as ever.
So, what makes LEGO bricks remain popular across the globe? The benefits of using LEGO bricks include development for children and numerous education purposes. The toys bring people together, teach new skills, and unlock creativity—the history of the LEGO brick lives up to its hype.
Why LEGO Bricks Are Great for Teaching
LEGO bricks allow you to create just about anything. Expanding their use and bringing the magic of LEGO bricks to the classroom allows teachers to create lesson plans for several subjects! From math to reading, LEGO bricks help teachers explain a subject to students by allowing them to visualize the problem simultaneously.
The benefits of LEGO bricks in the classroom continue to be a success, and the uses continue to grow every day. As a result, teachers can be more creative with their lessons and cater to the different learning types of their students.
Benefits of LEGO in the Classroom
Fine motor skills
Creativity
Problem-solving
Cooperative play
Patience
Accomplishment
LEGO Promotes Fine Motor Skills in School
LEGO bricks are perfect for manipulating children’s fingers as they build and pick up the pieces. In addition, building up the muscles in their hands allows them to develop other skills. For example, improving their grasp on a LEGO brick also improves their ability to properly grasp a pencil.
LEGO bricks help with hand-eye coordination, a skill that translates throughout most of our lives. Helping to create and grow a student’s fine motor skills is one of the most significant benefits of LEGO.
LEGO Brings Out Creativity in the Classroom
A student’s imagination has no limit. Another benefit of LEGO is that it allows students to create anything they can think up by becoming creators, builders, and dreamers. With wheels, shapes, and LEGO people as options, they can build an entire village, cars, and so much more.
Creativity helps students express themselves and allows them to think in different ways while bringing their visions to life. Teachers create lesson plans that bring out their students’ creativity and help them learn new topics and thrive in the classroom.
LEGO Promotes Problem Solving in School
When a student builds something using LEGO bricks, they are using problem-solving skills. A trial-and-error method is used when building, making sure the bricks fit within each other. This helps a student execute an idea while organizing their thoughts to bring it to life. LEGO allows a student to try various methods until they complete the task.
LEGO Helps Students Work Together
LEGO bricks help students work together to bring their ideas to life. Teamwork is an essential skill children need to thrive on a day-to-day basis. Like LEGO, each brick cannot connect to any other piece without help; they all work together. Working with others to execute an idea is not always an easy task, but LEGO makes it fun!
For example, a student working with one other student usually avoids friction. However, a student working with ten children can be challenging. Therefore, learning to follow the rules and complete a task while working together is beneficial to a child’s development.
LEGO Teaches Patience in the Classroom
One of the most significant benefits of using LEGO bricks in the classroom is the patience it creates. At the same time, students can get frustrated while focusing on their goal to complete their masterpiece. LEGO bricks are intricate, small, and take time and energy to put together. A child could spend hours creating the perfect LEGO masterpiece while learning patience in the process.
So why is patience a necessary classroom skill? Whether waiting their turn to share ideas with a team or listening to the teacher, patience translates throughout their entire day.
LEGO Offers a Sense of Accomplishment
Students may spend hours or even days using their LEGO bricks and creating a work of art. Did the entire class participate? A few groups of students? The finished product is something every student will be proud of.
This sense of accomplishment is another benefit of LEGO. It helps to boost a student’s self-confidence while reminding them they can do anything they put their mind to. In addition, a student will take that feeling of accomplishment from class to class, helping them overcome obstacles throughout their day!
Where to Buy the Best LEGO sets for the Classroom
Yes, you can purchase LEGO bricks from almost anywhere these days, whether in-store or online. But did you know that LEGO sells specific LEGO sets geared toward education? These LEGO sets are created with teachers in mind, providing them with everything they need for their students.
Subjects That Are Better With LEGO
Math
Science
Technology
Reading
Engineering
LEGO Lessons in Math
Looking to improve your student’s math skills? Using LEGO bricks for math lessons allows students to learn the basics! Teaching addition and subtraction? Take a pile of LEGO bricks and place it in front of your students. As they count, they build up their LEGO bricks. When subtracting, they start removing the same pieces. This teaches them how to add and subtract through visualization.
You can use different LEGO bricks to differentiate between odd and even numbers, choosing red LEGO bricks for odd and blue for even. Have a worksheet with a set of problems? Let them use LEGO bricks to provide the answer. They can even learn math patterns! Grab a set for your classroom today and watch your students thrive!
Math Lesson Idea: Race to Twenty! Write the numbers one through twenty on the flat side of the LEGO bricks for each student. Kids start with a brick labeled “1” and roll the dice. The student then adds the number of bricks corresponding to the number they rolled while stacking them correctly. The first one to get to twenty wins!
LEGO Lessons in Science
Science is all about coming up with an idea and then proving its practicality. LEGO helps students do this naturally. Using their creativity, they can come up with an idea and see if it works individually or as a group.
Using LEGO bricks at a young age in school allows students the opportunity to grow with LEGO. Students that graduate from elementary school continue to use LEGO in science and other activities, including robotics, experiments and more complex testing.
Science Lesson Idea: Have your students build a bridge using LEGO bricks and test its strength. Use the LEGO bricks to build several different-sized bridges or one large bridge as a class. Add objects on top of it to test its strength and see how much weight it can hold.
LEGO Lessons in Technology
LEGO has never been afraid of a challenge, and technology isno different. So how does LEGO stay relevant in the classroom? While you can’t escape technology, not everything needs to be taught on a computer. For example, computer coding fundamentals such as sequence and pattern can be taught using LEGO bricks with no technology in sight.
Students continue to be introduced to technology every day, so teach them how to use technology to learn and grow in their everyday lives. Most students will be interested in some form of computer learning.
For example, has a student ever talked to you about Minecraft? Do your students know that someone wrote and designed it by learning how to code? They will be jumping out of their seats to learn!
Science Lesson Idea: Create some binary code activity sheets with a letter of the alphabet and the binary code for that letter on the other. Designate a letter to correspond to a specific color LEGO and have your students write a message.
LEGO Lessons in Reading
Build your students’ reading and writing skills using LEGO. Start by writing a word on the side of the LEGO. Then, have your students create a sentence by stacking the bricks on top of each other. This allows your students to practice their sight words while learning how to use them in a sentence.
As they learn to read, the art of storytelling will become a class favorite, but what if your students could create and visualize the story simultaneously? Using LEGO sets, they can add people, create a castle, and create a wall around it as a group. Their excitement for reading will grow as they bring the scenes to life.
Reading Lesson Idea: Reading has never been so fun. Recreate a story using LEGO bricks to create the items. Read The Very Hungry Caterpillar to your students and have them create the caterpillar and the food he eats using LEGO bricks.
LEGO Lessons in Writing
As we discussed, another benefit of LEGO is that it helps your students improve their fine motor skills for tasks like writing. Other ways LEGO helps improve writing include, for example, a student can spell out their name using LEGO bricks and then practice writing the letters they created.
Using LEGO to teach your students vowels and sight words? Write them on LEGO bricks, allowing them to create sentences that they can practice writing. You can also use LEGO bricks as flashcards for students to practice their words. The possibilities are endless!
Writing Lesson Idea: Use LEGO people to practice a writing assignment about supporting characters. Then, have them describe the LEGO character answering the questions on a worksheet.
LEGO Lessons in Engineering
Elementary school children are the perfect candidates for learning about engineering using LEGO sets. Their imagination is at its peak, constantly thinking of new things to create. So, while your students think they are playing with LEGO bricks in class, they are learning the mechanics of creating a car out of LEGO bricks, complete with a steering wheel and tires to make it functional.
Engineering combines math and science to solve problems daily. Create an activity for your students, allowing them to combine everything they learned to solve the problem you’ve given them. Working together as a team, you will be fascinated to see your students’ solutions.
Engineering Lesson Idea: Create a clock! Use a large LEGO baseplate and use LEGO bricks to create the numbers on a clock. Use the mechanical pieces to create hands that students can turn as they learn to tell time.
LEGO Has Changed the Classroom
LEGO created LEGO education in 1980. Its sole purpose was to create LEGO sets based on hands-on learning. Today, LEGO education develops educational tools for teachers worldwide, providing them with several LEGO products to use in the classroom. The goal of LEGO education was to allow children to bring their imaginations to life, and they have succeeded.
LEGO has continued to contribute to students’ educations for years. Offering hands-on solutions has leveled the playing field and created opportunities for every student. Though LEGO started as a small toy, it has turned into a timeless object used in classrooms and STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) programs worldwide, allowing students and teachers to reap the benefits of LEGO every day at school.
Homework Using LEGO
Homework can be fun, too. Give your students assignments using LEGO bricks. Create mini-LEGO kits for your students to take home, ensuring every student has the same bricks to work with. Have them practice their letters or numbers, practice their sight words, or write their names. Learning doesn’t have to stop in the classroom, and your students can reap the benefits of LEGO in their own homes.
The internet has endless resources to help you create lessons centered around LEGO. First, choose a lesson based on the current topic Then, get ready to inspire the next generation! LEGO continues to offer several benefits in education.
Teachers have created lessons, taught students how to read and write, and enhanced their creativity, all from the classroom. So, grab LEGO sets today and reap the benefits of LEGO in your classroom while inspiring the next generation!