LEGO: A Mosaic of Developmental Benefits

The Educational Benefits of Playing with LEGOs

We’re a little bit in love with LEGO. And like anyone who has something they love, we want to talk about it. So let’s talk about how great LEGO is and how it does amazing things to your child’s brain. We built our business on the idea that play is a vital driving force behind the development and early education of human beings. As it happens, LEGO’s business is founded on the same important truth.

We’re all familiar with the LEGO interlocking brick system. Patented over half a century ago, the little plastic bricks haven’t changed one bit. They don’t need to. It’s an elegant construction toy and it’s proven difficult to improve upon. LEGO has released hundreds (or more) new brick designs over the years. And every single one of them will connect with the first bricks they produced.

With all that variation in brick design, almost anything is possible. That’s part of what makes LEGO such an amazing toy. Whether you’re working with a bin of random bricks or a specific set, the only real limits are your imagination. And kids love exercising their imaginations.

Playing with LEGO has a whole bunch of developmental and educational benefits. You can follow the instructions of a specific LEGO set or let creativity take over and building something from your imagination. You can even use LEGO to build and understand things like DNA models and robotics. No matter how you play with LEGO, you’re engaging your mind in several beneficial activities.

Education.com’s own love letter to LEGO points out a lot of ways playing with LEGO helps kids’ brains develop. They point out that even infants and toddlers benefit from sorting through the varied colours and shapes of the bricks. And as your child gets older, it gets better and better. Playing with LEGO promotes creative problem solving and challenges kids to think in 3 dimensions. It's not something not everyone does well, but mathematicians and physicists have to think in 3D all the time. Education.com also mentions that playing with LEGO could be laying a coloured-brick foundation for a career. Many architects and engineers look back on hours playing with LEGO as their first step toward a life-long love of building.

Don’t hesitate to get your children hooked on the bricks early. Even infants can play with LEGO’s “junior” line, Duplo. Studies show that seventh-graders who play with LEGO insightfully get better math scores. And that insight comes with experience.

Finally, LEGO is even more rewarding when you’re working with others to build something. Working in a group with LEGO promotes co-operative behaviour and good communication. It’s so effective that it’s often used as a form of group therapy for kids with autism. It’s been successful in teaching them how to interact with others to achieve a common goal.

With all that going for it, LEGO is a toy you can be certain is doing your kids a lot of good. And they absolutely love it. You can’t go wrong with LEGO.