Imagination, Invention, and LEGO® Blocks

by Casey Murrow T

odays’ LEGO kits are more complicated than those of ten or fifteen years ago. They result in some remarkable space-age constructions, like the ones my nine-year-old friend

Kai builds. He has many fully assembled projects on display in his room. Many of these kits result in end products that children do not want to pull apart to make

other creations. Shuttle Adventure at $99 is a great project with over 1,200 pieces. During the holiday season just past, the top LEGO item was Winter Village Bakery with nearly 700 pieces and selling for $55. Some of the blocks are so specific to the individual kit that they do not lend themselves to adaptation. The result can be that a LEGO kit, once built, is destined for display on the shelf in a child’s room. Of course, if this is the case, the owner will need a new kit, which means a new purchase. Moving in the direction of so many toy manufacturers, LEGO is having success with their

online game LEGO Universe and their Harry Potter Hogwarts kit with more identifiable charac- ters. Online, you can find many of the new kits transformed into action videos that outdo what most children could create on their own. In some cases the actual LEGO item is transformed into an even sleeker Star Wars type of craft. All of this keeps LEGO on the forefront of the toy industry and the company viable as a business, but the new products also change the way chil- dren invent and imagine as they build with LEGO blocks. Earlier LEGO blocks offered more potential for invention on the part of individual children

because the blocks and kits were less prescriptive. Because each project was completely in the hands of a young person, the likelihood was great that the finished product would be adapted, rebuilt, or disassembled for another purpose. Prior to the current level of Internet access, there was little opportunity for the corporation to

show you how the device could race around or how the characters might behave. This was all up to the builder. Now, the storyline is provided by the manufacturer and the young builder may accept that as the only way that the toy is to be used. Recently, I was able to offer a group of children includ-

ing Kai, most around the age of ten, a chance to build with several hundred of the older blocks, axles, and small gears. Over a period of days, all sorts of structures and vehicles came and went, built by girls and boys. Adaptation was the rule, with changes being introduced frequently. Imaginative play followed the building of most of the objects with very little of it devoted to rockets and shooting at things. None of the built items was left unchanged over the span

of a week. Everything was adapted to other uses, either similar to the original intent or vastly different. Great cre- ativity was possible using the older blocks—this could be an argument for having such blocks available in a class- room or engineering workshop. !

“The Store” pictured here was designed and built by Izabel and Jenna. It has a cash register, shelving, models, and customers and has been used for ongoing play and several redesigns. Tiny “products,” mostly food items, have been made with hand-lettered labels stuck to individual LEGO pieces which can be placed in the store and moved around as needed.

Casey Murrow is the Executive Director of Synergy Learning and leads professional development workshops in science, math, and technology.

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Casey Murrow