Page 46 - Family Resource Guide Spring/Summer 2025

EDUCATION NORTH STATE PARENT FAMILY RESOURCE GUIDE SPRING/SUMMER 2025
How Playing With LEGO Enhances Learning
BY NORTH STATE PARENT
Your children probably have LEGO bricks and building components or a similar building toy system. And you may have stepped on stray plastic components and wondered if it was really worth the price,
the frequent reminders to put them away and the sore feet. But playing with snap-together building components like LEGO is more than just a fun pastime for children and adults. In this article, we’ll focus on LEGO, but these and similar building toys have been proven to enhance learning and foster creativity, problem-solving skills and cognitive abilities.
Develop artistic skills and design thinking
Building with LEGO allows individuals to think outside the box and create unique structures, vehicles and worlds. This creative process helps to stimulate imagination and innovation, as children learn to envision and bring their ideas to life through the bricks. As a result, they develop their artistic skills, design thinking and the ability to explore new possibilities.
Overcoming challenges builds problem-solving skills
LEGO building sets are designed to be challenging, requiring problem-solving skills to overcome obstacles. As children engage in building and constructing, they encounter various hurdles and must find creative solutions to make their desired creations a reality. This process involves critical thinking, planning, experimentation and perseverance. Through trial and error, children learn to adapt, modify and improve their designs, honing their problem-solving abilities in the process.
Working with small pieces develops fine motor skills
Playing with LEGO involves the manipulation of small pieces, which helps develop fine motor skills in both children and adults. As individuals handle and connect the bricks, they improve their hand-eye coordination, finger dexterity and spatial awareness. These motor skills are crucial for other activities such as writing, typing and playing musical instruments.
Enhance math and engineering abilities
LEGO naturally incorporates mathematical concepts and engineering principles. By building structures, children learn about geometry, symmetry, patterns and proportions. They experiment with different shapes and sizes, discovering how they can be combined to create stable designs. LEGO also introduces basic engineering concepts such as balance, stability and structural integrity. As individuals explore these concepts, they develop a better understanding of math and engineering principles that can be applied to real-world situations.
Working collectively teaches social skills
Building LEGO structures with friends or family promotes social interaction and teamwork. Collaborative LEGO building exercises encourage communication, cooperation, negotiation and the sharing of ideas. As individuals work together to solve problems or create something collectively, they learn valuable social skills essential for future success.
LEGO offers more than just entertainment; they provide a platform for learning and development. Find the best LEGO products at Redding Bricks and Minifigs, in the Cobblestone Shopping Center, 60 Hartnell Avenue, Redding. (530) 255-8112, bricksandminifigs.com/redding-ca/ Ó
46 North State Parent Family Resource Guide Spring/Summer 2025 • www.northstateparent.com
Kids’ love of playing with snap-together building components like LEGO makes learning fine motor and problem-solving skills, math and engineering concepts fun.