The Awesome World of LEGO®
My name is Nick Lancaster and I'm an Adult Fan Of LEGO® (AFOL).
Calculating how many AFOLs there are in the world is apparently rather difficult. I've researched it and I've found figures between 100,000 and 400,000 people. The point I'm stumbling to make is that it's not that uncommon.
Why LEGO®? I hear you ask. Well, my friend, it all began in the late 1970s. when as a child I was given a LEGO® set. I wish I could remember which one, I'd love to add it to my collection. I was immediately hooked on LEGO® and never a Christmas or Birthday passed without including LEGO®.
Around 1986 or 1988 I 'outgrew' my LEGO® hobby and entered the Dark Ages (as AFOLs call the period between adolescence and adulthood with no LEGO® interests).
Fast forward a bit. In 2010 I took my son to England to visit my parents. My Mom, bless her cotton socks, had dug out all the LEGO® my brother and I played with as kids. My son had never touched LEGO®, but it appears some of my LEGO® passion is hereditary. 😀
When we got back to the US I bought my son some LEGO® kits and he loved them. So, I bought some more and so on and so on, and somewhere along the line I started to buy LEGO® sets for me 😀
It suddenly dawned on me that I was no longer constricted by allowance money. I was an adult with a disposable income. It was an amazing moment for me.
I am very lucky to have a partially finished basement in our house. One entre side is now my LEGO® domain. Over time I've created an entire LEGO® city, see pictures in the slideshow to follow.
LEGO® is a very personal thing. There is no 'right' or 'wrong' way to play and create with LEGO®. All that matters is that you enjoy it.
We live in an amazing digital age of smartphones, tablets, computers, X-boxes, and of course, the internet. It's hard to convince a child to break away from their five-hour gaming session and to do something in the real world. It is vitally important though.
So how can LEGO® help children? Allow me to elaborate:
Fine Motor Skills
Using LEGO bricks is the perfect opportunity for building fine motor skills. LEGO® bricks are a great manipulative to work the fingers as children build and even pick up LEGO® pieces. Children love the thrill of building and they can do this for hours, building up strong little muscles in their hands that will help them do other skills, such as learn to write.
Cooperative Play
It’s so easy for LEGO® building to turn to a time of imaginary bliss with adventures, heros, villians, animals, and even family members.
A Sense of Accomplishment
When children have finished their amazing creation, they are proud of what they have achieved.
Puzzle Solving
It doesn’t matter whether a child uses an instruction booklet or builds completely from their own imagination. When children are picking up little pieces around them to form a building, plane, or creature, they are bringing order out of chaos.
Science
Science is the driving component behind all creations that a child has. The foundation of science is to come up with an idea and to prove it practically. LEGO® do this naturally through imagination. A child simply comes up with an idea then develops it.
Technology
Put simply, technology is using new techniques to accomplish a task. LEGO® teaches children to use basic materials to complete a task.
Engineering
This is all over LEGO® Want to build a bridge? Then you must figure out what it takes to stand up. Children quickly learn that a tower made of a single column quickly falls. By creating a stable base, they open up a new world of possibilities.
Creativity
Every LEGO® creation is a form of art. A child’s imagination is the only limit. Children become creators with the hundreds of tiny pieces. They can use wheels, shapes, and even minifigures to build the ideas in their minds. It can be useful, entertaining
Math
Volume, quantity, one to one correspondence, symmetry, patterns, and more all can show up when a child plays with LEGO®.
Finally, LEGO® is not just for kids! It can be incredibly relaxing and even therapeutic to create something new. It's cheaper than therapy 😀.
