LEGO – Not Just Another TOY But The “TOY Of The CENTURY”!*

‘LEGO keeps my child busy for a couple of hours at a stretch where she goes on building stories around her creations. I do see her fine motors skills put to good use and she seems to have this insatiable hunger to be with LEGO forever and shop for more and more! But I really wonder what benefit do those tiny, different shaped pieces that clog my vaccum cleaner and poke my feet every time I walk in her room, have in store for my child?’

If you resonate with the above, do read on as LEGO is surely much more than a toy and here’s what it is all about:

1. In Danish, “LEG GODT” means “PLAY WELL”. True to its name,  LEGO  surely encourages all kids to play and is every child’s best ‘buddy’

LEGO caters to all types of play needs for your child, irrespective of the age of your child

• Solitary play for the child who loves to play by himself and focuses on only his/her creation
• Parallel play also know as adjacent play, where kids prefer to play around their friends but not along with them
• Cooperative play, surely a more organised way of playing where the kids have their roles defined and which lays a good foundation for team work

2. LEGO is ‘food’ for creative, hungry minds

LEGO is a toy that actually fosters open ended creativity and exploration. Right from utility value creations like table organizers & calendars to wearable accessories; replicas of monuments to idols of deities – at The Kids Company™, we have created it all. An idea and a brick box is all one needs to give shape to ones creativity.

LEGO ganpati created at The Kids Company™ was appreciated and acknowledged by LEGO on the official LEGO FB page.

With AI (artificial intelligence) making its way in almost all industries and replacing many professionals, ‘creativity’ is a skill which probably AI can never take over and shall actually make one stand out in times to come! LEGO is the perfect tool to sharpen ones creativity.

3 year old thoughtful Reyansh, said his bird may get thirsty so he created a water body for him

Master builder Kian, was getting bored one lazy Sunday noon and he managed to get his hands on some bricks and a base plate and VOILA he created his own unique puzzle game which kept him constructively busy for hours together!

3. It is also a handy helper for parents:

• Concentration: Raising kids in this era where they are thoroughly ‘spoilt for choices’ brings in a common area of concern for most parents – low focus and interest in one activity/ toy. We have parents who have signed up their children with skepticism as their child would not sit at one place for more than 10 minutes and are now pleasantly amazed to see that their child refuses to leave the class even after an hour and a half of LEGO session with us.

At 6:30 am, Aarav recreated a windmill he had built in our class a day prior!

“My son plays with LEGO all day! Every morning he wakes up and instead of saying good morning, he whispers, can you play LEGO with me?” – Mrs. Disha Maniar, Aarav’s mother

• The 3 P’s – Patience, Persistence & Perseverance: We as adults, are aware of the need and the importance of the 3 P’s but find it challenging to inculcate the same in our children. LEGO makes our job easy. While building his/her favourite creation, the child displays and practices the 3 P’s without even probably knowing the meaning of the same!

• Discipline & Respect: All LEGO builders learn to value their bricks. We have heard stories from parents where their child would never clean up his room post a play date, but after finding his true love for LEGO, he doesn’t even allow his helper to enter his room till he has packed off all his precious bricks.

4. So does LEGO only revolve around CREATIVITY?

LEGO can easily be a synonym to CREATIVE PLAY. But having said that, if your little one prefers a structured play session, rather than an open ended one, LEGO is a must have TOY for him/her too. All LEGO sets come with a child friendly step by step instruction manual which shall guide your child and keep him productively engaged till his complete creation is ready!

Little Miss Chatterbox Aria, neatly lays all her LEGO bricks on her mat and builds her creation following instructions from the manual leaving her mommy awestruck!

5. A toy that grows with you!

LEGO Duplos, can be introduced to your child at 18 months and from there, there is no looking back! As your child grows, he shall graduate from Duplos to LEGO Juniors to the Classic System Bricks. There is LEGO Technic and LEGO Mindstorms as well for older children

There are surely many MORE reasons why we at The Kids Company love LEGO and its surely our favourite TOY and teaching aid! Shall share more insights in a sequel to this article.

*LEGO was officially declared as the Toy of the Century by Fortune Magazine as well as the British Association of Toys

Disclaimer: All photographs in this article are original and belong to the author. Reproducing them in any form without the permission of the author will not be allowed.

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