Lately I have been putting some Lego projects together at home with my daughter.
We started a project today and after 3 minutes we came to a stand still because my daughter had all the parts I needed.
What started out as a Tie Fighter ended up being 9 ships. There was at least 9 hours of build time as we worked our way through the instructions while creating our own ships.
Some of the sets my wife knows about
The last project we created
Here is a photo of my daughters Lego creator table. Most of it is Disney Princess Lego but BB8 has made the table
 |
| http://www.digitaltrends.com/gaming/lego-star-wars-the-force-awakens-launching-in-june/ |
I really love the symmetry that comes into play and the problem solving as parts are put together. I can see the children in my class bringing in old sets to play with or the possibility of the school looking into buying bulk Lego pieces.
Lately I have been looking around the school for unused sets but all I have found are some early Lego Mindstorm Sets(not quite as cool as these sets but still usable). I haven't taken them because I want to keep them intact and resurrect the sets for others once the software is updated.
At the moment one of the sets is being used in my collaborative classroom I noticed it had a motor so I supplied new batteries and a group of boys were busy creating.
On a side note what I would really love is for Lego to donate sets of blocks to schools for creative play. I could also see them supplying sets to public libraries for issue just like jig saws. I would definitely use the loan facility.
 |
| http://www.trendblast.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/Nathan-Sawaya-Lego-Scultures1.jpg |
Below is a video of some of the projects I am hoping to aspire to with my class.
I agree Dion. I have found Lego to be a remarkable activity for children to use in class to develop their creativity and problem solving skills. I often use it for free time and always feel that students are using their time productively. Trying to separate those yellow pieces with my teeth has always been a "treasured" memory from childhood. To add variety in my classrooms, over the years I have been on the look-out for other creation toys, such as Bionicles and Hot-wheels, which I have sourced from garage sales and second-hand shops. My car is filled with boxes of the stuff and whenever I go to a new class the kids always ask if I remembered to bring my goodies. However, I know there is a mountain of these unused creative toys lying around in older teenager's and twenty-somethings attics and wardrobes - never to be used again. This stuff was expensive - easily nearing $100 per set. I have often wondered how we can resurrect this bounty and make it readily available for the current generation of our digital natives? Organising a "toy-drive" in our local towns?
ReplyDelete