Got a little Lego fan with free time to spare over winter break? Try bringing the Lego Challenge home with you for the holidays! Every month, each library branch hosts a program where children K-5 can build a creation based on our challenge, or their own imaginations. From elaborate castles complete with basketball courts to robots destined for outer space, we love hearing the stories behind the structures and seeing stellar STEAM skills on display.
If you’d like to recreate the educational fun with your own bricks and boards, we’ve got you covered. Below are three challenges to get you started. These are all open to interpretation and require no specific amount of bricks.
Challenge #1 Set a Seasonal Scene: What better way to meld the holiday season with these versatile building blocks than by asking your child to recreate something special about this time of year? It could be a scene or an object. This open-ended question can lead down many paths, including cultural backstories (like why there are eight nights of Hanukkah) or the origins for certain family traditions (like why your family always watches A Charlie Brown Christmas on Christmas Day). You may even want to record the conversation as a keepsake for future holidays.
Challenge #2 Think Outside the Tool Box: One definition of a tool is anything used as a means of accomplishing a task or purpose. Explain this to your child along with some simple examples (shovels, hammers, etc.) and ask them to create a handy tool out of their Legos. Let them know that this can be something that exists in the real world or an entirely new invention. What job will their tool do? Who will use this tool the most? Coming up with a design solution will not only stretch your child’s creative muscles, but also develop their problem-solving abilities!
Challenge #3 Maximum Height: How high can one Lego tower go? Send your child on a mission to find out. The idea will be to create a vertical structure without anything supporting it. One question you may want to ask during the building process is whether the base of the structure should be wide or thin. What will make the tower more stable? Once your child is happy with the height, measure the structure and celebrate this high achievement!
Looking for even more inspiration beyond these challenges? Check out these Lego books! And keep an eye on our Event Calendar for the next Lego Challenge at your local library branch!
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