Guest post by Zoe
Through LEGO games children acquire basic understanding of the world around them. In addition to developing their motor skills by manipulating the pieces, this helps them acquire spatial concepts such as volume, large-small, high-low, short-long, geometric shapes, and they acquire some more complex notions such as balance, symmetry and resistance. LEGO games are also the basis to develop the symbolic play, also called simulation game, and it recreates situations children see in real life. Kids imitate what they see and create new active forms with their own creativity.
Encourages creativity, imagination and construction interest
This is stimulated when children simply use the cubes to build things to their liking and of interest to them; they imagine a plane and choose the most suitable pieces. In this case they are not following instructions but simply assemble their items according to what they imagined and it encourages creativity. Kids love making new things – they are often impatient to follow instructions to put together a specific model, and yet they end up with a disarming weapon completely of their own creation.
It stimulates fine motor skills
Cubes are usually small, and putting them on top of each other, removing them, handling them promote hand-eye coordination and manipulation of movement.
It promotes the ability to solve problems and interest in mathematics and robotics
My daughter adores LEGO and she wants to take her kit wherever she goes and make her robots, but because of this she lost some pieces. When she wants some specific kit form she begins to look for ways to replace the missing pieces with something from the house and this doesn’t always make the best finish – however this process develops skill to solve problems and use the logic to reach the final goal.
It promotes concentration and independence.
I’ve seen how my child is concentrated to create something. I can see all the pieces on the floor and her thinking which will be used for his creation. The approach children use to play with LEGOs is extraordinary. Not only are they concentrated on what they’ll create but they won’t accept any help from adults which in turn promotes independence.
Children feel useful
Kids love to feel like they’ve contributed to their family by doing different things, and LEGO encourages positive thinking about themselves by offering special kits children can use, for example to make a real lamp. With the help of LED modules the lamp will actually work and every time your children look at it and see how it’s perfectly usable, they will be motivated to do something new. Just make sure you are the one to deal with electricity. Safety first.
Image source: The Giant LEGO Light Bulb by Mr.Attacki – Pinterest.com
LEGO greenhouse promotes interest in biology and world around us
Using LEGO has opened yet another possibility for your child’s education. Using the same transparent bricks for constructing a greenhouse will provide your kids the opportunity to observe plants and their growth. This is especially interesting for preschoolers because that is the age when they start asking a lot of questions about the world they see. This is a good chance for parents to raise an interest in biology in their kids and help them unravel the mystery of flora.
Image source: http://assets.inhabitat.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2011/08/lego-greenhouse-lead-537×423.jpg
LEGO has always been an important tool for improving the learning process of children and for developing social and emotional skills such as patience, communication and teamwork in the process of completing a project. Besides promoting collaborative work and the ability to relate to others, building LEGO models increases self-esteem and ability to solve complex problems. Moreover, it works on frustration tolerance and adaptability among other powers that help create a critical and creative thinking. It’s up to parents to take these chances and plant a seed of curiosity which could end up as a turning point in a life of a child and direct the kids to the discovery of love towards several different sciences.
Author bio:
Zoe is a proud mom of one baby girl and a miniature schnauzer. When not obsessing about designing perfect homes, Zoe is spending time with her family. She enjoys encouraging and enhancing her child’s learning process by designing mind games they play along with. You can find her blogging at Smooth decorator.