LEGO is all about creativity. From practical objects for daily use (like pencil holders or cell phone charging docks), to fun filled play sets; if you can imagine it, you can probably build it out of LEGO. As a matter of fact, just two standard 2×4 bricks can be combined in 24 different ways. If you add a third brick, the number of possible combinations goes up to 1,060. Just six bricks can form 915,103,756 different structures. Now imagine what you could do with a whole box.
The same can be said for Minifigures. A while back, I wrote an article called “10 Amazing Facts About LEGO Minifigures” (click here to read it). In it, I pointed out that the first Minifigure was produced in 1978, and that if you had one of every Minifigure part ever produced since then, you could make 8,000,000,000,000,000 unique characters. For children, it can provide endless different characters for play. For me, it provides inspiration for photography, drawings (see my free colouring pages), and even poetry (click here or here for examples).
A lot of people complain that LEGO‘s themed sets and building instructions take away from the creativity that could be achieved from the “old fashioned” boxes of bricks (which you can still get). I do not agree. The building techniques learned by following instructions have given me great ideas to use in my own custom projects later on. I also remember hours of imaginative play and story creation that resulted from pre-designed LEGO sets when I was younger (which I may address in a future post). Now, many sets built with instructions end up mixed in my city with custom projects.
Whether following instructions and making your own stories, or building your own creations, LEGO is a wonderful creative outlet. In my case, it inspires other art forms as well. My question for you today is: how has LEGO inspired you (or those close to you) to be creative?
This post was created as part of the April A-to-Z blogging challenge. To learn more about the challenge, you can visit the official website by clicking here. Be sure to come back tomorrow and see what LEGO-themed post I have planned for the letter “D”!
Until next time,
-T.N.B.
Yeah! Creativity! That’s so Lego!
I have to admit if I wander through a toy store and see the wide variety of Lego sets out now I’m a bit jealous of kiddos these days. They are so fun and yes so creative!
There is no reason adults can’t enjoy building with LEGO too! It is my favorite hobby and I am well into my 30s.
Love your LEGO city! That’s what my brother and I always used to build: streets, buildings, a gas station, a park.
Have you ever been to Legoland? They got some cool city “replicas” like NYC and Las Vegas!
I have actually never been to Legoland. It is on my wishlist though. I went to the LEGO Stores in New York City, and they also had replicas of the neighborhoods they were in though.
I think that the possibilities are endless, and that is what makes LEGO great. Also, you can learn something if you follow the instructions… And then let your imagination play!
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Eva – Mail Adventures
C is for Castle.
I loved my legos as a kid even though the fanciest things were wheels and window shutters. My kids love their fancy sets. They also work with the minifigures to create people they know.
C is for Church Committee: Intelligence Abuses by the CIA
“As a matter of fact, just two standard 2×4 bricks can be combined in 24 different ways.” — This gave me pause, and then I remembered that there are a bunch of ways to combine the bricks. Maybe I should try building something this summer…
You totally should! It is actually very calming and helps me to get rid of stress.
I had no idea you could combine just 2 bricks in so many ways. Thanks for the info.
Phillip | C is for collaboration
Nice post!
Alas, I haven’t ventured too far into getting creative with LEGOs (other than combining characters from different ‘universes’), but for me, the act of building the sets up brick by brick is pretty awe-inspiring in itself.
You start out with two little bricks that don’t really look like anything when you stack them on top of each other and then, minutes later, you’ve got a car!
Building the set on the box is just the first step. Then you need to figure out all the other possible combinations you make with it. As a kid I had a large pirate ship and a Robin Hood castle, both of which I built by the instructions many times. But I also used them to figure out many OTHER ships and castles I could make, and combined them both into a giant floating castle!
My 5yo, through learning how sets are built, has come up with ways to put Lego together that I never imagined. (Plus I don’t think they were even possible when I was a kid, they keep coming out with new shapes of bricks!)
C is for The Toronto Circus Riot of 1855
The maths and figures here are pretty mind-boggling! It’s true, you can do anything you want with it. It’s not that straightforward to build some of the sets; just doing that gets kids’ problem-solving skills involved and then there’s all the fun to be had afterwards.
Those facts are really interesting! I believe that even when the guidelines are there, there is a lot of opportunity to learn and grasp. Good one there for C.