30 May Maybe It’s Time to Lift the Lego Ban

There are a few things I have refused to allow into my home.  A wretched TV show about a sponge is at the top of my list, an annoying kid named Caillou, and right under that, in big capital letters has always been LEGO.

I HATE LEGO.  I grew up in a busy household full of children and enough Lego to sink a ship.  There was Lego, Lego everywhere.  It didn’t matter how many times the kids were asked to clean it up, there was always a piece of Lego somewhere, waiting for me to step on it.  In fact, I am quite certain that I have stepped on so much Lego in my life that I could probably walk on coals (or an open fire for that matter) because of the trauma my feet have been through.

So how do you go from that extreme to buying it for your child’s birthday present?!  I don’t even know. I never sat down and thought, maybe it’s time to lift the Lego ban. It just looked fun.  UGH!  And now I’m all sucked in and playing with my son, Clark for hours!

I never really thought of Lego as an educational experience.  I can safely say, I probably only thought about Lego enough to think – NOT HAPPENING!  But as I watch Clark work through the instructions and piece together one puzzle at a time, my mind slowly (very slowly) began to change.

What’s Happening to Me?

Suddenly I am looking at Lego in a whole different light!  I watched as he struggled with fine motor work, problem solving skills and spatial relationships.  At the same time he was loving it because of the creative aspect.  It was inspiring and enlightening at the same time!

A little research shows a ton of other benefits:  Lego helps to develop lateral thinking, it teaches children to think in 3D, it improves reading and comprehension skills when working with written instructions, it develops organization and planning skills, and it enhances communication and critical thinking.

Suddenly I’m thinking of all the possibilities that Lego has in our homeschool… especially as we struggle with mathematics!  I’m almost feeling bad for keeping it out of the house this long!

So I’m lifting the Lego ban…  wish me luck!

Now I’m off to clean up Lego off the floor because it’s there already, despite my strongly-worded warnings.  Nothing ever changes, does it?