Cecilia Weckström

Every now and so often I get these questions  like 'explain the meaning of life on one page', which get your head spinning and are entirely possible to answer, but never without spending a long time meditating on that answer first. For that particular question I have an answer, which you may or may not agree with, which is: Happiness, but I digress.. This particular question though was on the subject of explaining LEGO play, which although simple in some ways: you put a bunch of bricks together in any way you imagine – can actually be pretty complex if you delve into what is actually happening between the lines so to speak.

So if you ever wonder about that question, here's my take on an answer.. and discuss!

Most of us automatically associate childhood with play
more than anything else. Children play as often as they can; play is fun. Play
also contains in its very foundation all the most important elements that allow
us to learn[1],
to make sense of our experience and find our place and voice in the world.

 Give the
mind a hand, and give the hand a system (or pattern, or language, or logic)

 LEGO play champions a “low floor, high ceiling and
wide walls”[2]
approach – meaning the threshold to begin play is low, but only the sky is the
limit by virtue of literally endless combinations possible with LEGO bricks. The
wide walls is about supporting a broad range of open-ended exploration and
discovery, yet underpinning it is a shared build system creating an intuitive
set of constraints challenging one to think up iterations to an originally
conceived idea. It is the familiarity of this System in Play and its capacity
to support infinite variation in expression that encourages exploration of the
unknown and a mindset open to growth.

From the day we are born, we learn, thrive and grow in
relation to others. Vygotsky in particular emphasizes the role of language and
other artefacts in mediating human interaction. Children’s extraordinary talent
as learners comes largely from their ability to set the stage allowing them to
safely project themselves into the unknown through their imagination[3].
In expressing ideas or giving them form through building with LEGO, we make our
ideas tangible and shareable with others which, in turn, helps shape and
sharpen these ideas further and in that process we build our knowledge and our
view of the world through our own personal experience.[4]

Creativity
(as opposed to mere novelty) occurs when you think a thought that is outside
the space of thought even conceivable to you[5].

Ultimately LEGO play is not just a matter of giving
form to ideas, making them tangible and shareable. It is also a matter of
bringing ideas and forms to life by making ourselves part of the play by acting
out scenarios, events and stories. Treating our creations as if they were the
ideas they stand for is what brings them closer to our mind’s reach and enables
us to immerse ourselves with the situation at hand and allows us make a
creative leap, in effect transforming our view of the world[6].

LEGO play welcomes young and old, experienced builders
and novices, but above all it presents everyone with opportunities for
creativity that are dynamic and malleable. The experience of flow[7]
often associated with LEGO play is the balance between existing skills and the
challenge at hand as well as between the anxiety and impatience in realising your idea.

Much like
knowledge is an experience to be actively built, both individually and
collectively[8],
LEGO is a product that isn't finished when it leaves the factory; your
imagination makes it complete. It is a creative material, a
catalyst in enabling us to influence the world by building and experimenting,
pushing our cognitive boundaries and advancing our collective thinking by
growing us as individuals.