February has been a big Lego month in our house since we started attending and competing in the Kalmar Nyckel’s Lego Shipbuilding Day a few years ago.
Not only will we be building an original, nautically-themed piece, but we’ll also be participating in Delaware Fun-A-Day by creating Lego sculptures every day in February.
From preparation, to brain-storming, to records of failure, to inspired success, I’ll be logging our journey here.
Through the sorting process I noticed that Technic elements give me the hardest time. I don’t have them in a centralized location and I don’t have a fluency in their functions. This is a symptom of having not spent much time building in this theme, which is generally geared toward vehicles and other machines.
Although I love problem solving, I have not become familiar with many of these pieces and how they can be used to create moving models.
As a personal challenge, I’m going to seek out models in this theme and pay attention to how they’re put together. I hope that I can share what I learn and maybe you can sharpen your Technic skills along with me.
Whenever I’m sorting I start out with what is visually most accessible. That just means I grab the largest, most plentiful pieces first.
That can leave an intimidating pile of tiny elements at the bottom of your sort bucket. The first thing I do is fill the bucket again with unsorted Lego and start over. If you do this a couple times, sorting the mass of littles at the bottom gets easier.
Then, when you’ve got a good pile of smaller pieces, you can use a similar technique to sort. For this assortment, I picked out “dots,” as we call them, or single-stud round plates. Depending on how you’ve decided to break them out, you can choose two colors and use both hands to pluck them from the pile. We haven’t yet broken out all the colors, so I use palettes like earth tones, translucent, reds, and other.
This is my mess, my chaos. Well, it’s the mess and chaos immediately before me. We haven’t sorted our Lego collection since Mary passed and I’ve had the expedient habit of buying bricks when I didn’t know what else to do.
I’m going to spend some time every day getting this in order. My sons create amazing buildings, vehicles, cities, and, most importantly, stories when they can easily access the materials they need.
Also important is to bring order to our material life. I don’t regret focusing on our spiritual, emotional, and educational lives, but it’s difficult to focus on those things when there is physical chaos about.
My sons and I are super excited as we’re heading to Detroit to support State Championship LOAD Robotics representing Delaware at the Lego FIRST Championship. LOAD is a rookie, all-home-educated team that fought hard in regional and state competitions to earn their place in Detroit. As friends and fellow Lego Maniacs, we are so proud of their accomplishments and hope you consider supporting their fundraising efforts. Without the backing of a school or robotics club, they face additional challenges in funding their registration, travel, and accommodations.
Locally, there are always opportunities to get children (and some adults) in front of a pile of bricks.
You’ll often find us at Brandywine Hundred Library on Mondays, 3:00-5:00 PM, for their Lego Lounge program. Themes are provided with learning resources, but free building is also encouraged. A relaxed, drop-in atmosphere always produces fun creations.
Hockessin Public Library’s long-running Tuesday Lego Club is where my sons first got a taste for the colorful bricks. From 4:30 to 5:30 PM it’s all about exploring one’s imagination with lots and lots of pieces.
On Wednesdays, head over to Claymont Public Library for their Lego Club, 3:30-4:30 PM. The facilitators are enthusiastic and there are always surprises.
On Friday, May 3rd, at Brandywine Hundred Library there will be a Lego Storytime for ages 3 and up from 10:30-11:15 AM.
Route 9 Library & Innovation Center’s Lego Club happens the first Monday of each month, 6:30-7:30 PM.
My son might be more excited about May the 4th Be With You than his own birthday. At all Lego Stores:
Tantive Make and Take May 3-6: Come in to your local LEGO Store to build your very own Tantive model then take it home, for free! Registration is on a first come, first served basis and quantities are limited. Registration begins April 15 in stores only. The building event is intended for ages 6+ at store discretion.
Bear Public Library will hold their Lego Club on Saturday, May 18th, 2:00-4:00 PM.
Join Appoquinimink Public Library on the third Tuesday of the month for LEGO construction challenges and free play with LEGO blocks of all shapes and sizes. Next meet: May 21, 6:30-7:30 PM, registration opens April 23rd.
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The new Harry Potter Lego sets are very nice looking. They have lots of interesting colors, new elements, and dreadfully large stickers. We’ve always had a tricky relationship with Lego stickers. They’re high-quality and will survive a couple readjustments, but they can be a devil to position just right. Often they’ll also limit the reusability of an element, getting in the way of imaginative free-building.
Some of the stickers for the Great Hall set are attractive and vital to the ambiance of Hogwarts. They’re also huge and an extra challenge to place accurately. A friend suggested I use Windex on the element to allow more movement before committing to a placement.
I applied the spray to a paper towel and then wiped it on
the Lego piece. I discovered that you can be liberal in how much you use as the
Windex evaporates quickly and doesn’t get too slick while trying to position.
Without the usual quick-adhering of the sticker, I was able
to get it just right before smoothing it down. I had much easier success with
this method than in the past, but decided to test what it would be like if I
had made a mistake after smoothing out. A gentle push with flat-edged metal
tweezers brought the edge of the sticker up and caused no damage to it.
I’m very happy with the playability, attractiveness, and
complexity of this set. And now I can be happy with how the stickers are
placed!
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These sessions have been the most fun for me. They’re when the grown-ups take a step back and the team digs into the building of their Moon Base. We’ve stretched these sessions out to maximize creativity and allow more time dedicated to experimenting and coding with the motorized portions of the base.
Mapping the layout:
The team broke into two groups and got to building each half of the base.
Session 9 saw several rooms come together.
Greenhouse and Food Storage InfirmaryBreathing Air Storage, Cleaning, and Delivery SystemCafeteria
The team also had a little fun building, coding, and modifying some motorized components.
Cooling FanSerious Coding
Some team members took home the WeDo 2.0 sets to further experiment with the task of bringing some robot-building expertise to our next meeting. I’m really looking forward to seeing what they learn.
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In my search for positive parenting resources I couldn’t resist listening to this minimalist approach to managing Lego from Dr. Denaye Barahona. To be sure, we are not minimalists when it comes to Lego. Our biggest projects bring us together and can demand a lot of bricks. However, I felt Dr. Barahona went too far in reducing modern Lego to being a “closed” toy too focused on licensed characters and predetermined builds.
You can hear her podcast episode here:
Our 2017 entry for the Kalmar Nyckel Lego Shipbuilding Contest
Only a few years ago I held a similar nostalgia for when Lego had a much smaller variety of elements and imagination was the key ingredient. I looked at a Lego banana and said, “What else could this be but a banana? How can this foster creativity?” It didn’t take long for me to see that banana put to use as a horn, smile, weapon (as all elements eventually find themselves in the hands of boys), mustache, lever, nose, tongue, or any number of curved objects.
The Friendliest Minotaur
My sons started playing with Lego at our local libraries. Big, unsorted piles and no instructions. They applied their imaginations with ease and learned to break down their builds after a couple hours. These habits served them well as loving family began to shower us with official sets during birthdays, Christmas, and all types of occasions.
I was wary of the licensed sets with built-in stories and characters. Again, it didn’t take long for my sons to twist, expand, and mash-up the characters and stories. My elder son became masterful at using our wide variety of minifigure parts to create his own heroes and villains or copy them from books and movies. He also recreates his favorite scenes while his younger brother builds endless assortments of wacky beasts and insane vehicles.
Sets rarely stay together for long. Sometimes following the instructions is just to check off a line item and the model is immediately disassembled to access new elements.
The 2018 SS Mary Zerbey Memorial Seasteader, built in honor of the wife and mother we lost weeks earlier.My son’s free build copy of the Haida Spirit Boat in the Copeland Maritime Center’s Watercraft of the World gallery.
Sorting starts at the model level. The larger the set, the more need there is to categorize the elements and place them roughly into piles. Sorting of larger collections does take parental guidance, but it is worth it when they can access the full breadth of the inventory to fuel their imaginations.
Our UnikittiesA collaborative train project by almost a dozen homeschoolers.
Dr. Barahona claims Lego has become a “closed” toy, to be built and displayed. I assert that this only occurs without a little creative encouragement.
However, I would concede that this is not a pursuit for the minimalist.
The question at 6:00 am: What to build?
God bless, Jason
p.s. – For his “Mind Body Soul Time” today my elder once again chose Lego building.
The Lego Monthly Mini Build gives children, ages 6 to 14, a chance to visit a Lego Store, build a unique model, and take it home for free!
First, you must join the Lego VIP program. It’s also free and offers bonuses on purchases and access to events like these.
Then, you can go to this link and register for the next month’s build starting the 15th of each month.
The process has gotten very easy as you can choose your appointment time within a two-day window, avoiding mad rushes and long lines.
The builds have seasonal themes and often include special elements that are hard to find.
Our first mini build in 2014. Modifications come quickly.
Not only have I found value in the new, free pieces, but this gives you an opportunity to take your children to a store full of wonderful things to buy…AND NOT BUY ANYTHING. Now, I can stop by the Lego Store with my sons and they don’t have an expectation that we’ll be making a purchase. I’ve found that this habit has been of benefit in many stores as I have set and followed through on expectations.
These sessions focused on specific challenges that will be faced by living on the Moon.
Session 4: Water on the Moon
The team tackled questions of finding ice then melting, transporting, filtering, storing, and using the water. Lots of ideas came forward and the team members were able to build their prototypes.
Crush, melt, scan, and pipeline to personal water storage.Vehicular transport of melted ice (I LOVE the colors).
Storage, transport, and filtration machines.
High-speed distillation during high-speed transport.
Then the team built and programmed two different machines using the Lego WeDo 2.0 system.
“Sweep”Modified build to automatically unload cargo from shuttle.
Watching them work together, exchange ideas, take turns, and have fun while bringing their creations to life is the most rewarding part of any session for me.
Session 5: Energy on the Moon
How will we get energy for our Moon Base? How will we store it? Use it?
The team had to work hard on their ideas and came up with some great builds.
Guest Coach Sadie brought her own fuel.
The team then built and programmed “Grab.” With each session the builds become more challenging and the team has to advance their assembling and coding skills.
“Grab”“Grab” modified into a crunching machine. In lieu of Moon ice, a minifigure is crushed.
This week we’ll be taking on more challenges involving life on the Moon and I look forward to sharing our solutions.
