Building Skills with LEGO®: How the world’s favorite construction toy helps skill development in children

Pull out your toybox and watch where you step – January 28 is National LEGO® Day! We at Diversity in Toys are celebrating all things LEGO® by exploring how this marvelous, simple toy helps children grow different skills at various stages of development. 

But first, what are LEGO® blocks?

LEGO® building toys are simple sets consisting of small, brightly colored plastic “bricks” that can be locked together to form various structures.  

LEGO® blocks are such a straightforward, and by now universal, toy that it may be surprising to remember that LEGO® blocks actually needed to be invented!

The Lego Group was started in 1932 by Danish carpenter Ole Kirk Kristiansen as a wooden toy company. Because of materials shortages brought about by two world wars and the Great Depression, in 1949 Kristiansen bought an injection molding machine in an attempt to capitalize on a new, cheaper material: plastic.  

The business began producing an innovative plastic toy called the Automatic Binding Brick – soon known as the LEGO® block. 

A quarter of a decade later, in 1958, Kristiansen’s son Godtfred submitted the patent for LEGO® blocks. The company hasn’t looked back since. National LEGO® Day commemorates this anniversary. 

Godtfred proposed that all LEGO® blocks should work with any other LEGO® block in a “System of Play.” This system enables a limitless pool of construction options and possibilities, designed to grow with children as they develop.  

In fact, LEGO® toys are so consistent that any LEGO® brick produced since 1955 can interlock with any other LEGO® block produced since! 

So, what skills do LEGO sets help grow?

Playing with LEGO® bricks has been shown to foster numerous physical, cognitive, and social skills in children. Benefits of LEGO® play affect all ages and may even show up years after the child’s LEGO®-building days.  

Here are some skills that playing with LEGO® sets helps children develop: 

Physical: Fine motor skills, hand-eye coordination, and spatial awareness

The earliest or most rudimentary skills that playing with LEGO® blocks develop are physical. Playing with LEGO® bricks helps build fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination.  

Every time a child grabs a LEGO® brick and sticks it to another one, their brains and muscles register these motions. Picking up small pieces such as LEGO® bricks particularly strengthens a child’s smaller muscle groups. 

For children who have not yet developed these mind-muscle connections or who struggle with motor control, LEGO® offers brick sets containing larger pieces with their DUPLO® line.

While the larger size makes these bricks easier to manipulate, they still fit perfectly with any other LEGO® product. So, they can be integrated with new LEGO® sets as a child advances in motor skill. 

Playing with LEGO® bricks also improves a child’s awareness of the space outside of themselves. A 2018 study by the University of Colorado Boulder found that college students who played with construction toys like LEGO® bricks as children demonstrate higher spatial awareness than those who did not.  

Why is that crucial? Spatial skills are vital in many STEM careers such as engineering and chemistry but are rarely taught in classroom settings. Playing with LEGO® sets is one way children can develop this skill set.

Cognitive: Creative thinking, planning and problem solving, and attention span

Playing with LEGO® bricks also helps develop children’s cognitive abilities. These include creative thinking, project planning and problem solving, and attention spans. 

At a time when Americans’ ability to think creatively is declining at an alarming rate, playing with LEGO® bricks lets children explore thousands of possibilities. The versatility of a LEGO® brick doesn’t just make it a timeless toy – it is actually a key reason why playing with LEGO blocks fosters creative thinking in children.  

The simple block-and-lock design means that there are a lot of possible combinations for even just a few blocks. For instance, with just six standard LEGO® blocks, you could make 915,103,765 different structures. Wow! 

This means that with one LEGO® set, a child can make the featured design – and then can build a thousand more with those same bricks. As they build, children then learn to plan out projects and problem solve any errors that arise. 

As they play with LEGO® sets, children are subconsciously also practicing patience and focus. LEGO® tasks require careful coordination and execution, so a child’s entire attention may be absorbed in the project. They may then be surprised to find how much time has gone by! 

Most of all, completing a LEGO® model affirms for a child what they can accomplish when they commit to a task. Feeling successful at one task will give them confidence in tackling and sticking with the next one. 

(Building LEGO® sets isn’t just great for children’s attention regulation – it can help stressed adults with their mindfulness practices, too!) 

Educational: Color & shape knowledge and early maths skills 

One of the most obvious benefits of playing with LEGO® bricks is the mathematical and geometric knowledge it teaches children. Playing with LEGO® sets helps children grasp concepts they will later learn in school. It may also even prepare them for a career in arts or STEM.  

Children practice color and shape identification as they read LEGO® instructions and try to find the correct pieces in the set. Then, in free play, children experiment with shapes as they combine LEGO® bricks together to make different structures. 

Practicing these skills, as well as developing the spatial skills discussed above, improves children’s ability to do math problems. A 2014 study by the University of Derby found that a child’s skill in building with LEGO® sets was a strong predictor of that child’s maths performance, and even correlates to their SAT performance. 

As mentioned before, some of these skills show up years after a child has stopped playing with their LEGO® sets. A 1982 longitudinal study by Florida State University tracked a group of children from pre-school into high school and found that playing with construction toys like LEGO® at a young age actually had a greater impact on their math scores in grades 7 and above than it even did at elementary levels. 

Social

Lastly, playing with LEGO® bricks sets can provide fun, relaxed opportunities for children to interact and collaborate with others. This can be especially important for children with social difficulties.  

For instance, specialists who work with children on the autism spectrum have found that after playing with LEGO® sets, autistic children initiate more conversations, had longer social interactions, and display more relaxed behavior with others.

Playing with LEGO® sets isn’t just about putting blocks together – it helps people stick together as well! 

Overall, LEGO® products are not just fun toys but are valuable tools in helping children develop various skills. Diversity in Toys has a large selection of LEGO® and DUPLO® products to browse. We hope you see something your child will love!