Building Lego
Childhood Game: Building Lego
When I was younger, my older brother Timothy and I used to build our own empires. Not the literal ones, but the ones made of Lego. As such, we learned a lot from playing with Lego that we could still apply today. One of things we learned was creativity. Another thing we learned was problem solving. I, in particular, learned another thing – teamwork. All in all, my time spent with playing Lego helped me to become a well-adjusted child in many aspects including mentally and emotionally. However, you might find it a little odd if I just say it like that without evidences to prove my claim. So let me explain to you in detail how Lego helped me in my life.
According to a study in The College of William and Mary, intelligence might be increasing but creativity has been declining since the 1900s (Kim, 2011). Fortunately, I and my brother had no problems with creativity since we were young because we had a lot of practice. After all, you can’t play Lego without being creative. Of course, at first, you would have to follow the manual, see how to build this or that. However, as the article ‘Building a Better Child: The Effects and Benefits of LEGOs’ said, “The best part about LEGOs is tossing aside the instructions and building your own creation” (2011). I used to have so much fun putting my imagination into actual work. For example, me and my brother used to compete on who had the coolest airplane or the ‘strongest’ castle. In those days, our only limitation was our own imagination.
However, creativity is not the only thing that I learned from playing Lego. I also learned to solve problems quickly and efficiently. According to Gwen Dewar (2013) of the Parenting Science website, there are two types of problems – convergent and divergent. Convergent problems are problems that only have one correct answer. For example, a question like how many letters are there in the English alphabet is a convergent problem. However, divergent problems are much more complex in that there are a lot of possible solutions or answers to it. Lego helps people deal with divergent problems by giving them practice. I used to have moments when I was younger when a Lego creation just wasn’t coming out right. Of course, there is no one way to fix it. A different modification could produce a different outcome but that is not to say it would be wrong.
Another thing I learned from playing Lego when I was a child is teamwork. This particular trait is something I carry and show until now. Simply playing Lego would not have taught me teamwork but playing Lego with my 3 years older brother sure did. The only thing keeping us from kicking each other’s ‘empire’ was the fact that we could make an empire look so much cooler by combining our efforts. In Lego, we learned to lend a brick and to give way when one has a better idea in how to build the Lego pirate ship. In life, we learned to share our burdens and we learned not all battles are worth fighting especially if your friendship is at stake.
Many people say that what you play when you were young affects your development as an adult. True enough, I may no longer play with Lego but the skills and talents the game thought me stayed with me until now. I am willing to bet that it stayed in my brother too. In a way, we were both lucky. I myself became more creative, became a fast thinker and in many cases, sociable because I know the concept of teamwork. So if anybody asks, yes I used to play Lego and I’m proud of it.
Works Cited
Kim, Kyung Hee. “The Creativity Crisis: The Decrease in Creative Thinking Scores on the
Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking.” Creativity Research Journal 23.4 (2011): 285-295.
Print.
Dewar, Gwen. “Toy blocks and construction toys: A guide for the science-minded.” Parenting
Science. N.p., 2013. Web. 1 Nov. 2014.
“Lego Toys Have A Lot Of Good Effects For Children.” The Best Legos. WordPress, 2012.
Web. 1 Nov. 2014.
“Building a Better Child: The Effects and Benefits of LEGOs.” The Writer’s Block. WordPress,
2011. Web. 1 Nov. 2014.
