Lego bricks have been “the building blocks” that bring a child’s imagination to life for generations. If you can imagine it, you can build it with these interlocking building toys. So how can you make your projects even more interactive and engaging for you and your little one?
Below are 4 ideas for “constructing” your creative play into fun games that everyone will enjoy.
Lego Labyrinths
Erecting a maze of twists and turns for kids to wind their way through that can easily be easily adjusted to create a new experience and for new skills levels with a simple addition or remove of a few bricks. This game is a simple and fun way to entertain your kids over and over again since the challenges will keep growing and only be limited by their imaginations.
Materials needed:
- Lego baseplate (in whatever size you want your maze to be)
- Lego bricks
- Favorite Lego mini-figure characters
How to play:
- Decide where your starting and end points will be
- Build your main path
- Construct the side paths that lead to dead ends, connecting them to your main path
- Have your child walk their character through the maze
- Start over to invent new quests for your young traveler to conquer
- If you need help getting started, Google mazes and find a few print outs that match the size of your base plate.
- To add an additional level of difficulty, use a marble and have your kids try to navigate by tilting the plate.
Ring Toss
Challenge your child to a friendly game of ring toss. This is also a playful way to help youngsters who are developing their hand eye coordination and spatial recognition skills.
Materials needed:
- Lego baseplate
- Lego bricks
- 3 Rings (create your own out of pipe cleaners or but cutting out the center of old Tupperware containers)
How to play:
- Stack your bricks into a tall tower and set up on a flat surface like your dining table
- Stand 3 feet away from the tower
- Toss your rings and try to land them around the tower (give each player 3 tries)
- Whoever gets lands the most rings wins!
*Make it even more challenging, add an additional tower after each round. The new goal it to get a ring on each tower. You can also move back in distance or place towers in multiple spaces for trick shots.
Build, Build, as Fast as You Can
You can make this game as easy or difficult as you want, depending on the age and skill level of each participant. The challenge is to be the first to create a chosen design. Provide each of the players with an equal amount and style of Legos to erect the tallest tower. Whomever builds the tallest tower in the time frame wins. You can get even more challenging by giving them more elaborate creations like animals, bridges, or something more abstract like mimicking a specific artist’s masterpiece.
How to play:
Materials needed:
- A table big enough for everyone to have room to build
- As many Lego brick as you can find
- One bowl for each player
- A timer
- Designs
Create the designs to be built:
- Divide the bricks evenly between each builder
- Show a design to all of the players
- Set the timer
- Whoever completes the design first or gets the farthest before time’s up wins!
*Easy – whichever player builds the tallest tower in one minute wins
*Intermediate – set the picture of the design on the table in front of the builders
*Expert – allow the players to study the design for one minute then remove it from view so the everyone has to recreate it from memory
Beat the Clock Sorting Challenge
This is a perfect option for creating a fun, fast paced game that challenges kids’ color recognition, sorting abilities, and helps them develop their fine motor skills. You can also adjust this game depending on the child’s ages and skill levels.
How to play:
Materials needed:
- 1 large box or other large container
- A bowl, box, cup, or other container for each person
- A table that the players can gather around the box and reach
- Lego bricks in a variety of colors (one color per player)
- Chopsticks or tongs for each participant
- A timer
How to play:
- Gather your players around the table
- Pour the building bricks into the large box
- Set the box in the middle of the players, where everyone can reach
- Assign each person a different color or shape
- Give each person a set of chopsticks or tongs
- Set the timer for one minute
- The person who collects the most bricks in their assigned color, using only their chopsticks, wins!
*Younger kids like toddlers who haven’t developed the fine motor control to use chopsticks, can use their fingers.
With Legos, the only limit to the fun you can have is that of your own imagination. Are there any games that you and your children like to play with this versatile construction toy?