The use of Lego as a play and creative outlet has been widely adopted in homes and educational institutions, from pre-school to college level. There is even a model, Lego@Serious Play, which is used in corporate settings as an instructional, training and collaboration tool.
Playing and experimenting with Lego is seen as a platform to help pre-schoolers learn through play, explore their curiosity, and improve their social interaction skills through positive experiences. Lego helps students develop spatial reasoning and improve language and critical thinking skills. Research has also been carried out which suggests a correlation between Lego play and later development in mathematical skills. [1]
In NAFA Arts Kindergarten, Lego as play and learning is a popular activity with our students. Our objective is to encourage children to learn through free-play, and Lego materials are available in every classrooms.
We see Lego as part of our overall emphasis on creative development and expression. It is play and art in a different mode – whereas drawing and illustration relies on strokes and hand-drawn movements, Lego encourages a hands-on building approach. It promotes spatial awareness, and hand-eye coordination. Students have to problem-solve to build their models, and select different pieces that mostly closely resemble their ideas.
Lego allows our students, when playing to verbalize their ideas, and build social skills by interacting and relating to their peers. We see this form of interaction as supporting their social, emotional and cognitive development through experiential learning. Lego can also encourage their ability to focus to solve challenges, and persevere to work out solutions and alternatives so as to achieve desired outcomes.
[1] Advanced Constructional Play with LEGOs Among Preschoolers as a Predictor of Later School Achievement in Mathematics, Charles H. Wolfgang,* Laura L. Stannard And Ithel Jones , Early Child Development and Care, 2003, Vol. 173(5), pp. 467–475