Skip to content
2 young kids playing with lego

10 Incredible Benefits of Playing with Lego (And 2 Not So Good)

Did you know that parents are spending even less time with their children than ever before? In fact, the average parent now spends just 5 hours of face-to-face time with their child each week.

Playing with LEGO® is a great way to spend some quality time with your child!

Not only is it fun, but LEGO® can also help children learn in many different ways.2 young kids playing with lego

In this article, we'll take a look at the 10 best benefits of playing with LEGO®, as well as 2 not-so-good aspects.

What is Lego?

First off, what is Lego exactly?

For those of you who may not know, Lego is a construction toy that consists of interlocking plastic bricks. It was first invented in 1932 by Danish carpenter, Ole Kirk Christiansen.

Lego is now one of the most popular toys in the world and is enjoyed by children (and adults!) of all ages.

Why is Lego So Popular?

Not only are lego bricks brightly coloured and great for stimulating a child's imagination, but they are also easy to use. This makes them the perfect toy for children of all ages, from toddlers to teenagers.

At a young age, a child's imagination is just developing. Lego helps develop a child's imagination by encouraging them to build their own creations.

As children get older, they can use Lego to recreate scenes from their favourite movies or TV shows. This helps them to develop storytelling skills and boosts their creativity.

Key Takeaways

Playing with Lego has many benefits, including:

  • Developing fine motor skills-Improving concentration.
  • Building self-confidence.
  • Teaching goal setting.
  • Dealing with failure.

However, it's important to find a balance as too much of anything is never a good thing. Try to create a mix of activities for your child so they can experience different things in life.

1. Helps improve creativity

It's quite hard to imagine that the vast majority of us were extremely creative when we were younger, but as we age, our creativity unfortunately takes a bit of a nosedive.

In fact, you could say that it is socialised out of us. We are told to colour within the lines, to not make too much noise and to generally conform to what is considered ‘normal’.

Playing with Lego helps to keep our creativity alive. It allows us to be open-minded and think outside the box.

And it's not just kids who benefit from this - adults can too!

2. Helps improve problem-solving skills

As we go through life, it's important to be able to solve problems. Whether it's a problem at work or a problem at home, being able to find a solution is essential.

Fortunately, playing with Lego can help us to develop our problem-solving skills.

When we build with Lego, we often have to think about how we can connect the pieces together in order to create the structure that we want. This requires us to think logically and to use our problem-solving skills.

In addition, if we are building something complex, we may have to trial and error a few times before we figure out the best way to do it. This helps us to persevere and to not give up when we encounter a problem.

You might be unaware of this, but each time your child takes their lego bricks out of the toy box, they are inadvertently practicing their problem-solving skills!

3. Encourages collaboration

When you think about, whether we're at school or at work, teamwork plays a big part in our lives.

In order for a team to be successful, each member needs to be able to work well with others. This is where Lego comes in.

Playing with Lego encourages children (and adults) to collaborate and to communicate with each other. For example, when two people are building something together, they need to be able to talk to each other and share ideas.

In addition, when we are working on a project with others, we need to be able to compromise and to listen to other people's suggestions. Lego helps us to develop these important skills.

4. Teaches patience

In our "want it now" culture, it's easy to lose sight of the fact that good things take time.

Unfortunately, this lack of patience often leads to frustration and disappointment. However, if we can learn to be patient, we will be much happier in life.

One of the benefits of playing with Lego is that it teaches us patience. When we are building something with Lego, we need to be patient in order to complete the project.

This is because each piece needs to be placed carefully and deliberately. If we rush, we are likely to make mistakes.

By learning to be patient when we are playing with Lego, we can learn to be patient in other areas of our life.

5. Physical Development

The truth is, kids are increasingly spending more time on screens and less time interacting with the world around them.

This is having a negative impact on their physical development.

Playing with Lego helps to redress the balance and gets kids using their hands and their bodies.

In addition, as kids are building, they are often moving around which helps to develop coordination and gross motor skills.

6. Social Development

One of the largest problems affecting kids today is social development.

With the rise of social media, kids are increasingly spending more time alone in their bedrooms, looking at a screen. This is having a negative impact on their social development.

Playing with Lego helps to encourage social interaction and to develop important social skills.

The fact that they can enjoy interating with the siblings or even with Freddie and Suzy down the street, building and playing, means that they are getting essential social practice.

Parents can faciltate this by providing opportunities for their kids to play with others, such as organising a Lego play date.

7. Improves Concentration

In our fast-paced, constantly-connected world, it's becoming increasingly difficult to concentrate on anything for more than a few minutes.

This is having a negative impact on our ability to learn and retain information.

Being able to concentrate and study for long periods of time is something that we need to learn. It's a skill that will serve us well throughout our lives.

One of the benefits of playing with Lego is that it can help to improve our concentration. When we are building with Lego, we need to focus on what we are doing in order to create the structure or figure that we want.

8. Self-Confidence

As you know, self confidence is extrememly hard to teach, yet it's one of the most important things that a person can have.

A lack of self-confidence can lead to all sorts of problems, such as social anxiety and low self-esteem.

Fortunately, playing with Lego can help to build self-confidence. The fact that we can creat something out of nothing – that we can use our imaginations to build anything that we want – is a huge confidence booster.

In addition, as we complete projects and see our creations come to life, our self-confidence will continue to grow.

How cool is it to create something from scatch and let the whole world see what we've created?

Lego helps them do that without even realising it.

9. Teaches Goal Setting

There's an old chinese proverb that says "man we no target hits nothing" and this is so true.

In order to achieve something in life, we need to have a goal. Something to aim for.

Playing with Lego can help to teach goal setting. As we are building, we need to have a clear idea of what we want to create. This means that we need to plan and think ahead.

Without planning and think ahead we're on a path to nowhere. By having a goal and a plan, we are much more likely to achieve what we set out to do.

10. Teaches Us How To Deal With Failure

This is probably one of the most important experiences in life, and that's failure. Or should I say, learning to live and learn from it.

There will be times in our lives when we will fail. It's inevitable. The important thing is to not give up and to learn from our mistakes.

Playing with Lego can help to teach us how to deal with failure. When we are building, we will sometimes make a mistake or the structure will collapse.

The Two Disadvantages

1. Can Be Expensive

If you're a family on a budget, it can be really difficult to keep up with the demands of a child that wants new lego pieces every few weeks.

It's important to try and find ways to reduce the cost, such as buying Lego sets on sale or second-hand.

2. Can Be Addictive

When we're young, it's so easy to get addicted to things. Whether it's video games, social media or, in this case, Lego.

It's important to try and find a balance. Too much of anything is never a good thing.

Lego Therapy

Lego therapy is a type of therapy that uses Lego bricks to help people with a variety of different mental health conditions.

The therapy can be used to help people with autism, ADHD, anxiety and depression.

It has been found to be particularly effective in helping people with autism to develop social skills.

If you or someone you know is struggling with mental health, then please get in touch with a professional who can help.

In Summary

Playing with Lego can have a number of benefits for children, including improved concentration, self-confidence, goal setting skills, and the ability to deal with failure.

It can also teach children about different aspects of life, such as social skills and mental health. However, there are also some disadvantages to playing with Lego, such as the expense and the potential for addiction. Overall, though, Lego can be a great tool for children's development.

What experiences have you had with playing with Lego?

Let us know in the comments below!

Previous article How Do I Help My Anxious Child?

Compare products

{"one"=>"Select 2 or 3 items to compare", "other"=>"{{ count }} of 3 items selected"}

Select first item to compare

Select second item to compare

Select third item to compare

Compare