More with Less: Lego Lab

Building Better Ideas with Bricks

• What: Lego Lab
• When: 2 years and up
• Why: Keep kids entertained with what’s on hand
• Where: At home

My kids own so many Legos, I’ve had to institute a color-coded organizing system. Yet they still fight over individual pieces, and the sheer amount of tiny injury-inducing pieces is not at all proportional to the amount of time they spend enjoying them.

But today, my kids got inspired. I don’t know where the idea originated, but all three of them have been busy for more than an hour constructing a pirate ship – without benefit of any instruction manuals. They happily destroy old creations (I can never convince them to do this normally) to build a ship, then plan to construct scenery for it out of paper.

At this point in time, if it keeps all three of them occupied for more than fifteen minutes without fussing or fighting, I call it a win. If we continue to revisit this project over the next day or two, it becomes worth its weight in gold. And we didn’t need to buy a single thing to make it happen.

My kids don’t normally go for pirate themes, but this time they have big plans to draw treasure maps and lots of other ancillary activities. If you can get your child similarly inspired, you might be able to find a few moments to yourself to relax in the bath or knock some stuff off your to-do list. Whatever works, I wish you success.