By Francesca Vidal
As a child, we were all probably bought a LEGO set by our parents. These toys gave us our first STEM experience while also keeping us entertained and building up our imaginations. Over the years, legos have grown in popularity. Even though LEGO releases sets ranging from themes on princesses and Minecraft to architecture and Technic, each LEGO set provides hidden benefits to kids.
LEGOs Help Develop Attention to Detail Skills
LEGOs teach kids to carefully read manuals, find exact bricks, and place them in the correct spot. When kids place a brick in the wrong place, they learn to go back, look at the instructions again, and fix their past mistake. This causes them to become more cautious and pay more attention to the instructions. When a child does not place a brick in the wrong place, they feel a sense of reward as they are able to finish their lego set quickly and without any mistakes. STEM requires people to have good attention to detail as they are constantly asked to design models, conduct precise experiments, and more.
LEGOs Help to Develop Problem Solving Skills
Sometimes when a person is following the instructions to a LEGO set, they realize that a brick that the instructions tell them to place in a certain location does not fit. As a result, they have to go over the prior steps until they find a brick that they have accidentally placed in the wrong location. While it may seem annoying and frustrating to some, this process teaches kids how to identify and fix their mistakes. Most careers in STEM require students to take many classes in mathematics and science. In these classes, professors will require their students to think outside the box, piece together knowledge to come up with answers, and recognize how to fix mistakes.
LEGOs are Hands-On
Children love to engage in activities that involve hands-on learning. With LEGOs, students have the opportunity to piece together different bricks to create something new. LEGO also sells sets that include building a robot and coding it. These are great for kids wanting a taste of what coding is by letting them decide what they want their own robot to do. Some STEM careers involve building computer circuits, programming, performing surgery, and more. An early exposure to hands-on learning can help kids get used to and fall in love with the idea of being able to directly apply their knowledge to real-world situations.
LEGOs Make STEM Fun
Legos are designed for kids to have fun as they construct sets from their favorite TV shows, movies, or from their favorite areas of interest like cars and space shuttles. When given exposure to LEGOs at an early age, kids are most likely to fall in love with constructing objects, making them more likely to pursue engineering careers that involve building such as aerospace, mechanical, and biomedical engineering. LEGOs can make the challenging subject of STEM seem fun, engaging, and inspire a new generation of doctors, scientists, engineers, designers, programmers, and more.
Overall, LEGOs provide many critical skills that are crucial to have in STEM. Exposing kids to LEGOs at an early age can help to interest them in STEM while also developing skills that other kids may not have.
Works Cited
Jackson, Amy. “Skills for Life with LEGO: 7 Benefits of Using LEGO to Teach STEM Skills.”
Firestar Toys | Blog | LEGO News for LEGO LOVERS, 15 July 2020,
blog.firestartoys.com/skills-for-life-with-lego-7-benefits-of-using-lego-to-teach-
stem-skills/.
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