Lego Day

Ian and Evan had both ordered a new (LARGE) Lego set over the weekend and were thrilled when my husband came walking in with them last night around dinnertime.  It was so quiet in our house last night it was unbelievable.  By bedtime (2 hours later), Ian had completely finished putting his whole set together.  Evan had made huge strides in his set too.  As soon as he woke this morning he asked me if he could finish putting his set together.  Ian helped and within an hour or so they had everything completed.

Just in time for our homeschool group Lego day! 

  
The boys were all invited to bring a Lego creation to show, but Evan chose not to bring anything since he was afraid they might break while traveling.  Ian brought his whole entire new Coast Guard set to show and Alec decided to bring a few Ninjago sets.
  
To start our Lego day, everyone gets into a big circle and introduces themselves.  We must have had closet to 30 kids today and so many new faces too.  It was wonderful!

Once the kids introduced themselves they could show off what they had brought from home and then those toys get put away.  The mom who runs Lego day brings a HUGE bin of Lego's for everyone to use and share.  That way we don't have to worry about lost/ missing pieces or anyone special Lego sets getting ruined.

The first activity required everyone to grab any 5 pieces and build something using just those five pieces.  They only  have so long to pick the five pieces and so long to build; that makes it quite a challenge for some kids.  After building they reconvene on the floor and share what they created.

 For the second challenge children were given slips of paper with a word on it and they had to build that word.  The younger kids received noun/words like pencil, table, etc. while the older kids received harder words like hope, sadness, faith, etc.  For the second challenge they couldn't tell anyone what their word was (unless they were talking to an adult and asking for help), they could use as many pieces as they needed and they had quite a bit of time.  When everyone was just about finished they had to show their creating and everyone would try to guess what it represented (sort of like Lego charades!). 

For the final challenge the kids were broken into two large teams and they had to build the tallest tower in the time allotted.   I was surprised when Ian decided to sit this challenge out as well but he told me it gets to hard to work in such large groups with such a diverse range of ages.  The teams worked very  hard and had to problem solve solutions for making the towers tall but sturdy.  The team that ended up winning actually had to re- build their tower at least a half dozen times since it kept breaking.  Most of us moms were surprised it stayed up at the end of the challenge.  The other team had a very sturdy tower but they were about an inch or two too short. 

team 1

team 2

comparing the buildings

  I love Lego day since it teaches the kids so much about creativity, team work, cooperation, problem solving, etc.  We ended the day with a mini birthday party for one of the boys and the kids just loved getting cupcakes and singing (at the top of their lungs!).