Lego Quest and Homeschooling, Part 2

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Our lives revolve around LEGO building systems or so it seems. We use LEGO Education sets in our homeschooling efforts. Then, we use LEGO brick sets for any type of free play my children dream up.

I recently discovered a blog (now inactive) which provided a list of 52 LEGO challenges – one for every week of the year. You may have seen my first post in this series. For other LEGO-related posts, please click here.

My son recently finished four more LEGO Quests and here they are.

 

LEGO Quest #7 – Collaboration

The idea is to work with at least one other person in creating a project, whatever that project might be. Well, we all pitched in. Daddy, mommy and little sister helped, but we let him come up with the idea.

Our son decided he wanted to build a home – which I thought was appropriate since we were all going to help him. Together, we built a home. Does anybody else see any symbolism in this?

LEGO Quest Collaboration

LEGO Home

 

He and his sister decided to add a few more details to it.

Finishing touches on his home, with his sister

Finishing touches on the LEGO home

 

LEGO Quest #8 – Your Favorite Book

It could be a character, scene, object or even a feeling from that book. He first chose the book, “Winnie the Pooh.” Then, he was stumped. I suggested a few things and he chose to make Winnie’s honey pot. There he is, taking a picture of his creation, while little sister is looking on.

Taking a picture of his creation

Photographing his Winnie the Pooh honey pot

 

These days, my son is fascinated with counting to 100 by 10s. So he was asking for quest #10, then #20, then #30… Neither inspired him. We continued down the list of quests and we ran out. Finally, we decided to work on (almost) the last two.

 

LEGO Quest #50 – Macro Scale

The idea is to reproduce a brick or a plate in macro scale. He made a small tent and a big tent.

LEGO Tent Macro Scale

Macro scale LEGO tents

 

LEGO Quest #51 – Olympic Event

I reminded him what the Olympic Games are. We looked at the examples provided on the blog, but nothing inspired him. He decided to build a mini-golf course, probably inspired by our latest putt-putt game.

Notice the attendant ready to give out golf clubs (leaning against red bricks in the attendant’s box) and golf balls (in the yellow box). I know, I know, putt-putt is not an Olympic game yet, but maybe it should be, for the sake of five-year-old boys and girls all over the world.

LEGO Mini-Golf Course and Attendant

LEGO putt-putt attendant and course in the background


Lego Quest and Homeschooling, Part 1

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My son loves LEGO bricks. I started him with DUPLO bricks when he was about two years old. By four, he was asking for LEGO bricks. His sister being two at the time, I had to make sure she would not put them in her mouth. We separated her DUPLO space from his LEGO space. It worked.

He is now five and builds projects that amaze me. I keep telling myself we need to send pictures of them to LEGO Club Jr. magazine. My daughter is three and a half now and she plays with LEGO bricks as well. In fact, my children usually play together and they mix the DUPLO and LEGO building systems into neat designs and intricate stories.

When I stumbled across LEGO Quest, I knew this would be a hit with my son. I did not even have to show him. He happened to pass by my laptop and spotted LEGO bricks on the screen. “What are you doing with that, mommy?”

I showed it to him. He was hooked. He did four quests in less than forty minutes. He would have done more, but it was time to start our bedtime routine.

First, he did Quest 2: Monochromatic. He chose color white. His sister and I picked as many white bricks for him as we could until he said, “Stop. I have enough.”

LEGO Bricks Pile

White LEGO Bricks

He started building and came up with this Mini Space Shuttle.

LEGO Mini Space Shuttle

LEGO Mini Space Shuttle

Then, he did Quest 1: Create A Car. He was bent on monochromatic even though I told him he could use as many colors as he needed. He chose red and came up with this car.

LEGO Car

LEGO Car

I was ready to call it a night, when he asked to do Quest 3: Vessel. I read the definition of vessel to him: boat, airship, bowl, cup, artery, vein (blood vessel), a person (a vessel of grace) etc. He chose to make a hovercraft. Here it is.

LEGO Hover Craft

LEGO Hovercraft

When I read LEGO Quest 4 (Two-dimensional) and LEGO Quest 5 (Tool) to him, he did not feel inspired. We moved on to Quest 6: Creature. He ran to the carpet where his LEGO stash was and came up with this.

LEGO Rain Forest Bear

LEGO Rain Forest Bear

I asked him to tell me what it was, where it lived, and what it ate. He said it was a rain forest bear, it lived in the rain forest and that it rained a lot over there. Apparently, this creature eats trees, chipmunks, squirrels and cement. Before I could say anything, my son added, “Cement will not dry up in his belly.”

Here’s a picture of the four LEGO Quests he made last night.

LEGO Quest Creations

LEGO Quest Creations

I am not sure how many parts I will have to this homeschooling series, but a series it must be. It depends on how quickly he finishes the 52 LEGO Quests and how much we spread them over time. For other LEGO-related posts, please click here.