Lego Build Ideas for Classroom
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The document provides instructions and ideas for using LEGOs to promote communication and collaboration skills. It includes challenges where students work in pairs to build models by only communicating verbally without seeing each other's creations. Other activities have one student describe a model to others who build it without seeing the original. The goals are to emphasize clear communication, building trust, and exploring different learning styles through hands-on modeling with LEGOs.
Lego Build Ideas for Classroom
- 1. Challenge Flow 1 2 3 Part 1: The Challenge Part 2: Building Part 3: Sharing
- 2. Build What You Know Think about what you are currently teaching……. Build a concept from that standard Build an event Build an element students struggle with
- 3. Enchanted Forest What type of magical experiences will you create? • A magic tree • A secret cave • House made of magic • Fairies and pixels
- 4. Ornament Challenge • Take your bricks and make an ornament for that classroom tree! • Turn your ornament into a symbol for the learning of your class • Make a class set of ornaments to donate to a family or church or local business
- 5. Summarization In your classroom as students finish up reading in small groups, use Legos to summarize a chapter. This idea can be applied to a short story, poem, informational text, article, etc. The small group emphasizes communication and collaboration as they have to build a model collectively. Idea from Jennifer Rodabaugh #Limitless with Lego.
- 6. Imagination Build Challenge #1 It is harvest season so the challenge build this week is to build a tractor or any type of farm equipment #LimitlesswithLego
- 7. Imagination Build Challenge #2 Let’s dive deep and build a submarine! “We all live in a yellow submarine, yellow submarine…” Or whatever color or shape you want to create! #LimitlesswithLego.
- 8. Content Build Challenge #1 Use LEGO to represent your research project or science experiment, or math problem. For example, a group of students at Thomas Jefferson Elementary in Bettendorf, Iowa used LEGO to represent their National History Day Project! #LimitlesswithLego.
- 9. Social Studies Build Ideas Topic: The New Deal Build Ideas 1. Students choose one of the New Deal ABC programs and use LEGO to design something that demonstrates that program's purpose. For example WPA might build a LEGO stadium or bridge. An artist might make a LEGO mural. Someone might design a better tractor for agriculture. 2. Stopmotion animation 3. Timeline build 4. Build key concepts/vocabulary similar to Build to Express. #LimitlesswithLego.
- 10. Imagination Build Challenge #3 For this challenge take any build challenge i.e. a house or tree and challenge students to build the structure upside down. There is a lot of thought that has to go with perceiving an everyday object in a new perspective to recreate the design. #LimitlesswithLego.
- 11. Literacy Build Build what happens in the beginning of the story #purposefulplay
- 12. Literacy Build Build what happens in the middle of the story #purposefulplay
- 13. Literacy Build Build what happens at end of the story #purposefulplay
- 14. Literacy Build Build the setting of the story #purposefulplay
- 15. Literacy Build Build important characters in the story as well as their characteristics. #purposefulplay
- 16. Literacy Build Build the most important event from the story. #purposefulplay
- 17. Literacy Build Build the story we just read with a different ending. #purposefulplay.
- 18. Literacy Build Build the story we just read with a different main character #purposefulplay
- 19. Literacy Build Who was the hero or protagonist in the story? Build some things that showed us this was the person we should be rooting for. #purposefulplay.
- 20. Literacy Build Build the story we just read as if it took place in a different time period. How would it be different? #purposefulplay
- 21. Literacy Build What lessons or advice can you give based on this story? Make a LEGO build to show that advice. #purposefulplay
- 22. Literacy Build How does this story connect to you or another story you have read? Build to show the similarities. #purposefulplay
- 23. Complex Communication Activities for Engagement
- 24. Duplicate the two slide templates(front and back) Fill in accordingly
- 25. Ducking Around Goal: Emphasize the importance of using visuals to aid process of clear communication
- 26. Instructions Materials: Duck kits for each participant 1. Partner A and B turn their backs to one another 2. Partner A builds a duck and Partner B cannot look or see the duck build 3. Partner A instructs Partner B how to build the duck without peeking or looking. Debrief 1. What happened? 2. How did you work together to understand what you needed to build? 3. Did you learn anything new about the other person? 4. What lead to successful communication to build the duck?
- 27. Just Duck It! Goal: Build trust, create fun, and exploring learning styles and senses.
- 28. Instructions Materials: Duck kits for each participant 1. Partner A and B turn their backs to one another 2. Partner B builds a duck and Partner A cannot look or see the duck build 3. Partner A closes his/her eyes when ready and Partner B hands the duck to them to feel and figure out how it was built. 4. Partner A hands back the duck and then attempts to build a replica without looking at the model(they can open their eyes for the build) Debrief 1. What strategies did you use while feeling the duck to figure out how it was built? 2. What mental models did you create in your head?
- 29. Telephone Part 1 Goal: Power of communication and important it is to communicate clearly with the people who need the message.
- 30. Instructions Materials Option 1: Duck kits for each participant Materials Option 2: Baseplates and traditional pieces 1. Person A is the communicator. 1 2. The rest are builders(you can do in partner or teams) 3. Person A can see the build. Person A heads to the team to explain the model. Person A cannot touch any LEGO pieces. 4. Person A can go back as many times as needed to explain the build 5. Give them a time of 4 minutes as a constraint
- 31. Example Model for Telephone 2
- 32. Telephone Part 2 Goal: Emphasize the breakdown in communication when we don’t go directly to the source
- 33. Instructions Materials Option 1: Duck kits for each participant Materials Option 2: Baseplates and traditional pieces 1. Person A is the communicator 1 2. Person B is communicator 2 3. The rest are builders 4. Person A can see the build. They go to Person B to explain the model. Person B is the one who can go to the builders to explain how to build. Person A and B cannot touch any LEGO pieces. Person B can’t look at the model. 5. Person A can go back as many times as needed to explain the build 6. Give them a time of 4 minutes as a constraint
- 34. Example Model for Telephone 2
- 36. Instructions This activity comes from the LEGO Learn 2 Learn set which is no longer available but I used to do the same thing 15 years ago when I first started teaching. I made matched sets of 10 LEGO pieces each (only the one set has to match – all the sets don’t have to match each other -clear?) and hade my MS students practice writing (instead of oral as I do now) and following directions (so important for good lab work!). One partner is creating their design while the other practices coding with Tynker. Then the model is hidden while the partner that built it gives instructions on how to build it with the remaining identical set of LEGOs. You can improvise by not allowing the partner that’s building to talk or by not allowing the one that’s giving directions to see the model their partner is trying to build.
- 37. Communication Challenge Version 2 MYSTERY ANIMAL
- 38. Instructions When I’m working with younger kids I like to do an easier version of this activity where I give directions for students to build a mystery animal. We work on our position words as well as 3D shapes (cylinder, cube, rectangular prism). Because we are doing this as part of our intro to STEM and coding I really like to emphasize the step-by-step instructions so I have started using a planning page for students to put the piece in the correct step first then follow my directions for how to put them together. That was an idea given to me by one of my awesome STEM team members! I also introduce students to the “loop” CS concept for steps that repeat a previous pattern.