I’ve recently started exploring Lego toys with my 10-month-old daughter. While she’s not yet able to create shapes or assemble pieces, she’s already showing an interest by disassembling the parts one by one. I’m hopeful that as she grows, she’ll use her imagination to craft various creations with Lego blocks.

I first encountered Lego toys in my childhood but didn’t know their name until I read Sophie’s World by Jostein Gaarder in 2018. The 5^th chapter titled “Democritus: Why is Lego the most ingenious toy in the world?” caught my attention, and I was inspired to one day introduce them to my future child, even though I wasn’t yet married 😉 at the time.

” … They are easy to assemble, she thought. Even though they are all different, they all fit together … The best thing about them was that with Lego she could construct any kind of object. And then she could separate the blocks and construct something new.”

Reference: Gaarder, J. (1994). Sophie’s world: A novel about the history of philosophy. Macmillan.

Sophie discovers that Democritus, the Greek philosopher, believed that everything was made up of tiny, invisible, and eternal particles called atoms. I suppose Lego mimics this basic idea in solid form.

Learning Objectives:

Here are the learning objectives of introducing Lego toys:

Physical Development:
I’m focused on enhancing her fine motor skills, helping her to properly grip, move, and place objects of different shapes, sizes, and materials. I want her to be able to return them to various surfaces with confidence.

Intellectual Growth:
I aim to stimulate her imagination, encouraging her to design different shapes, coordinate colors, and build something entirely new from scratch.

Professional Skills:
Through play, I hope she’ll develop early management skills. By organizing a chaotic set of objects into a unique design, she’ll learn to recognize patterns in chaos, a valuable skill for the future.

At this point I want to remember Prof. Benoît B. Mandelbrot and his famous quote:

My life seemed to be a series of events and accidents. Yet when I look back, I see a pattern.

– Benoît B. Mandelbrot

Love for my baby girl.