Does using LEGO® pieces help develop creativity?
Well, it seems to depend on how you play.
US and Norwegian researchers (Page Moreau and Marit Gundersen Engset) devised an interesting test. They took a group of undergraduate students and split them into two groups. The participants in both groups were given 30 minutes to build something with LEGO® pieces. However, the participants of one group was asked to build a prescribed set/kit following the LEGO instructions whilst those in the other group was told they can build anything they liked (with these same bricks) and were not provided with instructions for any kit.
After this 30minute period the participants were each assessed on a creativity score using the standard ‘Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking’. It turned out that the undergrads who built freely in the 30 minutes prior , outperformed the undergrads who kit-built on particular for originality and abstractness.
The research concludes that there is a meaningful, and potentially long-term difference between those who "free build," meaning they put the bricks together without a guide, and those who follow the instructions.
The conclusion goes on to claim that instruction following, and free building, are two different "mindsets." I think it's important to note that the researchers weren’t addressing the question of whether one type of play was more important in childhood development over the other. However, in reading the study there seemed to be an implicit assumption throughout that the characteristic of creativity was more valuable than the skill of being able to follow instructions and the learnings of proper build technique that comes from that.
Our view is that while building from LEGO kits clearly teaches the intended use and function of certain pieces, there is also large value in developing that more creative side of children that comes from ‘free building’. That continuous cycle of thought, ‘design’, build, play, then wrecking it, and doing it again. (I put the word design in hyphens as I'm yet to see one of my daughters stop and sketch out her next build!). This is exactly what the Brickle is designed to encourage. That use of LEGO pieces as originally intended by Godtfred Kirk Christiansen in 1955 – a continuous “system in play”.
So, for us the free-building vs kit building debate isn’t a debate at all. The right answer is ‘both’. Both components help your child develop both the meta level skills like problem solving and creativity, but also on the kit side, the discipline and attention to detail needed to follow instructions. Plus the ability to take the LEGO set building techniques from the masters and integrate them into your own builds. Therefore build the kit, enjoy that process, but we beg you not to let it sit on a shelf gathering dust for too long. Those bricks, are itching to be unleashed and to rise again as another creation!
One last comment. We noticed in our research for the Brickle how understandably hesitant children can be to pull apart their last build, even months later. It was the main reason behind why we built the shelving units. These shelves enabled completed builds to remain close. We found this proximity helped in encouraging their dismantlement. Our children could see the parts they needed for their current build being 'used up' on a build from a month prior.
