Building Creativity and Imagination With LEGO - BuildToExpress Giveaway
Wednesday, September 18, 2013 at 5:00AM
LEGO Education® materials have enriched our homeschool in untold ways.
From learning to write stories, to learning about simple and motorized mechanisms and simple machines, it is safe to say that anything from LEGO Education® is a tremendous learning resource!
The most recent resource we have been using, BuildToExpress, is specifically designed to stimulate your child's creative thinking and imagination.
About BuildToExpress
The BuildToExpress product we have been using contains two parts:
- BuildToExpress Core Set The core set contains 200 elements that developers have carefully selected to peak students' interest in creating metaphors and telling stories. The set also comes with a building plate and a convenient storage container.
- BuildToExpress Guide & Activity Pack The guide and activity pack is what truly makes this a unique resource. While designed for classroom use, we have been using it on an individual basis (but I bet it would be FABULOUS for a co-op class, too!). There is a teacher's guide included, as well as a DVD Rom that includes all of the printables for 30 challenge cards and a challenge card creator.
These two resources together allow my son to use these LEGO bricks to think more deeply about literature we are reading, use his creative skills and imagination, and SO MUCH MORE.
Watch this video from LEGO Education® about BuildToExpress. You can also visit this page to read all about BuildToExpress.
*Note: This is done from a classroom perspective - as I have (and will address later) emphasized, this product can easily be adapted for use in your homeschool.
Challenge Cards
The challenge cards contain different cross curricular topics to get your student thinking and creating.
Since we love literature, I chose a literature challenge card set to share with you - and this was also the first activity Grant did with BuildToExpress.
We used The Sword in The Tree (a book Grant just finished), and talked about the book and Grant began to build.
I love how this first card encouraged him to THINK about the main character and other characters in the book.
Grant built this simple scene of Lord Weldon trying to escape the dungeon in Weldon Castle.
We had a great dialogue while he was building.
*I know from also having a seventh grader that these verbal and creative skills will translate into STRONG WRITING in the years to come!
You can see the remaining challenge cards in this activity - and with each one he talked with me more and continued to build. I can see us repeating this process with future books.
Challenge cards 3 and 4 are IMAGINE and CONCLUDE.
There are many more challenge cards that come in the BuildToExpress Activity Guide, and you can even create your own challenge cards.
What We Love about BuildToExpress
I could write a very long list, but I'll just limit this to a few:
- The set comes in a compact box that is easy to store. The pieces are engaging and A LOT can built just from a free build with the 200 elements included.
- The guide and activity pack help me organize an entire LESSON surrounding the LEGO bricks. Grant doesn't even realize we are working on elements of literature, or a science concept. All he knows is LEGO!
- LEGO Education® leaves no stone unturned. They give you MORE THAN ENOUGH direction, challenge cards, and teaching ideas.
- The potential in our homeschool is something I love, but I also love the potential to use this in a co-op or LEGO club setting. It can work well with individuals or groups.
We have just scratched this surface with this resource, and I am SO excited!
Reader Comments (254)
I am new to homeschooling, after being on the fence for a while trying to decide if Homeschooling would be right for our family. I have followed the Homegrown learners Facebook page as well as Practical Homeschooling and finally decided to take the plunge! I have been setting up my classroom all week and my kids and I are so excited. I have heard great things about Lego for homeschooling and I would love to add this to our daily routine. My daughters love to build with Lego's at Grandma's house so it would be one more great way to make learning fun and build up our classroom. Thanks for the giveaway and all of the fantastic posts. If it weren't for your webpage and all of the Homeschooling blogs I have been following I would never feel that Homeschooling could be an option for us. Thank you for the inspiration and motivation! God Bless!
I have boys that would LOVE this, and I'd love to be able to use Legos for history and other school subjects. Looks awesome!
Mary you know my Jonathan. He is so math oriented, that building with LEGO bricks of any kind becomes a lesson in physics. He'd love this and so would his mom ;)
We have two LEGO boys over here. There are LEGOs and LEGO books can be found in every area of our home. We love writing with hur LEGO prompts and, Joe shares very well. ;-)
I am constantly looking for ways to get my oldest (10) interested in story writing, literature, ect. I would LOVE this set, as would he, to really ignite that fire. I could really see him enjoying and thriving with this type of learning!
My kids are just getting into legos and I can see that the educational possibilities are endless.
My daughter is a huge Lego fan! She also loves to create stories. I could see her using this set to help "illustrate" her stories.
We love Legos in this house! This sounds like it could be a fun addition to our homeschool.
I think my kids would think it was play time instead of school time.
What a great learning tool.
Thanks :)
We would use it to keep interest alive in some of the books we are reading. our next project for history is to build a lego pyramid.
my children would have fun learning with this set in their free time.
Love how Legos encourage my big kids and toddler to build and imagine!
What a great set to give away! My son would definitely use this in our homeschool.
What *couldn't* we use this for? Looks awesome!
I would love to use Legos more with my son and help build his writing skills too.
We've just finished My Father's Dragon for my K'er and are about to start Mr. Popper's Penguins for my 2nd grader so I can see them building some neat stuff as we discuss the books. Would love to win this!
My 6 year old loves legos and I'd love to spark his imagination with this set! He's a hesitant writer and a beginning reader and I think activities like this would really interest him and encourage him to practice the skills he needs to become a stronger reader/writer!
There are so many ways we would love to use this material. My son plays with legos everyday and we've used them in our classroom several times including ideas from your blog. I have wanted to try lego education for a while now, thanks for the chance to win
My family would love to add Lego education to our curiculum! I think it would be just the break in routine we need!
My Lego-loving son would love to build with this set to tell me about the books he's reading!
We use LEGO's and DUPLO's as motivators for speech practice and imagination muscle builders! These would be great!
Like most others here, my son loves Legos and would love to play with them from dawn to dusk if I allowed it. I believe this set will help continue his love for reading and provide an innovative way for us to discuss his books.
We are HUGE Lego Fans in this house!! We would love to win this for our homeschool!!
My daughter loves to read, but is a reluctant writer. We have been using the Story Starter LEGO set and she loves it! It is making writing so much easier and enjoyable for her. I think these challenge cards would be great to get her to think about stories she reads more in depth, as well as thinking through other subjects in a fun ways using LEGO. Thanks for the chance to win!
My son would love this! He would use it to "illustrate" his stories that he makes up or to make the comics he draws come to life!