The Joys of Lego

With 220 million lego sets sold every year, and 30 sold every second in the run up to Christmas, one must wonder why lego is enjoyed by so many.

Many adults enjoy it because it calms them down - it takes their stress off their mind and allows them to stay in the moment. Building bricks is a form of mindfulness.

It also has a huge appeal to children. This is because lego can be complex (like the lego Eiffel Tower pictured in this article) and give you a challenge, stimulating your brain and making you focus on every intricate little detail and piece. There is also a hugely satisfying feeling of the whole construction coming together and knowing you built it.

Although mostly fun, the only downside is making a mistake could have long-lasting consequences in your larger construction - but in some ways the threat of making a mistake is all the reason to enjoy it. The whole process has to present a challenge - a hill to conquer in a vast range of mountains, a wall to break through in the face of a 1000 metre skyscraper. Although the challenge may be rough, once you overcome it you will feel greater than great.

Some examples of complicated lego builds are:

• The lego Eiffel Tower (10001 pieces)

• The lego Titanic (9090 pieces)

• The lego world map (11695 pieces)

• LEGO® Technic™ (made of complicated mechanical parts)

• The lego colosseum (9036 pieces)

Lego Technic

Lego Technics are complicated machinery mostly for adults to use as it is extremely intricate and delicate and a misplaced piece by a single stud (lego measurement system) has the potential to collapse the entire structure.

In conclusion, Lego has been around for nearly a century and is innovative to this day. The word lego itself means ‘play well’ in Danish (le godt), and play well we shall for years to come.