Lego Unit and Lapbook Fun!

Building his car

S just spent 4 days delving into the world of Legos! We'll be going on a Legoland field trip next week so he was very excited to learn as much as he could about Legos. We used this lapbook from Walking by the Way and adapted it as needed to fit S's learning style.

He started the unit by learning all about Denmark, discovering who invented Legos and a little about his life, and then built the Danish flag using his Legos. His first building challenge was to make a taxi cab based on the Lego website's tutorial, however, that was a bit too intricate for him right now so he just build his rendition of a yellow car. He was quite pleased with himself.

His finished car

On Day 2 he read all about the Lego Company's mission and vision statements, watched several videos on how the Lego bricks are made. The building challenge this day was to make a ship with no instructions. Again, this was a bit over his head, so he pulled out the little book that came with his Lego kit and used the picture of a boat in there to build one (no actual instructions, but he had a visual to go on).

His boat

Making his mosaic

Finished mosaic

Day 3 had him learning all about how and why Lego bricks stick together. I have to say he found it quite fun to retell me about interference fit and friction. I think he just liked saying interference fit! Then he got to watch some videos and visit websites to see the amazing Lego creations of Sean Kenney and Nathan Sawaya. Needless to say, S was amazed! After seeing their work, S couldn't stop talking about how there are Lego sculptures at Legoland and that he's going to see all of them! This building challenge focused more on the artistic side of Lego building. He was to make a mosaic. He watched a few more videos of Lego mosaics that other people had made and then told me he wanted to make something that was way more intricate than we had Lego bricks for. Somehow I managed to get him to think simpler and he chose a flower... and we still didn't have enough single Legos to make it look quite right. Thank goodness more Legos are on their way, otherwise we might not survive another mosaic attempt!

Estimation

Bar graph

On the final day of the unit the focus was Lego math. He did some graphing, estimation work (which he was so proud of, and so was I), addition and subtraction, made a graph on the computer, and he tried the multiplication book that came with the unit study. Surprisingly, he got it long enough to complete the little book. A little multiplication seed has been planted in his head, but I'm not expecting it to flower until after he has double digit addition and subtraction under control. He read some more fun facts about Legos and then moved on to the most difficult building challenge yet. His was to become a digital designer using the Lego program. He needed more of my help on this than any of the other challenges, and I can't say I blame him. There is a lot that can be done on that program! He ended up telling me what to build, helping me pick pieces he thought looked cool, and making sure I put them in the places he wanted. In the end it looked like some sort of weird futuristic car with a crazy driver. He was pleased!

Digital Design

 Now, on to the completed lapbook!

This is the cover. It has pictures of all of his building challenges, the Lego logo, and the Danish flag. 

 When you open the lapbook you see the vocabulary words for each day. Inside each one he wrote their part of speech and a definition that fit them best, at least as far as Legos are concerned. The yellow page and the right flap have some pictures and little books where he wrote all the information he learned.

When you open the yellow page you get to see another yellow page where he found Denmark on a map, and then pictures of the 2 ways he tried to build the flag. On the left you can see some of his math work plus a picture from when he turned his boat into a boatcar "for when it crashes on land."

Once you turn the middle yellow page it opens the book up to the rest of the math work, pictures of his final 2 challenges, plus a pocket where he stored his copywork and the LEGO Fun Facts. I just have to say that this lapbook got pretty intricate!

All in all, S had a great time learning about Legos and creating his lapbook. He is really looking forward to visiting Legoland next week and so am I!

 I'd love to hear stories about other kids learning about and creating with Legos, so feel free to share in the comments!