The Introduction states, “Building with Lego bricks is huge fun and endlessly creative. With a bucket of bricks and a bit of practice, you can build just about anything! But even the best builders need some inspiration. That’s where this book comes in! In its pages, you will discover a dazzling array of ideas for all ages and abilities”.I quote the Introduction in full because that says it all. There are 200 colourful pages of pictures, said to contain over 500 ideas from Lego fans. There are sections on subjects such as castles, Viking longships, spaceships, mosaics and board games, but there are also six sections devoted to the work of individual Lego fans (whose average age is 36!).
Since it is a Dorling Kindersley book, the design work and the construction of the book are excellent. It is sturdy enough to be used and re-used by children. For those who want to copy some of the designs, some of the pictures show ideas from different viewpoints to make copying easier. Copying will develop skills of observation, analysis and dexterity.
We hope, though, that the book will mainly trigger children’s imagination. As the Introduction says, “With a bucket of bricks and a bit of practice, you can build just about anything!” This is important not only for the child’s enjoyment but also in contributing to his/her creative thinking processes. There are children of earlier generations who were brought up on Meccano and became engineers or on Minibrix and became architects. In every country future generations will need children who have been encouraged to be creative and use their imaginations, using the mediums to hand. Lego is a proven medium, and this book will help children, parents and child care workers in getting children interested.
And, by the way, Lego Duplo have just brought out some kits to help little children learn how to stack, sort and build; nothing like starting young.
Lipkowitz, Daniel (2011) The Lego Ideas Book
Dorling Kindersley, London
ISBN 978 – 1 – 40535 – 067 – 9