LEGOMANIA!!
Here's my thought
on legos. I love 'em! Building with the regular legos by following the printed
instructions is a natural progression from the manipulative imitation drills.
It's an activity that both of my children play together. My older child likes
mainly to play imaginatively with the figurines and completed structures so we
are trying to incorporate that into Mr. Scott strictly "engineering"
approach.
Hints!!
1. Make sure your
child has the fine motor skills
to manipulate most of the pieces. The child should be able to manipulate duplos
(the big legos) without difficulty before trying the little ones. The
itty-bitty ones I have to do for Mr. Scott but he directs me where to put them.
2. Be organized! One thing that I strongly believe is that NO child
can play with disorganized toys, especially when they have a gazillion little
pieces. They get overwhelmed with all the mess and space out. I went to the
dollar store and bought a bunch of plastic boxes that had lids ATTACHED to them
and were stackable. In them I sorted all the miscellaneous and extra pieces by
color. The Lego Themes (Star Wars, Adventure, Cars...etc) might have several
small sets and a few big ones (all with separate instructions) based on the
common theme. I put all the pieces for these in larger boxes along with all the
relevant instruction books. This way, Mr. Scott can pick a 'theme' he wants to
work on and have all the necessary materials, but he still has extra pieces in
separate boxes if he wants to improvise (hasn't happened yet though). Be
vigilant about having the child put the pieces away when he is finished. If
there are "unknown" pieces laying around, just toss them into the
appropriate color box. Its easier to dig them out of those later when you
rebuild. Zip lock bags work even better for individual sets at they don't get
spilled (or thrown!!)
3. PUT THE SETS
TOGETHER YOURSELF FIRST. Get a drink
after the kids go to bed and make a bunch of sets. You will save yourself and
your child a LOT of time and trouble if you do this. I happen to find making
lego sets relaxing, but I'm a oddball. Sometimes the directions require VERY
good spatial-perspective skills.
4. Introduce
small sets first. A simple car is usually
good and can be played with easily after construction. These sets usually only
have a few pieces. Lay out the instructions and all the parts. Point to the
first instruction (labeled 1)--you can be teaching sequencing here. Tell the
child that this picture is 1st and ask him child to find the pieces needed from
the picture and to match the picture (or whatever language works for your
child). Usually I say something like. "Here's the number 1. It,s the first
picture. What pieces do we need? Can you put them together like this? Sr+.
Here's the number 2. It,s the second (or next) picture. What do we need now?
Can you find the pieces?" Continue in this manner until the creation is
finished. You can work on numbers and sequencing in addition to visual imitation
and fine motor. Keep these early sets separate (in a zip lock) until they are
mastered.
5. Do the piece
several times with the child and then see if the child can do it himself. Mr.
Scott built a small jeep at least 10 or 15 times on his own before he
spontaneously moved to bigger pieces.
6. Try to find
these on SALE--they aren't cheap!
7. Links