[Michlib-l] LEGO Nights

[Joe Gross]

At Ransom District Library, we do a similar program to that at Allegan, 
also called Lego Club. We stopped using a theme when most of the kids 
wanted to do their own thing (it felt like I got out of my own way). 
Each gets a large baseplate and a bucket to fill with Legos, which we 
have arranged by color (only rules: they must put their unused Legos 
back in the coded bins, and they must limit their "lego people" to three 
or four, as these are the true currency of the Lego collection). When 
they are finished with their creations, participants have the option of 
adding a title and signature on an index card, and we put them on 
display in the children's area for a week or two. Almost all artists 
want to be recognized for their work. :-)
     Although we have bought the vast majority of our substantial Lego 
collection, the return on investment has been excellent. Our Friends 
group got us going with an initial $400 donation, and we chipped away 
after that.
Cheers,

/Joseph Gross//
//Assistant Director/Youth Librarian//
//Ransom District Library//
//Plainwell, MI//
//jgross at ransomlibrary.org/

On 11/26/2013 5:05 PM, scrotser-toy at alleganlibrary.org wrote:
> Our program is simply called, "Lego Club", and it's pretty 
> unstructured. I do begin with a theme, however I think it's really 
> remarkable the ideas kids come up with on their own-- I like that the 
> unstructured nature of things allows them that freedom.  In other 
> words, hardly anyone sticks with my theme, but what they do is so 
> impressive, I've got no complaints.  I take lots of photos which we 
> keep in our Lego Album - for posterity (and in case anyone wants to 
> remember what they've done before).  We also have a large selection of 
> Duplos for smaller children, so I don't specify an age limit. For each 
> Lego Club I assemble every Lego book in the stacks in one place to 
> entice reading, too.
>
> I'm always interested to discover what others are doing with Legos.
>
> Thanks for asking, Angela.
>
> -Sharon Crotser-Toy
> Allegan District Library
>
>
>     -------- Original Message --------
>     Subject: Re: [Michlib-l] LEGO Nights
>     From: Cari Fry <cari.fry at westlandlibrary.org
>     <mailto:cari.fry at westlandlibrary.org>>
>     Date: Tue, November 26, 2013 1:43 pm
>     To: Angela Scott <angelas1028 at gmail.com
>     <mailto:angelas1028 at gmail.com>>,
>     "michlib-l at mail.mcls.org <mailto:michlib-l at mail.mcls.org>"
>     <michlib-l at mail.mcls.org <mailto:michlib-l at mail.mcls.org>>
>
>     Hi Angela...
>
>     We call our program Lego Read & Play.  I read a book on a story
>     carpet to introduce the theme.  Kids spend a little while (if the
>     want to) making a Lego to go with the theme.  ex.  Elephant &
>     Piggie book, then they made a "Pig" or an "Elephant", then we took
>     pics to display in the library.  (see below)
>
>     [Click to Resize]
>
>
>     Some kids just don't want to participate in the "theme", so I
>     don't make them.  After about 20 minutes of together projects, the
>     kids go and make friends playing Lego all around the room.
>
>     Cari Fry
>     Westland Library
>
>
>
>
>     ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>     *From:* michlib-l-bounces at mail.mcls.org
>     <mailto:michlib-l-bounces at mail.mcls.org> on behalf of Angela Scott
>     *Sent:* Tuesday, November 26, 2013 3:14 PM
>     *To:* michlib-l at mail.mcls.org <mailto:michlib-l at mail.mcls.org>
>     *Subject:* [Michlib-l] LEGO Nights
>
>     Hello Everyone,
>
>     The library I currently work for is thinking about starting a LEGO
>     night and I had a few questions for public libraries that already
>     offer these programs:
>
>     1) How did you get started, did you purchase the LEGOs, except
>     donations?
>     2) Is there any structure to these programs or do kids basically
>     just come in and play?
>     3) Do you have different ages come in at different times to ensure
>     the very young children don't swallow the smaller LEGOS?
>
>
>     I am curious to hear about how other libraries run their LEGO
>     nights and would appreciate any additional information they have
>     to offer.
>
>     Thank you,
>
>     Angela Scott
>     angelas1028 at gmail.com <mailto:angelas1028 at gmail.com>
>
>     ------------------------------------------------------------------------
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>
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