Yes, actually. He talks to his friends about building stuff, collaborates reluctantly with other builders and also plays math games. His teachers say we have a little engineer on our hands. Which, what? I have a PhD in the humanities for goodness sake. Ben had to watch a YouTube video to change a vacuum belt. (But he did it!) We hired a handy man to install a light fixture. I could go on and on and on.
Luckily, Coop has a LEGO-obsessed older brother who is more than happy to spend an entire rainy Sunday assembling a LEGO city, and my parents bought him a million magna tiles for Chrismukkah a couple years back. And Ben is a fabulous LEGO builder himself-- when Harry was Cooper's age they did the Hogwarts castle set and then creepily put it in a Tupperware so no one could touch it ever. But how cool would it be if there was someplace he could do build in a more structured way? Someplace like Snapology.com, a place that combines kids' natural love of building with STEM/STEAM principles. They have classes, camps, parents' nights out, and even birthday parties. I wish we had a Snapology franchise in our little corner of Wisconsin. Maybe someone who is reading this post will decide to open one? Snapology uses LEGO bricks as well as K'Nex and is appropriate for kids ages 1-14. Sounds like a kiddo dream come true.
I know building-obsessed Cooper would love it!
I am partnering with Nakturnal today to offer a LEGO® brick set of the Snapology Mascot Sebastian Gator for a commenter below. To win, all you have to do is comment. Note that the recommended age for the LEGO set is 6 and up.
Oh I'm so with you! I'm a social scientist, so STEM often feels like a foreign language to me. When one of my kids shows interest though, I try to learn with them. We all try things together, so they get to explore a new skill and we incorporate family time. Win win!
ReplyDeleteMy son would absolutely love that set! He builds with lego and k'nex on a daily basis and is constantly surprising me with his creativity. We have a few set of Crazy Forts so that he can build life size structures and I have found that to be a good change of pace :)
ReplyDeleteWe love Legos! Though I am curious how others help siblings "share" Legos. Are they all common property? Are you allowed some special Legos to be off limits. We are just now getting into these muddy waters.
ReplyDeleteWhen Johnathan was in First grade and had to do a project on careers, he didn't want to do the project at all. When I asked why, it was because he didn't like any of the career options. So his first lesson in self advocating with a teacher was to ask her if he could choose his own career. She said yes. His dream career? Lego designer! He spent a month researching a Lego deaigner's career. Best project ever! And to this day, it's still his dream career.
ReplyDeleteMy boys love Legos, also! One way that we encourage STEM is with Camp Invention. It is a week long camp where the kids get to invent and build different things. Each year they have a different theme so it is different. The kids also bring something to take apart, like an old electronic device.
ReplyDeleteMy 7 year old daughter loves legos and blocks and boxes --- she's constantly building and inventing. How I wish we had a snapology in my corner of MT - that would be fantastic. Until then, its STEM (or STEAM) based camps during school breaks, and amazon boxes.
ReplyDeleteMy oldest (currently nine) has struggled with school from day one. From being painfully shy and keeping to himself (SO not how he is at home), to not liking reading, to not liking writing, not using his vocabulary. The list goes on! He is now in third grade, rocks some totally awesome glow in the dark glasses, and has jumped to almost a sixth grade reading level! To help him get through the tough spots, Legos have been a life saver! It amazes me every day just how creative he is with them! It's helped to be more verbal and descriptive, gives him endless writing topics, and has really helped him be more social. Love Legos!
ReplyDeletei would love to win one of those sets!!!!
ReplyDeletewe love legos in my house, both my girls like them
Martha
LEGOs rule. My kiddo loves to build all of the things: super hero things, elf things, castles, etc. Partner is a STEM fella and they built a 3-D printer together when she was 4. Now they are building her first computer. Legos make her feel confident enough to be his lab partner when they engineer computer-y things.
ReplyDeleteWe also have a lot of legos and magnatiles. My son (age 5.5) will build with anything though. Yesterday he was arranging various toys to make a skyline and then he was building ramps (aka inclined planes) for his police cars to drive off. To encourage STEM thinking, I label some of his natural play with science terms. We were "experimenting" with helium balloons and testing to see which of his little trinket toys they could hold in the air. I asked him to "hypothesize" which ones the balloons would be able to elevate. My indoctrination might be working...last week he told me he wanted to be a biologist like me.
ReplyDeleteEvan is Lego obsessed, so he has been building with the kiddos for forever. This reminds me I need to get the table we want ready for Legos in the basement cleared off...
ReplyDeleteMy oldest son has been building with LEGO since he was 2, and now that he's 5 he is reading and does basic addition and subtracting. We will continue this with our youngest son, and encourage them to build together to learn how to cooperate and collaborate on projects.
ReplyDeleteWe love Lego's in our house. My daughters enjoy going to the free STEM programs at our local library. And this summer they are taking a STEAM (a is for art) class at Bradley. : )
ReplyDeleteCarrie Jones
I say this as someone who interacts with a ton of sponsored content and holy crap, you are really good at writing sponsored content.
ReplyDeleteWould love this for my boys. There is a whole stem lab learning center my boys take classes at 15 minutes from our house. They love it.
ReplyDeleteI am guessing this giveaway is over, but I'll give it a shot. I think this program is great for kids -- wish we had one near us. My son adores Legos, so he'd love this prize!
ReplyDeleteKrissie
califkitties AT aol.com