Language and Lego

Lockdown Learning - Language and Lego

By Harriet Tillbrook

‘Lockdown’ and ‘school holidays’ are words we hoped we would never again pair together, and yet, here we are. Whilst these are not the school holidays we all envisioned, we are here to help and have two words for you that we believe go perfectly together… ‘Language’ and ‘Lego’!

I think it is safe to say that every kid loves Lego, - whether it’s playing, building or creating, the possibilities are endless! This makes it the perfect way to target language in a fun and hands-on way. Lego can be used to target SO many different communication skills, and the best news, it is always a hit! Here are some simple yet effective ways you can use Lego during this lockdown to develop your child’s language through play:

Basic concepts - Lego is perfect for targeting a range of basic concepts, the first and foremost being colours. From sorting different blocks into their respective colours to getting your child to name the colours, Lego provides a simple and fun way to target this early concept. It doesn’t just stop at colours though, as you narrate your and your child’s play, you can model so many more basic concepts such as size (“big tower”, “long block”), shapes (“rectangle”, “square”) and textures (“smooth”, “bumpy”).

 Listening and following instructions – Direct your child what to build by giving them different instructions. You can make the instructions as simple as “give me the blue block” or longer and complex by adding more steps and temporal concepts such as “before you add the red block, add the blue block”. This also provides the perfect opportunity to encourage your child to ask for help and/or clarification when needed.

 Prepositions – “on”, “under”, “next to”, “in-front” – these are only a handful of the prepositions you can model and target as you and your child build your exciting creation together. Lego provides multiple opportunities to practice following directions with prepositions e.g., “put the red block next to the blue block”, “put the blue block behind the tower”. 

 Social skills – As you work collaboratively together, take turns adding blocks to your tower and provide verbal prompts such as “your turn”, “my turn” to develop your child’s turn-taking skills. 

 Sequencing - Lego is fantastic for targeting sequencing skills. Get your child to follow different sequential directions e.g., “first add the green block, then the yellow block”. Once you have created your masterpiece, get your child to retell how they built it using sequential words (first, then, lastly, etc.).

 Requesting – Start by giving your child a couple of blocks and encourage them to ask for more. For older children, get them to verbally request which bricks they need e.g., “Can I have the long and thin blue brick?”. Encourage them to be as specific as possible!

 Descriptive skills - Develop your child’s descriptive language by changing things around and get them to give you the directions. Encourage them to give specific and explicit instructions. This one is particularly great for older kids and always a winner, as what kid doesn’t love being in charge! Once you have created your masterpiece, get your child to describe it – What have you built? What does it do? Does it have any special powers? Who lives there? etc.

 Pretend play skills – From farms and zoos, to building houses and towers, when it comes to Lego, the creative and imaginative possibilities are endless! Lego is great for developing your child’s pretend play skills. Pretend play is an important part of communication development and offers a range of communication opportunities, so get creative and get playing!

These are just a few ways you can develop your child’s expressive and receptive language skills using Lego these school holidays. So, get your Lego blocks out, your creative hats on and start creating and building! What are you going to build these holidays? 

Author: Harriet Tillbrook