If you build it

Looking to engage pupils creatively? Why not let LEGO Education help?

LEGO Education has launched a competition for primary schools up and down the country to build a creature using 20 bricks or less, asking them to upload images of their creation to dedicated website with the best entrants receiving £250 in LEGO Education vouchers.

Pupils will be given the opportunity to discuss the living environment for the creature, which can be real, fictional or completely of their own creation, as well as ascribing the creature with personality traits and discussing how it would survive and sustain itself. The competition is designed to show teachers how working with LEGO Education products can create new ideas to teach various elements of the curriculum. These include language and literacy skills via creative thinking, story-telling, and knowledge and understanding of the world by learning about environments and what creatures need to survive.

Claire Grundy, Head of Communications and PR at LEGO Education UK said: “Since launching the campaign in mid-September, we’ve had 900 schools already sign up. Pupils and their teachers are really enjoying the fun project and sharing their ideas with other schools across the country on the Flickr site. Our aim here is to inspire teachers and children and to get them to think creatively about their model; not only in building it, but also thinking about where it might live and what it might do in its environment. It’s a subtle but very effective way to develop new competencies and to get children to think for themselves.”

Some of the creatures already submitted include whales, frogs and camels though the camel may find itself in danger from a creature named Sindee which eats camels covered in sun cream. Other entrants include a time-travelling creature that can fly, a sea-dwelling creature which live to the ripe old age of 2000 and a creature with the ingenious appellation: The Lizard of Oz.

Schools interested in participating have until October 31st to contact LEGO via email at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) with submission of the images due by November 30th. Winners will be notified by December 9th and pupils can view their entries as well as those from other schools online at www.flickr.com/groups/1799587@N22.