No Worksheet Wednesday: Legos in the Classroom

Welcome to the next {and FINAL} edition of the No Worksheet Wednesday Link Up hosted by Primary Chalkboard! I wanted to share with you some ways to use Legos in the classroom.

Yesterday, Wal-Mart had a great deal on Legos, so I snagged up a set. These little buggers are so versatile. Here are 5 ways to use them in your room!

1.  Rewards.

That’s a no-brainer right?! When students have done really well staying on task, use them as a Brain Break! Allow the creativity to flow.

2.  Area and Perimeter.

Have students construct buildings with restrictions. Lay out the grid paper, and have them create their blueprints first, and make their blueprints come to life with the Legos.

3.  Direction Writing.

Give each student a bag of Legos and an index card. Have them construct something using ALL the blocks in their bag. Give them a time limit, 3 minutes is good. Then tell the students their job is to write down the directions so that a partner can build their finish product. The directions have to be concise and to the point, so tell them that! Then give the bags and index cards to a partner, and see if they can rebuild it. Give a treat to those who can and the ones who wrote the directions.

4.  Sequence writing.

There are images all over, including a book in the Lego box, on how to create certain figures. Show them on the overhead, or make copies if it’s allowed, and have students write directions for the item. Or you can even cut the images and rearrange them, and have the kiddos put them back together with directions.

5  Create It Box.

I cannot remember where I saw this, so if it was on your blog or you know where this came from please comment below. I want to give this person credit. This person had a small tote for people who were early finishers, and they could create something with the items in the box. I’ve seen kids take Legos and make marble trails, opening boxes, and all sorts of things. Have them create! Then give them an extension product:

·       Write about what they created and why they created it.   

·       Create an advertisement for your creation.

·       Record a jingle for your creation.

·       Take a poll of the color scheme people would want to see your product in, then make a graph showing the results.

·       Create a diagram of your creation.

The possibilities for Legos go on and on and on. You can check out their site for kits and ideas even! Scholastic even has a section on how to use it for math. I can’t forget my fellow ELA teachers, here is a link for you to check out as well!

Hope you enjoyed this post! Check out others who have linked up as well. If you are looking for another way to not use worksheets, check out my new product: 31 Misspelled Words Task Card Set. 

See ya’ll later!

Cindy