Mark your calendars! January 28th is the National Lego Day
Legos are one of the most popular toys on the planet. As they are enjoyed by both children and adults alike, Legos make for one of the best indoor family activities.
From Tokyo to LA, thousands of Lego fanatics swarm LEGO conventions and building competitions each year in celebration of this simple and practical toy with endless possibilities. This year, Lego building competitions even went virtual.
Lego toys are fun, innovative, and long-lasting, and the brand itself has formed a culture all its own. While Lego sets are far pricier than their competition, a lot is going on behind the scenes to warrant the price tag.
The Lego team employs researchers who endlessly strive to enhance the quality of the product, to bridge the gender gap among users, and to develop the Lego franchise in Hollywood with movies and television series.
In honor of National Lego Day, let’s start by throwing it back with a history lesson
The Lego company began in 1932 with an expert carpenter named Ole Kirk Kristiansen. Kristiansen had a passion for making wooden children’s toys and inspiring in them a fondness for creating with their hands. In 1935, Kristiansen called his company Lego, which comes from the Danish words, “leg” and “godt.” When combined, these words translate to, “Play well.”
In 1946, Kristiansen sourced his first plastic injection molding machine to make more products faster, however, he remained focused on building wooden sets. In 1949, Kristiansen Lego sets officially began production, but in the 1960s, disaster struck when a fire destroyed the wooden toy factory.
The company never returned to making wooden toys and focused solely on the Lego sets we know as of today. Since then, over 560 billion lego sets have been produced, equating to approximately 62 bricks for every single person on the planet.
Some Lego Sets Are More Notable Than Others
Currently, there are 42 themed Lego sets listed on their site. The Lego company has created tens of thousands of themed sets, ranging from simplistic design sets to complex sets with 1000+ pieces that each play an integral role. Some of these sets have received special attention from collectors, and any time they appear on the marketplace, there is a mad dash to acquire them before anyone else.
- The most expensive Lego Set ever sold is Set Number 10179 LEGO Ultimate Collector’s Series Millennium Falcon. It was sold for a whopping $15,000 in Las Vegas. Regular Millennium Falcon sets are sold anywhere between $3,400 to $5,700.
- The second most expensive set is a masterpiece lego replica of the Taj Mahal, sold for $3,864.
- The biggest Lego set structure to date is the “Lego Pharaoh.” It is a 16-feet tall hyper-realistic replica of the Egyptian King, consisting of about 200,000 pieces.
Indoor Family Activities That Celebrate National Lego Day
The best way to celebrate National Lego Day is to grab your old Lego set, dust it off, build something new, or build something you once made as a child.
Whether you live alone, with a significant other, a roommate, with your parents, or your children, there’s something for everyone on National Lego Day. Here’s just a few activities you might enjoy:
The Fastest Builder
The number of players involved in this game depends on how many lego pieces are available. First, choose a structure to build- whether it’s your own house or a replica of the family cat, the sky’s the limit! Display an image of the target structure on a phone or laptop, countdown from five, then race to see who can build the structure first.
Cookie Cutter Legos
Another great indoor family activity, created by Nerdy Nummies, on National Lego Day is baking Lego-shaped and Lego-themed pinata cookies. These triple-decker cookies are colorful, stuffed with icing and candy, and a work of art all their own.
After mixing up a sheet of colorful dough, the dough is pieced together in layers to form an edible model of these iconic Lego pieces. Once they’re finished in the oven, these cookies can even be stacked together like real Legos to form crumbly, cookie castles.
Motorized Lego Races
Some Lego sets come with toy cars or other kinds of miniature, manual and battery-operated vehicles. Before the race begins, take some time to build a unique obstacle course for the cars to race around the house. Then, let the children (or adults) pick a vehicle.
Find a flag or a t-shirt to mark the start of the race, and let the race begin! Just in case there is only one Lego vehicle lying around, players can use the same vehicle by timing each dash and comparing the results.
The expression that the simplest things in life bring the greatest joy is more true for Legos than almost any toy. Anything is possible when friends and family put their imaginations together. That is, after all, what Legos are all about.
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