LEGO is one of the world’s most valuable global brands and toy-makers, and they’ve built that success on social media, too. We found the best social media practices from the toy empire that can be applied to any brand no matter the industry.
In our latest study, we analyzed LEGO’s social media performance from 2015 across Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, and found some incredible insights you don’t want to miss. Download to learn some of their secrets, like:
creating authentic and on-brand digital customer experiences customers value
taking advantage of description text to capture audience attention and drive them to the web
why social customer care is critical for your social media marketing strategy
and so much more…
Everything is Awesome: LEGO’s Monster Year on Social
LEGO is proof positive that tablets and smartphones have not replaced analog toys. Currently, LEGO is the world’s largest and most valuable toymaker. We took a look at the role social media played in LEGO’s success last year.
In Danish, LEGO loosely translates to “play well”, and is the foundation of their philosophy. The tale of the 83-year-old Scandinavian company from Billund, Denmark, is truly remarkable – they’ve survived factory fires, economic hardship during World War II, kept the company thriving through four family generations, and recovered from near bankruptcy in 2004 and put itself back together again to achieve explosive growth.
A decade later, The LEGO Movie hit theaters and grossed $500 million worldwide. This put LEGO ahead of Mattel’s Barbie, making it the world’s largest and most profitable toy manufacturer. The successful turnaround is built on their ability to stay relevant in the eye’s of children and parents alike.
LEGO is achieving this in two ways. The first is staying true to their identity and the “LEGO system” by designing products that are versatile, as they expand with popular characters and themes by tapping new fan bases such as Harry Potter, SpongeBob SquarePants, and Star Wars. Second, they do a stellar job at building and connecting to online communities through a unique social marketing strategy.
Social Media at the Core
LEGO understands the importance of their following and the strategic role social media plays for the brand. Their Fans/Followers/Subscribers aren’t just a vanity metric, they help to strengthen their name, and are a powerful resource for their innovation strategy. Fans are at the heart of what they do and where they’re going. LEGO’s social media strategy pays tribute to them and their worlds – after all, it’s about the memories they make from the stories they create with those plastic bricks. LEGO even launched ReBrickin 2011 – a social bookmarking platform designed for members to share creations and that of other users they find around the web.
LEGO’s official YouTube channel is awesome. They generate a ton of content that is sorted in playlists by category like short movies, superheroes, cities, and languages.
Get this, in 2014 people spent over 4,850 years and 290 days watching LEGO’s YouTube videos! To put that into perspective, that is the same amount of time in human history it took people to build basic metal tools. Last year, the brand posted more than 1700 videos, which means that they are able to produce almost 5 videos daily on average. People can see new stories every day which is pretty brickn’ kool.
The Lego Movie trailer on the Warner Bros channel was viewed by more than 27 million people. LEGO’s YouTube channel received 470 million new video views in 2014. Talk about a monster year on social! LEGO viewers spent 3,883 years watching their YouTube videos in 2014.
LEGO’s most engaging posts/tweets in 2014 were related to Star Wars, the Simpson’s figures, Batman, and Comic Con. Check out LEGO’s reaction to Ellen DeGeneres’ Oscar selfie tweet. The photo was courtesy of LEGOLAND Discovery Centre Manchester and received more than 44,000 interactions on Facebook and nearly 5,600 interactions on Twitter.
LEGO experienced a lot of buzz around their brand on social when Greenpeace targeted the toy manufacturer for their marketing partnership with Shell. The environmental NGO was using LEGO to attack the oil giant’s plans to drill in the Arctic through a YouTube video depicting a pristine Arctic built from LEGOs gradually being submerged in oil. The video has attracted over 6.9 million views.
Take note, LEGO should be commended for how they dealt with the negative targeted campaign on social media. They leveraged the power of Twitter to be part of the conversation as is it unfolded in real-time. This provided LEGO the opportunity to communicate their values, and demonstrate their position on this issue.
This not only restored the brand’s positive reputation, but it helped to increase their interactions, capture new fans, and improve brand affinity which can lead to website conversions. Today, brands are living breathing entities with a company culture and value system. Choosing to ignore or leaving an issue unresolved in the scrutiny of the public eye can greatly harm a brand’s reputation and significantly impact their sales.
The biggest user activity took place in July on Facebook and Twitter, as can be seen in the charts below. LEGO successfully engaged in real-time conversation to address the issue in a series of tweets with the quote below. Social media is an extension of their brand – a channel to communicate with their fanbase and the love of these awesome plastic bricks.
We’re always thankful for input we receive from fans, children, and parents alike. We know the importance of this issue. We’re determined to leave a positive impact on our society & children. We’re saddened when the Lego brand is used as a tool in any dispute between organisations. However, we fully expect Shell to live up to their responsibility & take appropriate action to any potential claims. It is important to us that any partnerships we have support our vision, promise, & has Lego play at the core.
The model used nearly one million Lego bricks, and includes Christ the Redeemer and many more icons of the city
(Photo: Rio 2016/Miriam Jeske)
There are many attractions on Olympic Boulevard, the largest live site for the Rio 2016 Games, but one in particular has stood out this week. A model of the city of Rio de Janeiro, made of nearly one million Lego bricks, has been a big hit with the public.
Built to celebrate the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, the model took 50 Lego builders 2,500 hours to create over one year, according to Lego master model builder Paul Chrzan. It features the Olympic rings, stadiums and iconic sites in Rio.
The model features 25 different icons of Rio - including Copacabana (Photo: Rio 2016/Miriam Jeske)
The structure is composed of roughly 953,000 pieces of Lego. Chrzan said the builders used 10 different scales in order to fit the monuments into the 5m x 6m space.
Lego, in partnership with the Danish government, created the model as a legacy gift to Rio de Janeiro. The model will be exhibited on Olympic Boulevard until August 21. After the Games, it will be donated to the city's Museu da Cidade.
Here is a video of the Lego builders at work:
HOW TO ORGANIZE LEGO MANUALS (+ FREE LEGO PRINTABLES!)
The ‘Paper’ category is next on our KonMari decluttering spree and it’s a doozy! One HUGE problem area in that category was storing my son’s LEGO manuals. True, you can find most LEGO instructions online so technically you can probably get rid of the paper version, but it’s harder to build using online instructions plus you’re at the mercy of the internet to be able to find them. Previously, I stored them in a binder with plastic pockets that open at the top, but as you all predicted, they bunched up and dumped out the manuals whenever we moved the binder. CATASTROPHE to a sensitive 5-year-old. Thankfully we solved the problem and now our LEGO manuals are super easy to use, plus I whipped up some snazzy free printable LEGO binder covers that you can download too!
Before we used the new system, the binder was overflowing and the instructions (or, ‘constructions’ as my son adorably calls them) always slid out and fell on the floor in a giant pile of fail.
Enough was enough. I decided to invest a few buckaroos and purchase plastic binder envelopes with velcro clasps instead of the flimsy paper protectors we’d used previously. We have a fair amount of manuals (enough to fill two binders!) but managed to use just 10 of the envelopes, so it was a wise investment. They fit perfectly in our three ring binders.
First, we sorted each by LEGO manual by theme. We found all our manuals fit neatly into these categories:
Minecraft
Star Wars
Mixels
Movie & TV sets
City series
Juniors series
Friends series
Creators series
Pirates set
Train set
I used my favorite trusty label maker to label each envelope. I had to include this photo because ‘Low Battery’ was exactly how I was feeling that day (it KNOWS me!)
Now we can easily find and store our manuals.
We keep the binders either on the bookshelf or on top of our LEGO brick station. Oh yes, that beauty will be coming to a blog post near your soon.
I have three different free printable covers for you to chose from! Download your favorite by clicking each image below:
FULL LEGOS FREE PRINTABLE BINDER COVER
RED BACKGROUND FREE PRINTABLE BINDER COVER
Now. Who’s gonna help us sort this bucket of LEGOs? EEEEEEK!
LEGO-Based Therapy: How Colourful Bricks Are Helping Kids With Autism Improve Their Social Skills
Playing with LEGO can be more than just a way to prevent boredom, for some children it has the power to boost their social skills and build self-esteem.
LEGO-based therapy is a social development programme for kids with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) or related social communication difficulties.
Debi Richmond’s 10-year-old son Adam, who has High Functioning Asperger’s Syndrome, improved his social awareness through attending the sessions.
“He uses it as a calming tool,” Richmond told The Huffington Post UK. “It has allowed Adam to be his own person and share a common interest with others.”
Initially developed by Dr. Dan LeGoff, a clinical neuropsychologist in America, the practice is now delivered by therapists around the world.
Research into the benefits of LEGO-based therapy has been developed by Dr LeGoff and Gina Gomez de la Cuesta.
The pair released their first book in 2014 to shout about the benefits they’ve found the therapy can have for children with autism.
Gomez de la Cuesta studied the approach for her PhD at the Autism Research Centre, where she was taught by LeGoff. She was the first person to set up LEGO-based therapy groups in the UK.
“Children with autism have difficulties with social interaction, social communication and social imagination,” she told HuffPost UK.
“In contrast, they may have very good visual-spatial skills, a good eye for detail and enjoy systematic problem solving.
“You can think of LEGO as a fairly systematic, predictable toy, that follows certain rules or constraints - though of course, within those constraints of how the bricks fit together, you can be as creative as you like.”
So what happens during LEGO-based therapy?
Children are signed up to an eight-week course, which will usually consist of a two-hour session per week.
Sessions begin with the children saying hello to each other and then working in groups of three to build creations.
Gomez de la Cuesta explained that children are assigned different responsibilities during the session.
“There is a big emphasis on the children making decisions about what gets built, who does which role and how long for,” she added.
One child will act as the “engineer” who describes the instructions, another will be the “supplier” who finds the bricks, and the third child in the group is the “builder” who puts the model together.
“Children take it in turns to play these different roles,” Gomez de la Cuesta said.
“By splitting up the task of building (something that children with autism enjoy doing), children have to work together, communicate, solve joint problems and practise many different social skills, (things that children with autism find very difficult).
“The trained adult activity leader works with the children to facilitate their social interactions.
“Their job is to highlight social problems to children as and when they arise and coach children to come up with their own solutions to social difficulties.”
Gomez de la Cuesta said LEGO-based therapy is hugely beneficial in helping children learn how to build relationships with others.
“Natural opportunities for developing social competence are facilitated by the therapist,” she added.
“LEGO also has real social currency with peers. So children can talk to others outside of the groups and gain further experience of social interactions.”
One of the main reasons this therapy is so effective is because playing with LEGO is familiar to most young children, the author explained.
Children who may not wish to attend a typical social skills group because they find it quite difficult and stressful, may feel much more confident and relaxed attending a LEGO group.
“Crucially, children are learning in a naturalistic setting - i.e. they are learning as they are playing with each other - and the social difficulties that arise as things happen in the group are dealt with and discussed as they happen,” Gomez de la Cuesta added.
Gomez de la Cuesta said children with autism are often really good at building LEGO models, meaning the therapy can help to build their self esteem.
“They get genuine praise for something they have done, unlike at school where they may be underachieving and getting told off frequently,” she added.
The fact that the children in the groups are also meeting others who are similar to themselves gives them a sense of “shared identity”.
This is something Richmond believes has boosted the confidence of her son Adam.
“We decided to go ahead with the LEGO-based therapy due to the fact that Adam has a fascination and interest with LEGO,” she explained.
“We wanted to help with his social skills and for him to meet other children on the spectrum, maybe make a friend.
“Adam attended eight therapy sessions on a course every Saturday and thoroughly enjoyed them from the start.
“During the workshops Adam and the groups of boys and girls worked hard at team work, sharing, taking turns and learning through such creative play how to communicate and using social skills on a different level.
“The groups built amazing scenes and we could see the compassion and commitment for LEGO-therapy each week.
“Attending these groups allowed him to be his own person and share a common interest with others.
“By doing so he was sharing and taking turns when appropriate, using his communications skills and socialising in a creative environment.”
Richmond said the result of working in a group and completing a task was a huge achievement in many ways for Adam, enabling him to learn through play and receive genuine praise for his construction skills.
“Adam experiences positive and negative emotions on different levels when creating and playing usually, but with a completed task of a LEGO build, he is able to focus on his achievements in many ways,” she added.
“LEGO-therapy has begun to benefit him in his day-to-day life.
“He is always thinking of his next creation and at home he takes apart his LEGO kit and uses his imagination to create something else and better.”
Mum Nicola Brims said her 14-year-old son Zachary, who is on the autism spectrum, improved his self-confidence by attending the groups.
He joined an eight-week LEGO-based therapy course, with two-hour sessions each week.
“As the weeks progressed Zac became more willing to speak in the group,” she said.
“He started off by not wanting to talk much at all and after a few weeks he could talk to his group much more effectively.
“Outside of the group it was really valuable for the family for Zac to have a social outlet and it seemed to make him generally happier and feel good about his achievements.
“He has been enthusiastic about LEGO for a number of years, therefore it seemed like an ideal opportunity for him to develop some self confidence and social skills using an activity that he is very keen on.
“Had the group not been LEGO-based I don’t think I would have been able to persuade him to attend.”
Camilla Nguyen, who runs LEGO-based therapy groups for children in Camden, London, said the groups are also effective in improving children’s mental health.
As a LEGO enthusiast herself, she was intrigued by the idea of how it could help children with autism and ended up studying at the Autism Research Centre, taught by Gina Gomez de la Cuesta and Professor Simon Baron-Cohen.
Nguyen set up her LEGO-based therapy group as part of a mental health and emotional wellbeing service for children called CHUMS. Many of the children who joined experienced difficulties of low mood and anxiety.
“Many of the children who attended the group have been socially excluded because of their autism,” she told HuffPost UK.
“A lot of them feel very different from typically developing children when they attend mainstream schools because they are isolated.
“The LEGO group, however, allowed the children and young people to feel part of an autism community and make new friends, as well as doing something that that they really enjoyed – building LEGO and being creative.”
Nguyen said parents - and the children themselves - often approach her to discuss the positive impact they have noticed.
“One of the teenagers who attended the group came up to me on the very last day of the group session and told me that he got offered a job at his local Sainsbury’s,” she said.
“This is a boy who described himself as having low self-esteem and being very anxious before every LEGO session.
“He felt attending the group gave him the extra boost of confidence needed to conquer the world.
“This was a proud moment, not only for him, but for me as well, as I felt I had made a positive impact in a young person’s life.”
Gomez de la Cuesta said she was also struck by the positive impact attending LEGO-based therapy could have on a child’s mental health.
“In my original groups for my PhD, I found that for a few children, LEGO-based therapy was the ‘lightbulb moment’ for the individual,” she said.
“For example, one child progressed to playing in the school playground with other children, whereas previously he had stayed inside at play time with a teacher.
“Another mum said the LEGO group was the first club or group that her child had felt no stress about attending, which for her was remarkable.”
Gomez de la Cuesta said although research into the therapy technique is currently still in its infancy, she believes it has the potential to help many children who experience social difficulties.
“There is increasing interest in using it for people who have social communication difficulties for other reasons (for example: a brain injury or social anxiety).
“The research so far has focused on children with higher functioning autism.
“The approach can also be adapted to lower functioning children, or to help children more with communication, and some talented speech and language therapists are working on this at the moment.”
For more information on ASC Inclusion, the community organisation dedicated to helping vulnerable children develop social skills, visit www.asc-inclusion.org.
Lego puts a video of a kid on the side of a building to get his dad's attention
Imagine walking home from a late day at work and spotting your son on the side of a building talking about how he wishes you spent more time with him.
That's what Lego just pulled on a dad in Taiwan when it put his 6-year-old son, Hsiao Feng, on a 100-metre screen outside the Taipei Arena stadium, and rolled the tape just as the father walked by after work.
Lego told Mashable Hsiao Feng was selected after the company put out a casting call in Taipei for the role. It claims that Hsiao Feng's mother brought him for the audition, and worked with the firm to keep the marketing stunt from his father.
The ad agency also had to get intel on Hsiao Feng's father, so its people watching him could figure out when to trigger the reel.
Lego said: "Asian workers clock some of the longest working hours in the world."
Maybe after this, Hsiao Feng will get a little more Lego time with dad.
Plastic drawers stacked from floor to ceiling and filled with Legos line the walls of a room in Craig Bacigalupo’s basement.
Since retiring, the Salt Lake City resident has had more time to pursue his hobby of building with Legos. And his latest project is a big one — a mini-scale replica of Disneyland.
The display combines two of Bacigalupo's loves — Legos and Disneyland. He started building and creating with Legos when he was approximately 6 years old and began receiving Lego sets from his parents and grandparents for his birthday and Christmas.
When Bacigalupo and his family visited the Southern California theme park, they loved the detail, theatrics and artistry they experienced in Disneyland. It is a place full of memories for Bacigalupo and a place where families can spend time together. So the man who is now the president of the Utah Lego Users Group thought creating the family friendly park out of the plastic bricks would be a perfect project for him to do with his four children and three grandchildren.
"It's a good family activity that we all enjoy," he said. "It also gives us a break from being on the computer all the time."
Building the 10-by-10-foot Disneyland structure has taken Bacigalupo and his family three years so far, and the structure is still growing.
Bacigalupo created the Victorian style Main Street train station first. He then started to add Main Street onto the train station. Building Main Street is an ongoing project that Bacigalupo hopes will one day include shops and more park attractions.
It is a slow and time-consuming process to find the necessary parts and put them together to complete additions to the display.
"You have to really love puzzles to do this," Bacigalupo said. "It doesn't come with instructions and you have to figure it out yourself."
The replica is not built to exact scale because Bacigalupo has to work with certain Lego block sizes and lengths. Though the replica might not have exact dimensions, the display is recognizable to those who have been to Disneyland.
"That's how you know you are successful," Bacigalupo said. "When someone can recognize what you have made."
Bacigalupo has added little details, such as a park visitor eating a pretzel and another eating an ice cream cone. He has also added Disney minifigures like Maleficent to the throng of park visitors.
The Lego Disneyland project will be on display at the Lego fan convention BrickSlopes, which takes place at Utah Valley University on June 24-25. In order to move the replica, the display will be taken apart into large pieces that can be easily reassembled at the location. It takes 22 boxes that are 36 inches long and 12 inches wide to transport the entire display.
The hard work is worth it for Bacigalupo, who gets to share his hobbies and interests with the community.
Legos by the numbers
Numbers and information come from the Lego Group's 2015 Annual Report and Responsibility Report.
$35.8 billion — total revenue in 2015
$12.1 billion — profit before tax in 2015
$9.2 billion — profit for the year/net profit
60% — Approximate number of sales that come from new launches each year
250 — Number of designers employed by Lego to work in product development
35 — How many countries Lego hires designers from to work in product development
13,974 — Average number of full-time employees in 2015
100 million — How many children were reached through activities from the Lego Group in 2015
140 — How many countries participated in Lego Group activities in 2015
120 — Number of Lego community engagement activities around the world in 2015
355 — Number of new creative and imaginative play experiences launched in 2015
93% — Amount of waste recycled by Lego
175 million — Number of 2-by-4 Lego bricks made from reground (recycled) material in 2015
Do you have LEGO fans at your house? Here is a collection of some of the best LEGO building ideas from this site and from around the web! The focus of this post is fun building ideas, along with some STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) ideas as well.
O Projecto Braille Bricks foi criado pela empresa Lew’Lara\TBWAem parceria com a Fundação Dorina Nowill para Cegos. O objectivo é transformar peças idênticas a LEGO num mecanismo que possa fornecer a crianças cegas novas competências, nomeadamente alfabetização e inclusão.
E como se propõem a fazer isso? Se retirarmos alguns dos pinos de encaixe a uma peça LEGO esta torna-se numa letra do alfabeto braille e continua a encaixar. Genial não é? O conceito de aprender brincando levado aqueles que nasceram sem um dos sentidos que nos faz apreciar a beleza do mundo, a visão.
Os LEGO são fascinantes e já nos permitem criar infinitas criações de toda a espécie, incluindo muitas e complexas máquinas que desafiam a imaginação. E agora temos os Brixo, que querem ampliar ainda mais essas possibilidades com blocos eléctricos.
Os LEGO já contam com peças motorizadas, mas isso normalmente implica peças especiais e cabos que ficam pendurados ou que têm que ser cuidadosamente posicionados e escondidos. Com os Brixo, isso passa a ser feito por módulos e peças que mantêm as dimensões standard das peças LEGO.
Para além do módulo que integra a bateria (com protecção contra curto-circuitos e com comunicação bluetooth para permitir o seu controlo remotamente a partir dum smartphone), temos peças que actuam como condutores, e módulos que actuam como sensores (de luz, proximidade, som, etc.) e actuadores (LED, motores, etc.) E com isto, não há cabos para gerir, mas apenas ir encaixando as peças, como os fãs de LEGO tanto gostam.
Os preços começam nos $35 e a entrega está prometida para Outubro deste ano.
Sean Kenney, a “professional kid” who uses LEGO pieces to design and create sculptures, has moved into a newly renovated art studio in Brooklyn. studioMET Architects have taken what was originally an old parking garage, and have transformed it into a bright white 4,000 square foot art studio.
About the project
“Most working art studios in New York are low-budget affairs, ironically, with little to no sense of visual style,” said Kenney. “Now here I am in a gleaming, beautiful new 4,000 square foot facility. I couldn’t be happier.”
The brick shell space is a pre-Lincoln era carriage house that was most recently a parking garage. There was no plumbing, gas or electricity, had a leaky roof and a lumpy old concrete floor.
Working with Florence Tang, Assoc. AIA, from studioMET Architects in Houston, Kenney’s studio was transformed into an open and bright modern space where he and his team of assistants design, build, crate and ship colorful LEGO brick sculptures and portraits.
“It was an exciting and great collaboration. I knew immediately that the space needed to reflect the exuberance, colorfulness and unpredictability of Sean’s work,” Tang said.
The collaborative work floor space needed flexibility to transform from one hour to the next; one month to the next, as the nature of the work is custom commissions varying from a stately Greco-Roman figure to an insect dangling from the ceiling to a custom portrait for a celebrity mom. The front of the space with a desk pod, a lounge and kitchenette had to be dexterous so as to transform into a loading dock with a few minutes notice.
A video/stop animation studio and woodshop, as well as a crate storage room for the sculptures, are also included in the space’s program. Adhering to the client’s humble project budget of less than $250,000 for the 4,000 sq ft space, careful decisions were made to prioritize the budget, design and construction to achieve move-in in three months.
HAO Design created this apartment interior in Taiwan, that’s all about making imaginative, playful spaces.
The clients have a love of Lego, and wanted to bring the idea of a swimming pool inside, but instead of being filled with water, they wanted it to be a lounge, playspace and toy storage.
The Lego Play Pond is located within a raised level of the home, which acts kind of like a pool deck.
The round blue sofa, with its central depression, resembles a swimming pool or ball-pit, and creates a summertime atmosphere.
At night, it’s the perfect spot for enjoying a movie.
Just outside on the balcony, there are Lego-inspired planters, a green mat representing grass, and a beach chair for relaxing.
Back inside, there’s a wall of white cabinets, with fun pops of color.
The home has a swimming-pool-style handrail and ladder.
One of the colored sections on the wall of storage is full of Lego board.
As the main living area is raised, there’s additional storage that has been tucked away underneath.
In the kitchen, bright orange cabinets carry on the playful theme.
The large kitchen island, that also doubles as a dining table, is propped up by custom-designed blocks.
Those blocks are actually drawers, accessible from the kitchen side of the island.
In the master bedroom, two of the walls have been covered in floor-to-ceiling storage.
Touches of Lego-inspired decor, like the side tables and artwork, have been included as well.
In the child’s bedroom, colorful cabinets line the wall.
LEGO's 'Idea Conference' Is About More Than Just Bricks
Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own.
FULL BIO
I am full-time father of two little boys, Senior Fellow for the Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Workshop, and I teach in Temple University's Intellectual Heritage Department. I speak internationally about edTech, game based learning, and 21st Century parenting. I hold a PhD in Depth Psychology, specializing in Jungian/archetypal psychology and phenomenology/Heideggerian philosophy. In particular, I study the ways video games (and other new forms of interactive storytelling) teach us to make sense of the world. Email: jordosh@jordo.tv
The author is a Forbes contributor. The opinions expressed are those of the writer.
It seems like the older I get, the more time I spend with Lego bricks. Sure, I say that I buy the kits for my kids, but I’m always sitting on the floor next to them within minutes of opening the box. What’s more, the grown up part of me is impressed with the company’s business practices and fascinated by the way in which the brick itself has become such an iconic symbol all around the world.
From a business perspective, consider that the Lego Group has had jaw-dropping success lately—25.2% revenue increase last year (from around $4.34 billion in 2014 to $5.44 billion in 2015). That’s quite an achievement for a company that seemed to be right on the verge of collapse just over a decade ago. Their 2003 annual report reads like a eulogy. But 12 years later, in 2015, they’re quick to point to “exceptional growth” even “on top of a particularly strong 2014 that was aided by the successful LEGO Movie.”
Furthermore, the brand is beloved, both as nostalgic legacy artifact and as the toy market frontrunner at a time when the kids and play market is being colonized by tablets, smartphones and video game consoles. But Lego thrives in both the tangible and digital markets. They’ve got a boatload of successful role-playing video game titles and the new NFC-enabled Dimensions line. Somehow, they’ve sustained the popularity of a product that’s just about as physical as things get, even within in a virtual space.
Of course, my best metric of what kids love to play has nothing to do with the market. It comes from observing my own children. And my eight-year-old son enjoys building with Lego bricks so much that he recently listed every under-utilized video game in his collection on eBay and used the cash to buy the newest Millennium Falcon set. He then spent a week rushing home to assemble it each day after school. Now it joins his Dr. Who Lego Tardis andBack to the Future Lego DeLorean on epic imaginary adventures across our living room rug.
Needless to say, each year in April, when I kiss him goodbye before heading off to Lego’s headquarters in Billund, Denmark, he thinks I’m the coolest dad ever. This year, he was also just a little bit envious, wishing I’d take him along. No wonder; when I show him the Legoland Conference Center’s giant sculptures via our daily Skype video calls, or when he sees the snapshots of my colleagues and me huddled around tables, building with bricks, he imagines that my week away must be all about Lego products. It’s not. I’m there to attend the Lego Foundation’s annual Idea Conference
This architect’s custom Lego room is straight from your childhood dreams
Growing up, my siblings and I had two giant tubs filled with Legos. It was amazing, unless I was hunting for a white one-by-one brick with that pincer-like holder, then I could spend hours sifting through pieces. We mostly built stuff free form, but if you’re going to follow the instruction booklets to the letter (or graphic), then staying organized will be a major time-saver. That’s probably why Lego enthusiast and architect Jeff Pelletier decided to design a whole room around his obsession with the building blocks.
Ugandan Children Play with Legos for the First Time
Publicado a 04/10/2015
Support our Crowdrise campaign! https://www.crowdrise.com/legoafrica We sent 50 pounds of Legos to a school in a rural Uganda. This video captures the students, none of whom had ever seen Legos before, playing the Legos for the firs time. For more information, visit legoafrica.org.
LEGO Construction Site
To raise brand awareness of LEGO as construction toy for boys of all ages, containers placed on real construction sites where transformed into giant LEGO bricks throughout the country. This event resulted in media coverage in more than 20 national newspapers and magazines, national television and radio. Awards: Epica Silver, Eurobest Silver, Cannes Lions Shortlist, Creative Circle Silver
QUAND UN ARCHITECTE SE MET AUX LEGO, ON ENTRE TOUT DE SUITE DANS LA COUR DES GRANDS
Si vous souhaitez conserver toute la fierté que vous avez ressentie lors de vos anciennes constructions en Lego, ne regardez pas ce qui suit ci-dessous.
L'artiste allemand Arndt Schlaudraff s'est essayé à la construction en Lego en s'inspirant des plus grands architectes et des célèbres bâtiments qui s'élèvent sur le sol de nos villes.
Il est plaisant de reconnaître des immeubles comme le Tate Modern de Londres ou des constructions signées Le Corbusier.
Na primeira Bienal de Arquitetura de Chicago, que aconteceu ano passado, uma das exposições era Architecture is Everywhere, de Sou Fujimoto Architects, na qual o escritório usou itens cotidianos, como grampos, caixas, salgadinhos, pedras e bolas de ping pong, combinados com figuras humanas, para criar novas formas arquitetônicas. Operando com a filosofia de que a "arquitetura é primeiramente encontrada e, então, feita", o projeto expressa a crença do escritório de que não precisamos procurar em fontes típicas para pensar de forma ousada sobre as possibilidades formais da arquitetura.
Desenvolvendo esta filosofia e usando apenas blocos brancos de Lego, o artista berlinense Arndt Schlaudraff criou uma série de construções que emulam precedentes do mundo real, mas carecem de sua materialidade e cor. Os resultados são formas estéreis e sem escala, definidas pela ortogonalidade dos blocos que se encaixam e nos remetem a alguns edifícios consagrados. Exibindo seu trabalho através do Instagram, Schlaudraff já reconstruiu ícones como o Tate Modern, o Centro de Inovação UC de Aravena, e o Pavilhão Barcelona de Mies.
Working Lego Microscope
The smallest Lego working microscope!
A working lego microscope using a water drop as a lens.
Because Allemann was limited to the gears and other components available in Lego’s Technic line, the tiny moon in his Orrery orbits the Earth every 28 days, while the Earth’s year-long voyage around the sun takes 375 days.
What’s even more remarkable, though, is how few components are needed to actually bring the Orrery to life. But that might not be the case once he decides to expand his build to include the rest of our solar system.
I’’ll go ahead and assume if you’r’e a regular reader of Spaceships and Laser Beams, you definitely have a house full of LEGOs! I’’ve found some great ways to use LEGOs in learning that are sure to be a big hit. Your kids will be eager to learn using Math with LEGOs: Preschool Roll and Count; LEGO Math: Skip Counting; Using LEGO to Build Math Concepts; LEGO Math Worksheets; LEGO Math for Elementary School; and Hands-on Multiplication with LEGOs. When they outgrow the Duplo blocks, there are some great learning toys you can turn them into: Multiplication Grouping with LEGOs; LEGO Geometry; LEGO Bar Charts; LEGO Challenge Math Activity; How to Teach Numbers with LEGOs; and Snapping Numbers – Composing and Decomposing Numbers. Not only are LEGOs great for math problems, but also check the Learning Patterns with LEGO, LEGOs Kindergarten Printables, Alphabet LEGO Cards, LEGO Solar System, Preschool Science – How Long Will a LEGO Boat Float?, DIY Spinny Spellers, and Classification and LEGOs. Your guys are going to love bringing history to life with Learning Classical Conversations History Sentences with LEGO!
"A few days ago I've bought Nexo Knights 70317 set. And there are 64 track rubbers in it. I've made an off-road test of these very useful parts. So what do you think about these parts? I have a doubts about the endurance but these rubbers work very good!"
It’s off-road test of new rubbers for Lego Technic tracks (from 70317 Nexo Knights The Fortrex set).
Have you ever wandered around the Tate Modern in London, the Louvre in Paris, or maybe even the MoMA in New York and thought to yourself “there’s not enough LEGO® in here”? Well fear not, as Little Big Art have got that covered.
Little Big Art see LEGO® a little differently to most, not as little plastic bricks, but as art. From Warhol to Hirst; Mondrian to Emin, Little Big Art playfully realises these landmarks of art in LEGO®. And when they’re done playing with the little bricks (and after having a nice cuppa) Little Big Art likes to sculpt human-size versions of individual bricks and tiles, and use these giant LEGO® pieces to create EVEN MORE ART! Putting you into the little plastic feet of a minifigure and giving you a fresh twist on the way you see LEGO®.
Little Big Art have broken gallery records on attendance and sales, created galleries in exhibition centres and castles (multiple), and even had an exhibition attended by Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen - the billionaire owner of the LEGO Group.
Whether you’re a fan of art, LEGO® or simply fun, there’ll be something for everyone at Little Big Art!
Little Big Art by Andy Morris
LEGO® in the abstracted form
Human-Size LEGO® Models
Have you ever wondered what it would be like to stand in the little shoes of a minifigure, staring up to admire these giant artworks? No? Well, we have, and we decided to make it a reality...
Every Christmas tree deserves one of these Lego ornaments
Every family's Christmas tree is different: some have classic red and gold balls, others have handmade ornaments passed down from generation to generation.
According to McVeigh's website, this is his sixth year offering build it yourself Lego kits, which range from mini Christmas trees, to tiny gingerbread houses and even classic-looking ornaments.
Lego artist Jin Kei has created this Rhinoceros. It is a pretty clear statement about the current state of the species and its dwindling numbers due to poaching of their horns. But, like all artwork there are a lot of different interpretations about it.
What is neat is that this whole thing has been created by (mostly) using basic Lego pieces. The transparent bricks also do a good job of creating the appearance that the Rhino is dissolving into nothing.
I was not one of those LEGO® kids growing up. Sure, my brothers had LEGO bricks, and every so often I’d kidnap some tiny LEGO men for a make-believe game. But I didn’t truly appreciate the engineering capacity of those studded plastic bricks. They were just so rigidly rectangular!
As an adult, I’ve come to appreciate LEGO, both for its rectilinear aesthetic, and even more so, for its mathematical might. In the classroom, the tiny bricks are now my favorite possibility-packed math manipulative! Read on for a sampling of math activities that use LEGO pieces to build and reinforce key mth concepts.
Chances are that if you are a parent or teacher, you already know, at least in theory, that these sturdy plastic blocks have huge intrinsic educational value. Along with the obvious creative implications, while children play with LEGO blocks, they are also building their spatial and proportional awareness. Advanced LEGO kits are even used on the high school and college level for computer programming, robotics, and more.
Let’s face it though – many elementary school teachers are women who, like me, did not grow up as LEGO experts. And until you’ve had some firsthand experience playing around with the blocks, you may not be comfortable using it as a teaching tool. So, here is my plea: Find some LEGO bricks in a storage closet or basement, and take some time exploring how they work. Count the studs, explore the dimensions, build some towers. And I guarantee, you’ll now be thinking … MATH!
You'll undoubtedly find mathematical inspiration in a pile of LEGO bricks.
LEGO for Building Part-Part-Total Thinking
For younger mathematicians, composing and decomposing numbers is a key component of building the number sense needed for arithmetic operations. Students begin with small landmark numbers such as five (one hand) or six (a standard die,) and build towards the all-important ten.
LEGO bricks are awesome for part-part-total explorations! As with other popular part-part-total math manipulatives such as dominoes or dice, these bricks have clearly marked chits (on LEGO we call them studs) for students to count. The studs are often grouped in twos, which facilitate counting by twos rather than counting the studs individually. With practice, students will recognize arrangements of studs, and will not need to count them at all (subitizing).
Students can group combinations of two or more LEGO bricks and find the total number of studs, or students can start with a larger brick, cover part of it with a smaller brick, and figure out the amount of remaining uncovered studs.
As a third grade teacher, I’ve spent hours and hours drawing arrays, modeling how to skip count with arrays, deconstructing arrays, and building arrays with a myriad of tiny things. (Raisins, pennies, grains of rice …) After all, internalizing why and how arrays work is a cornerstone of building multiplicative thinking among my budding mathematicians. (For more ideas about building multiplication concepts, see my blog post Total Recall: Helping Our Students Memorize Multiplication Facts.)
Having a collection of LEGO pieces on hand during multiplication lessons is so useful. I whip a few out to reinforce the area model, to demonstrate square numbers, and to remind my students about the commutative property of multiplication. Here’s a photo tour of some of the possibilities for using Lego to teach multiplication, and of course, its twin sibling, division.
Students can combine LEGO bricks to make a wide range of arrays.
Exploring the factors of 48 using the area model and Lego bricks.
Fractions always seem to trip up my students. Things get murky when we’re talking about different size “wholes” or when we switch from thinking about the fractions of one whole to fractions of a set. The only way to combat fraction-mayhem is to provide students with a LOT of opportunities to experience fractions with tangible objects. Pattern blocks are a popular fraction manipulative, but I like LEGO even more. (Pattern blocks can only be broken down into sixths when using the hexagon as one-whole. LEGO blocks have many more possibilities!)
With guided inquiry packets, students can work independently on exploring new math concepts.
When analyzing data, upper elementary students explore various ways to express the “central tendency” of their data set; that is, various ways to express the average. When finding the mean (arithmetic average), students quickly learn to add all of the data and then divide the total by the number of data points. But very few students fully understand why they do this add-then-divide dance to find the mean. While evening out LEGO towers of varying heights, students have a first-hand experience of what “mean” means.
Students "add" and then "evenly divide" four LEGO towers to discover the mean value.
Let’s be honest, the first time you put out a bunch of LEGO pieces during a math lesson, the students are going to be itching to build towers, stage battles, and trade bricks. Don’t fight the tide – embrace it, for a bit.
Give your students a predetermined amount of time to “explore the mathematical possibilities of their bricks.” Really, this is just a fancy way of permitting the students to play around, but it will go much smoother later on if you get this sanctioned playtime out of the way. (For more ideas about managing the use of math manipulatives, check out Meghan Everette’s fabulous blog post Math Manipulatives: Learning to Control the Chaos.)
Bag your LEGO into Kits
When preparing for a LEGO lesson, I rarely give students access to the full range of LEGO pieces. Ahead of time, I prepare Ziploc bags with a careful selection of the pieces I know my students will need to complete the assignment.
I also make sure my students understand how to return their bags of bricks. Bags are to be sealed and bricks are separated, unless they received a bag of “towers.” I often use LEGO-math as a math center activity, and the students are remarkably independent when they are provided with clearly labeled bags of specific bricks.
A ideia é celebrar a diferença e chamar a atenção da indústria dos brinquedos para as 150 milhões de crianças com deficiência no mundo inteiro
Mãe cria campanha de figuras de Lego com deficiência para celebrar a diferença e chamar a atenção da indústria dos brinquedos para as 150 milhões de crianças com deficiência no mundo inteiro.
Figuras de Lego em cadeira de rodas é o mote da campanha #ToyLikeMe.
Até um dos criadores da famosa série The Office apoia esta campanha, que está a decorrer no Facebook (www.facebook.com/toylikeme).
Os mentores da campanha criaram uma gama de Natal com mini figuras de Lego com diferenças. O pai Natal e a Fada apresentam-se em cadeira de rodas, enquanto que o ajudante duende surge com uma bengala.
O objetivo é também "ajudar gerações de crianças (com e sem deficiência) a crescer com uma atitude mais positiva em relação à diferença humana", dizem os criadores da campanha.
A campanha #ToyLikeMe foi iniciada por duas mães surdas que querem mudar os brinquedos tradicionais e torná-los mais inclusivos.
Bill details the key engineering principles underlying plastic injection molding. He describes its history and, then, reveals the intricate details of the process. He shows viewers where to found, on any injection-molding product, the markings created by injection molding. He closes with a description of the one of the finest examples of the injection molding: the Lego brick.
Man proves bricks rock hard with custom Lego guitar
Guitar makers like Nicola Pavan of Pavan Wood Works take pride in the instruments they build. Wood is a personal medium, it's a living thing that changes according to its environment. So if there is any material that's exactly the opposite of wood, it's plastic.
Working with Lego, Pavan, who is currently studying in to become a Luthier in Milan, was able to create a working electric guitar. Although the plastic creation may not sound as good as its wood counterparts, it's definitely still capable of rocking out.
Pavan told Mashable that the hardest part of building the guitar was acquiring all of the Lego, relying on his friends to supply all of the right pieces.
It took Pavan about six days to complete the guitar, and he only used a bit of glue and some screws to hold the whole thing together. The guitar's neck and bridge are made from normal guitar materials.
And this isn't the first guitar Pavan built out of Lego; his first prototype in 2012 was just as impressive, and features a more intricate bridge.
Raparigas devem brincar com Lego e não com Barbies, diz
cientista
Cientista britânica acredita que os brinquedos para crianças
estão a afastar as raparigas das áreas de engenharia, física e matemática.
Para Athene Donald, professora de Física Experimental na
Universidade de Cambridge, os brinquedos para meninas estão dominados por temas
de “amor e magia” que reforçam os estereótipos de género e não encorajam a
actividade e a criação.
“Precisamos de mudar a forma como pensamos sobre os rapazes
e as raparigas e sobre o que é apropriado para eles desde os primeiros anos de
vida. A escolha de brinquedos interessa? Eu acredito que sim”, disse Athene
Donald, durante o seu discurso como nova presidente da Associação Britânica de
Ciência.
Os brinquedos destinados às raparigas são dirigidos para a
passividade – pentear o cabelo de uma Barbie, vesti-la – e não para a criação,
imaginação e construção, como acontece com as peças Lego, critica a cientista.
“Podemos ver os anúncios dos brinquedos para meninos dominados por poder e luta
e as raparigas parecem ser capazes de viver só com amor e magia. Peço desculpa
mas não acredito que isso as vá levar longe.”
Relativamente às primeiras experiências de trabalho, Athene
Donald refere que é “comum” as escolas tomarem a opção “preguiçosa” de
encontrar estágios para alunos que aumentam os estereótipos – as raparigas
acabam num salão de cabeleireiro e os rapazes na oficina local, o que “não é
bom para nenhum dos sexos”, considera.
A presidente da Associação Britânica de Ciência aponta ainda
que no campo da física, a sua área, é notória a falta de raparigas – apenas um
quinto dos estudantes são do sexo feminino.
A Mattel, a fabricante da Barbie, defendeu o seu brinquedo
no site, reforçando que a boneca é um bom exemplo para as raparigas e que teve
personagens com mais de 150 carreiras, incluindo enfermeira, estrela de rock,
veterinária, piloto e polícia.
Mas esta não é a primeira vez que são feitas críticas aos
brinquedos para crianças. Em 2012, a startup norte-americana GoldieBlox também
surgiu para alterar o padrão de beleza dominante e as noções de género.
“Acreditamos que há um milhão de raparigas que querem ser engenheiras em vez de
princesas”, afirmam no site oficial. A ideia da empresa é mudar mentalidades,
mostrar que nenhuma rapariga é obrigada a maquilhar-se, gostar de moda e ser
magrinha para ter sucesso, e criar brinquedos que impliquem construir e criar.
A mais recente campanha da GoldieBlox, “uma boneca de acção
para meninas”, foi lançada em Novembro de 2014, com um anúncio a fazer lembrar
o da Apple, em 1984, inspirado no universo de controlo criado por George
Orwell.
“Estamos aqui para ajudar a nivelar o campo de jogo em todos
os sentidos da frase. A nossa história e os nossos kits [que incluem cubos,
rodas e manivelas para serem montadas] reforçam a confiança [das raparigas] nas
suas capacidades espaciais e dá-lhes as ferramentas que precisam para construir
e criar coisas incríveis”, explica a marca no site oficial.
Mas a culpa não é só dos brinquedos à venda no mercado,
aponta Donald. "Se os professores, os pais e os media passam a mensagem de
que a física e a engenharia são coisa de rapazes, não devíamos ficar
surpreendidos”, diz.
O Lego pode ser considerado o melhor brinquedo de todos os tempos. Quem nunca se encantou com as pecinhas coloridas dessa indústria dinamarquesa, que atire a primeira pedra. Quando crianças, queríamos apenas construir carrinhos e casas.
Hoje, podemos ter boas máquinas de cerveja feitas de Lego. Confira 10 incríveis máquinas Lego que funcionam:
10 – Orgão Star Wars
Essa maravilhosa criação da Lego contém mais de 20 mil blocos e fez parte da campanha promocional “Star Wars: A Ameaça Fantasma em 3D”. Dois engenheiros da Lego construíram cenas em miniatura do filme ao redor de um cilindro. As cenas foram posicionadas de tal maneira que, ao girar o cilindro, a música tema de Star Wars é tocada a partir de um teclado.
9 – Rifle de Lego (Equipamentos de guerra)
O artista PLUM B, da Lego, criou esse impressionante rifle de guerra em proporções reais. O equipamento atira elásticos e pode ser divertido quando bem utilizado.
8 – Robô de panquecas
Fazendo uso de alguns blocos comuns e da coleção Mindstorms, um grupo criou um robô que faz panquecas com formas programadas. Aqui podemos ver o rôbo fazer uma panqueca em forma de Mickey Mouse e de caminhão.
7 – Máquina de esculturas
Criada por Arthur Sacek, esse equipamento cria um rosto 3D a partir de um bloco de poliuretano. A única parte que não é Lego é a agulha que faz os cortes. Isso prova mais uma vez que, com Lego, sua criatividade pode ser sem limites.
6 – Veículo de transporte dos Jawas
Esse veículo super detalhado, inspirado nos carros dos Jawas (personagens de Star Wars), precisou de 10 mil blocos de Lego e levou nove meses para ser montado. Ele é altamente funcional, apresenta luz interior, correia de transporte, rampas motorizadas, entre outras características. Ele tem até um sistema de controle remoto.
5 – Planetário
Os ciclos e planetas representados nesse planetário criado por Guy Himber são ficcionais. Mas isso não tira o mérito da obra.
4 – Projetor
Obra da mente de Friedemann Wachsmuth, o projetor leva dois motores, mecanismos de resfriamento e uma lâmpada de LED. O equipamento pode projetar vídeos de até 24 frames por segundo.
3 – Máquina de cerveja
Utilizando-se do Lego Mindstorms, o usuário do YouTube Nxt1engineer criou uma máquina de cerveja, capaz de servir dois tipos de cerveja via Bluetooth. O equipamento abre a garrafa e resfria a bebida até a temperatura desejada.
2 – Televisão
Rod Gillies construiu uma TV retrô bem bonitinha…mas de Lego. Apesar de tudo, seu maior pecado é só ter o canal do Superman.
1 – A máquina de Lego mais inútil
O usuário do YouTube Invisibules recriou a máquina mais inútil de todos os tempos, só que ao estilo Lego. Você liga, a máquina se autodesliga. Só isso. [MSNBC]
Incrível: nova prótese com Lego pode permitir que as crianças façam dela o que quiserem
Um novo braço protético apelidado de “Iko” pode ser infinitamente personalizado com peças de Lego para que as crianças o transformem no que desejarem.
A invenção de Carlos Arturo Torres tem um enorme potencial de ajudar pequenos com debilidades a serem vistos de forma diferente pelo mundo.
Tornar próteses mais expressivas capacita as pessoas que as usam. Iko tem como objetivo ajudar as crianças a superar o estigma de ter uma prótese, fazendo com que seja divertido usá-la.
“Meus amigos em psicologia costumavam dizer-me que, quando uma criança tem uma deficiência, não está realmente consciente disso até que enfrenta a sociedade”, diz Torres.
O projeto do designer colombiano é voltado para crianças entre 3 e 12 anos, uma faixa etária ampla, abrangendo os anos cruciais de construção de autoestima.
A ideia da prótese com Lego
Torres, baseado em Chicago, desenvolveu Iko durante um estágio de seis meses no Future Lab da Lego. Ele percebeu que o brinquedo tinha a habilidade de promover conexões sociais e teve a ideia de transformar crianças com próteses em ímãs sociais através de seus membros divertidos.
A Lego patrocinou uma viagem de Torres para sua terra natal, a fim de que ele observasse pacientes protéticos em Bogotá. Lá, ele conheceu Dario, um menino vibrante de 8 anos com uma malformação congênita que o deixou sem um antebraço direito.
Um dia, Torres viu Dario desenhar um robô de dez braços em um caderno. “Ele estava falando das características diferentes do robô e apontou para um olho biônico. Ele disse que o robô construiu a si próprio, porque era o único que sabia o que precisava”, conta.
De repente, Torres sabia exatamente como a Lego poderia se integrar em próteses.
Protótipo carregado de esperanças
Iko permite que as crianças façam suas próprias criações em um terminal conector. A base, que se liga a parte superior do braço do membro amputado, contém uma bateria, um processador e sensores mioelétricos que detectam o movimento muscular e o transferem para o que quer que esteja sobre a extremidade do braço Iko, quer se trate de um robô ou uma nave espacial.
A prótese Lego ainda está em fase de prototipagem, mas a consultoria de design IDEO, atual empregadora de Torres, está subscrevendo um modelo de baixo custo impresso em 3D.
Se a ideia se tornar uma realidade comercial, pode ajudar muitas crianças. Em Bogotá, Torres testemunhou em primeira mão o poder de transformação dos membros personalizados. Antes de dar a Dario uma nave espacial Lego que foi anexada a seu braço Iko, Torres perguntou a um dos amigos do garoto como ele percebia a condição de Dario. O amigo respondeu que se sentia mal por ele. Depois que a mão com a nave espacial foi dada a Dario, Torres repetiu a pergunta. A resposta? “Eu queria uma dessas também”. [Wired]
Um sonho tornado realidade: blocos de montar Lego para construir coisas reais
Se você já brincou com Lego (quem nunca?) depois de adulto, você inevitavelmente olhou para os pequenos pedaços de plástico em sua mão e pensou: “Caramba, essas coisas são pequenas”. Foi isso que Arnon Rosan pensou. “Você fica mais velho”, diz ele, “e você meio que gostaria de ter uma versão em tamanho real daquilo”.
A maioria das pessoas para na fantasia, mas não Rosan. Ele criou blocos de construção de tamanho real como grandes peças de Lego. Rosan é o fundador da EverBlock, um sistema modular de blocos de plástico de grande escala que, como o Lego, são colocados em cima uns dos outros e travam em conjunto com partes que se encaixam.
Mas a EverBlock é mais uma ferramenta do que um brinquedo. Os blocos de polipropileno podem ser usados para construir móveis e estruturas que funcionam de verdade. Eles vêm em 14 cores e três tamanhos: completo (30cm de comprimento), metade (15 centímetros) e um quarto (7.6 centímetros), e variam em peso entre 100 e 900 gramas.
Brincar com esses blocos de montar é mais difícil do que parece
Eles são montados mais ou menos como quaisquer outros blocos de construção modulares, mas em uma escala maior. Conforme os blocos ficam maiores, construir com eles fica mais complicado. “Quando começamos, eu imaginava que as pessoas saberiam instintivamente como construir com eles”, diz Rosan.
Não foi o caso. Em miniatura, é fácil ter uma perspectiva sobre como os blocos se encaixam. Na escala de tamanho natural, torna-se mais desafiador. “As pessoas começam a se preocupar com a estabilidade”, diz ele. Não é um grande problema se a sua parede de 5 centímetros cai, mas não é bem assim quando ela tem 5 metros. A chave é tirar lições das brincadeiras com Lego, e empilhar os blocos como tijolos, para que eles se equilibrem. Cada bloco tem também pelo menos uma entrada que permite que cabos de força, cavilhas de madeira ou tiras de LED passem, como um meio de iluminar ou estabilizar estruturas maiores.
Rosan criou o EverBlock como uma forma de facilmente construir móveis como sofás e mesas de café, mas ele rapidamente percebeu que os grandes blocos têm aplicações muito além disso. As pessoas construíram estruturas parecidas com casas, divisórias e arte. O site do produto apresenta uma ferramenta para construção virtual que as pessoas podem usar para criar desenhos e determinar quantos tijolos eles precisam. A empresa está criando uma biblioteca de instruções para orientar as pessoas através de alguns projetos.
Praticidade
Quando Rosan descreve seu desejo de expandir EverBlock para incluir janelas e portas, é fácil ver que isso pode se tornar um novo tipo de construção. Como todos os sistemas modulares, o benefício real das peças de Lego gigantes está em sua eficiência. Mas com apenas três versões de blocos, existem limitações para o que você pode construir.
Ainda assim, quando você precisa construir alguma coisa rapidamente, essa poderia ser uma solução inteligente. Pense em abrigos de emergência: “Você pode colocar duas paletas destas por helicóptero e você tem uma estrutura sólida, rígida”, diz Rosan. [Wired]
A DREAM COME TRUE: HUGE LEGO BRICKS FOR BUILDING REAL STUFF
EverBlock is a full-scale building block that interlocks like a Lego.EVERBLOCK
It
can be used to build buildings. EVERBLOCK
Or
coffee tables. EVERBLOCK
Or
just a cool installation wall. EVERBLOCK
EVERBLOCK
IF YOU’VE EVER played with Lego (and who hasn’t?) as an adult, you’ve inevitably looked at the tiny bits of plastic in your hand and thought, Damn, these things are small. That’s what Arnon Rosan thought, anyway. “You get older,” he says, “and you kinda wish you had a life-size version of that.”
Most people might stop at fantasizing about life-size building blocks, but not Rosan. He created them. Rosan is the founder of EverBlock, a modular system of full-scale plastic blocks that, like Lego, stack atop each another and lock together with raised lugs.
But EverBlock is more tool than toy. You can use the polypropylene blocks to build fully-functioning furniture and structures. They come in 14 colors and three sizes: full (one foot long), half (six inches), and quarter (three inches), and vary in weight from two pounds (full size) to a quarter pound.
EverBlocks assemble more or less like any other modular building blocks, but on a larger scale. But as the blocks get bigger, building with them gets more complicated. “When we first started, I envisioned that people would know instinctively how to build with them,” Rosan says.
That wasn’t the case. In miniature scale, it’s easy to gain perspective on how blocks fit together. At life-size scale, it gets more challenging. “People start to worry about stability,” he says. It’s no big deal if your 3-inch wall topples, but it is a problem if your 15-foot wall does. The key is to take lessons from Lego, and stack the blocks like bricks, staggering them so a brick covers the seam of the two below it. Each block also has at least one channel that allows power cables, reinforcing wooden dowels, or LED strips to snake through as a means of illuminating or stabilizing larger structures.
Rosan created EverBlock as a way of easily constructing furniture like couches and coffee tables, but he quickly realized the big blocks have applications far beyond that. People have built house-like structures, room dividers, and art. The product’s website features a virtual builder tool people can use to create designs and determine how many bricks they’ll need. The company is compiling a library of instructions guiding people through some designs.
When
Rosan outlines his desire to expand EverBlock to include windows and
doors, it’s easy to see it becoming a new substrate for construction. That’s
not a bad idea. Like all modular systems, EverBlock’s real benefit is in its
efficiency. But with just three block versions, there are limitations to what
you can build with the blocks. Don’t expect a life-size version of Lego’s architecture
series just
yet (though how cool would that be).
Still, when
you need to construct something quickly, something like this could be a smart
solution. Think about emergency shelters: “You could drop two pallets of these
by helicopter and the next thing you know you have a solid, rigid structure,”
says Rosan. It’s an intriguing thought and a new play on prefab, modular
housing. Will we one day be the IRL version of Emmet Brickowski, wandering cities built from plastic bricks?
Block Bento é uma engraçada marmita feita a pensar nos mais pequenos!
Com dois compartimentos autónomos, inclui pauzinhos e um pequeno ice pack para colocar numa das tampas. Basta colocar durante a noite o ice pack no congelador, e voltar a colocá-lo na marmita quando sair de casa.
A Block Bento inclui ainda uma banda elástica para maior segurança e pode usar à máquina de lavar e microondas mas sem tampa.
As peças LEGO resultam muitas vezes em criações impressionantes, umas
vezes pela dimensão, outras pela criatividade e outras pela especificidade que
podem assumir. Neste caso, temos um teclado de computador.
O seu criador, Jason Allemann, confessa que construiu o
primeiro protótipo da ideia em 2005, mas na altura não conseguiu levá-lo
adiante.
A ideia regressou no ano passado, e toma forma no teclado de computador
"completamente funcional" agora apresentado. As vicissitudes do
projeto são explicadas ao pormenor num vídeo.
Jason Allemann também conta que foi difícil encontrar peças
para algumas das teclas de função para este teclado feito principalmente de
LEGO, que na base tem uma placa de circuito de um teclado absolutamente normal.
Most people typically think of Lego as toys, however these multi-colored building blocks are so much more than just playthings.
The Danish company has created over 560 billion parts since 1958. As children, Legos helped inspire the way in which we viewed the world. We could be an architect, city planner, or inventor.
By Lori Day – In mid-January, this article on The Huffington Post hit my Facebook newsfeed like a Justin Bieber deportation petition—it was everywhere. In it, HuffPost Family News Editor Jessica Samakow writes:
Pay attention, 2014 Mad Men: This little girl is holding a LEGO set. The LEGOs are not pink or “made for girls.” She isn’t even wearing pink. The copy is about “younger children” who “build for fun.” Not just “girls” who build. ALL KIDS. In an age when little girls and boys are treated as though they are two entirely different species by toy marketers, this 1981 ad for LEGO — one of our favorite images ever — issues an important reminder.
Something about this piece with the iconic 1981 ad tapped the zeitgeist and it became one of HuffPo’s more viral articles in recent memory, receiving over 60,000 shares. And along the way, the small world of Facebook led to a comment thread on my wall where someone, upon seeing the little red-haired girl holding her LEGOs, wrote, “Hey, I know her!” And now I do too, because that’s the serendipity of social media. Her name is Rachel Giordano, she is 37 years old, and she’s a practicing naturopathic doctor in Seattle, Washington. Giordano agreed to talk to me about her childhood and the ad, and to pose for a new Then & Now photo meme, which you see above in the lead image.
As I was planning my interview with Rachel Giordano, I saw this blog post by Achilles Effect, and knew immediately what Giordano should be holding in the new version of the photo. Enter the Heartlake City
rolling beauty salonTV news van, one of the latest additions to the LEGO Friends line. Advertising copy lets us know what being a news anchor involves for minifig Emma:
“Break the big story of the world’s best cake with the Heartlake News Van! Find the cake and film it with the camera and then climb into the editing suite and get it ready for broadcast. Get Emma ready at the makeup table so she looks her best for the camera. Sit her at the news desk as Andrew films her talking about the cake story and then present the weather to the viewers.”
Cake? Seriously? And what-the-what is that when you look inside the news van? Where is the equipment? Is it behind the gigantic makeup vanity?
As Achilles Effect blogger Crystal Smith notes, “This toy had so much potential to inspire young girls who think journalism would be a cool career. Instead, they get the same message delivered just about everywhere else in the culture that surrounds them: look pretty and smile for the camera.”
Children haven’t changed, but adults who market to them have… What do we have to lose, besides stereotypes? So what did Rachel Giordano have to say about the LEGO news van when it pulled up to her medical office in Seattle via Amazon and UPS? First things first: she told me what it was like to be a child model for the Ford Agency in New York City, posing for print ads and performing in commercials. On the day she went into the studio to make the 1981 LEGO ad, she was given a set of original LEGOs and an hour to play with them and make her own creation—it is what you see in the ad. (And those were her own clothes—the comfy jeans and blue striped t-shirt and sneakers without a hint of pink that she wore in off the street.)
The news van kit struck her as really quite different. She does not have children, so the change in LEGOs represented by the Friends line was startling: “In 1981,” explains Giordano, “LEGOs were ‘Universal Building Sets’ and that’s exactly what they were…for boys and girls. Toys are supposed to foster creativity. But nowadays, it seems that a lot more toys already have messages built into them before a child even opens the pink or blue package. In 1981, LEGOs were simple and gender-neutral, and the creativity of the child produced the message. In 2014, it’s the reverse: the toy delivers a message to the child, and this message is weirdly about gender.”
The original 1981 ad has been making the rounds in my girl empowerment blogging circles for the past few years now, symbolic of the nostalgia that ain’t what it used to be when it comes to children’s toys. The stereotyping of girls in their world of play is an issue close to my heart and one that I address in my book Her Next Chapter, because, as Maria Montessori notably said, play is the work of the child. [Editor's Note: What most recent articles about this inspiring ad have left out, is the equally inspiring woman who created it. According to a January 21, 2014 Mashable piece, “The ‘What is Beautiful’ ad was created by Judy Lotas, who was the creative director at SSC&B, a now-defunct ad agency… She had two young daughters at the time, and gender equality was a big topic."]
Over at Princess Free Zone, Michele Yulo has been writing about the change in LEGOs since the new LEGO Friends line dropped anchor in girls’ toy aisles all around the world. “Last year,” says Yulo, “I did my own homemade version of the ad to show that it is not that kids have changed, forcing companies to adopt ‘separate but equal’ and ‘pink marketing’ strategies—in fact, it is the other way around. I didn’t change the tagline except to say that ‘What it is is still beautiful.’ Because it is.”
That’s Yulo’s daughter on the right side of the meme, holding her own unique LEGO structure built with regular—I mean boys’—LEGOs.
What’s the problem with girl LEGOs? Why is everyone against pink?, ask many parents. I’ll let Rachel Giordano answer that question: “Because gender segmenting toys interferes with a child’s own creative expression. I know that how I played as a girl shaped who I am today. It contributed to me becoming a physician and inspired me to want to help others achieve health and wellness. I co-own two medical centers in Seattle. Doctor kits used to be for all children, but now they are on the boys’ aisle. I simply believe that they should be marketed to all children again, and the same with LEGOs and other toys.”
I couldn’t help being curious about how Giordano’s renewed fame first came to her attention and how it was affecting her. “I did so many advertisements as a kid that this LEGO ad did not stand out in my memory,” says Giordano. “When it resurfaced on the Internet all these years later, I was totally surprised, and some of my friends asked, ‘Is that you?’ I’m super excited to tell my story!”
Giordano has grown up, but she’s still the same cheerful and creative person you see in the original ad. As Yulo’s meme suggests, children haven’t changed, but adults who market to them have. And LEGOs? They sure are different. How about this? Let’s give all children a world of play that includes all colors and all possibilities, and let’s market it that way. What do we have to lose, besides stereotypes? Gender-segmented toys may double corporate profits, but always seem to result in for-girls versions that are somehow just a little bit less. I say, let’s give girls more. Any reason not to??
Lori is also a co-founder and Board member of the Brave Girls Alliance, a global think tank and consulting group of girl empowerment experts who advocate for healthier media and products for girls.
Long before The Lego Movie was created, Lego nerds have been filming some amazing stop-motion projects. One of the best is David Pagano, who with collaborators runs Paganomation, his animation studio. Their work has appeared on Nickelodeon, ABC News, Lego.com, the Wall Street Journal, as well as BrickJournal.
I asked David what the brickfilm scene is all about:
JB: What’s a brickfilm?
DP: Brickfilms are a way for Lego fans to tell their stories through the use of film and animation techniques. These films can be in any style, and about any topic, but they all have one thing in common — the use of Lego bricks and elements!
JB: How long does it take to complete one of your projects, on average?
DP: The work we do at Paganomation is very unique — we have to balance the infinite possibilities of Lego bricks, stop-motion, and our imaginations with real world limitations like schedules, deadlines, and gravity.
For the majority of our minifigure-based projects, I try to allot a minimum of one month of production time per minute of screen time. That means if we’re making a film that’s 3 minutes long, it’s going to take at least 3 months to complete from start to finish.
That doesn’t even take into account the complexity of whatever it is we’re doing. Obviously, a 30-second scene of one guy standing around talking is not going to take as long to build or animate as a 30-second scene of a dozen characters flying around in robot spaceships, shooting lasers at each other as they explode.
And don’t even get me started on timelines for large-scale films. My college thesis film, “Little Guys!”, used giant brick-built characters and took eight months to complete… and it’s only two and a half minutes long.
JB: Say I want to get into brickfilms. What’s a great first step?
DP: The best first step for getting into brickfilming is to grab some Lego bricks and start playing. This may sound simple and obvious, but the Lego worlds I created as a kid through play led me into the career I have today. All it took was that one moment of “hmm … I’ve built these cool creations, and I’m making up my own stories about them … What if I made a video of those stories to share with my friends?”
JB: Can you suggest some websites with information on the topic?
DP: The main hub for the online Lego animation community is BricksInMotion.com. There, you can find all sorts of films to watch, tutorials, resources, and forums filled with people who are ready and willing to answer your questions.
I also co-curate a Lego animation blog called The Set Bump, along with David M. Pickett (of The Nightly News at Nine) and a variety of rotating guest bloggers. We cover Lego animation news, reviews, tools, tutorials, and so much more.
JB: What goes into designing and filming a typical scene?
DP: Before starting work on any given scene, we’ll already have a script and storyboards to reference in terms of what needs to happen story-wise. If time allows, I also like to put together mood boards, which are kind of like collages that help determine how the scene should feel in terms of color, layout, and tone.
From there, it’s on to building. Every film we make here at Paganomation has its own unique challenges: if the film is being made for TLG [The Lego Group] and needs to highlight a specific product, we’ll generally design the scene in a way that showcases that product as prominently as possible. Otherwise, if the film is for a different client (or an independent project), I’ll just try to build the coolest-looking thing that I can.
Once everything’s built, we light the scene in a way that’s both visually satisfying and practical. Lighting Lego film sets can be tricky, since the plastic is super-shiny and one wrong light angle can cause weird reflections or flickering issues. We shoot test images to try and expose all those problem areas before animation begins.
And then, animation. Stop-motion is a long, laborious process, and shots on our films can take anywhere from three to eight hours (or more) to shoot. Sometimes I animate by myself, but I try to have help from other people whenever possible. That way, I can focus on the sets and characters, and the other person can do what I call “driving”: handling the stop-motion software controls, checking the playback, and looking for set bumps or weird arcs in the animation.
After all, it doesn’t matter what I see on set while animating — all that matters is what the final shot looks like on-screen.
JB: Tell us about your Kickstarter-funded project, “Little Guys … in Space!”
DP: “Little Guys… In Space!” is a sequel to my aforementioned college thesis film, and has actually been in the works since 2011. I raised a bit of money for the film on Kickstarter in 2012, but because of the unpredictability of our commission workload, it’s only been in the past few months that actual animation on the film has begun. By hook or by crook, it will be released later this year.
Whereas “Little Guys!” was my homage to/parody of ‘80s toy commercials, “Little Guys … In Space!” takes the next logical step for a (fake) toy line — moving things INTO SPACE to make them more awesome. It’s got lots of fun gags and neat builds. You can follow the progress of the film (and check out some behind-the-scenes photos) on our Kickstarter and Facebook pages.
Speaking of which… I need to get back to work!
Want to see some of David’s work? Check out his picks of cool brickfilms he either collaborated on or just admires!
Have you ever asked yourself this question: "How many
times can I assemble LEGO bricks before they wear out?"
Well... probably
never but I did. The story would end there if I had not also the knack to build
a machine to test it. Here it is:
Ter
você já se perguntou esta pergunta: "quantas vezes pode montar LEGO tijolos
antes de que se desgastam?"
Bem... provavelmente nunca mas
eu fiz. A
história terminaria aí se não também tinha o dom de construir uma máquina para
testá-lo. Aqui está:
The first
version was using a metal tube attaching the top servo to the LEGO brick. It
was too flimsy and died during initial testing. So I took an old CPU heat
sink...
A
primeira versão estava usando um tubo de metal, anexar o servo superior para os
tijolos LEGO. Era muito
frágil e morreu durante o teste inicial. Então eu peguei
um dissipador de calor do CPU antigo...
And using my trusty
angle cutter, I made this new arm:
E usando o
meu cortador de ângulo fiel, fiz esse novo braço:
A successful test
proved that the LEGO was no match for this chunk of aluminium. I then made an
infra-red proximity sensor to detect if the presence of the LEGO and rigged the
whole thing to an Arduino. This was shot before the test started:
Um
teste bem sucedido provado que o LEGO era páreo para este pedaço de alumínio.
Então
fiz um sensor de proximidade infravermelho para detectar se a presença de LEGO e
manipuladas a coisa toda a um Arduino. Isso foi
filmado antes de iniciado o teste:
and this was shot about
two thirds into the testing that lasted a whopping 10 days!!!
e
este foi tiro cerca de dois terços para o teste que durou um enorme 10
dias!!!
So here are the 2 dead
LEGO bricks after 10 days and 37,112 assembling and disassembling.
Então,
aqui estão os tijolos LEGO 2 mortos após 10 dias e 37.112 montagem e
desmontagem.
Don't try this
at home. It's long, noisy and cruel to LEGO bricks.
Não tente fazer isso em casa.
É longo, ruidoso e
cruel com os tijolos LEGO.
Reason #38,965 why I love coffee people: They do stuff like build Lego models of espresso machines.
I
was recently in the sunny San Francisco Bay Area for a family visit and
also a chance to catch up with some of my old coffee pals; Stephen
Vick, who buys coffee for Blue Bottle,
is one of my original coffee peeps; we met back in 2002. So I hooked up
with Stephen for lunch in Downtown Oakland, and then he swung me by Blue Bottle’s gorgeous, latest café, located in the historic WC Morse Building, for a tour.
We were chilling at one of the tall bar tables sipping on Cascara Fizz—one of Blue Bottle’s
signature cold beverages that was awesome, by the way; it’s made with
Aida Batlle’s cascara as simple syrup, sparkling water, and lemon—when
this guy walks by. Stephen called out, “Hey, Daniel! Come meet my
friend, Sarah!”
Daniel
Lee is the store manager of the café. He came right over, super big
smile on his face. Stephen said something like, “Show her the Legos,”
and that was when it all happened. I had my first encounter with Blue Bottle for the second time… through Legos.
The Master At Work: Daniel at home working on his Lego models.
Daniel
says this is how it started: He and a friend were kind of tipsy one
night, and they ended up in a Toys ‘R Us (Don’t ask questions. Just keep
reading). They found themselves in the Lego aisle. They had a credit
card.
Fast forward a few months: Daniel has fashioned a La Marzocco Linea out of Legos. He’s made a Spirit. And he made a mini San Marco lever.
One version of the Linea.
Another version of the Linea, and the San Marco lever.
The Kees van der Westen Spirit.
And then he decided to go bigger.
“I thought, what if I made the Blue Bottle
at the Mint out of Legos?” Daniel says, like it’s a rational musing.
But thank goodness he did. It’s pretty genius—check it out.
It took Daniel around 100 hours to complete the Blue Bottle
Mint café. He used to work there, which is why he had such a good sense
of the place and how everything fit together in the famous shop.
The busy interior of the Blue Bottle cafe at the Mint Plaza in San Francisco.
Have you ever been to the Blue Bottle cafe at the Mint? Then you’ll find this as eerily amazing as I do.
Daniel says his next project is to work on the exterior of the Mint cafe.
Daniel
is particularly proud of the dish area in his Blue Bottle Mint cafe
model. Having worked in this cafe for a long time, he knows the area
well.
Daniel
says he’s spent around $500 on Legos since he discovered this—well,
hobby’s not the right word, because he’s so damn good at this—passion,
that’s better. I want him to make a Kickstarter to raise money to make
models of way more cafés. That is to say, I am a fan, and a big one.
Braço robótico mostra novo potencial para o Mindstorm da Lego
Dave Voltaggio decidiu
tornar-se num cyborg, mas escolheu o kit Mindstorm da Lego para criar o
seu braço robótico. A ideia ganhou um prémio na BrickFair VA 2014.
São
quatro dedos independentes, motorizados, controlados de forma
individual com quatro sensores de toque. Tudo articulado com o kit
Mindstorms EV3.
O braço robótico foi desenvolvido por um
entusiasta dos kits robótico da Lego, que adicionou um suporte para o
telemóvel e cinco LEDs azuis que "abrilhantaram" a utilização do
dispositivo durante o "world of lights" na BrickFair que decorreu no início de Agosto na Virginia, EUA.
Dave Voltaggio usou o braço robótico durante duas horas neste evento e
durante várias horas durante a feira propriamente dita para apertar a
mão a visitantes mais afoitos, mostrando em vídeo algumas das
funcionalidades.
Segundo a "ficha de trabalho" o braço foi construído ao longo de várias noites e o tempo de programação foi de uma hora.
Mas há uma má notícia para quem gostaria de replicar a obra: Dave Voltaggio não tem instruções escritas para partilhar...
This fully functional microscope is built entirely out of Lego
Collecting votes now on Lego Ideas is a fully functional microscope -- constructed entirely out of Lego bricks.
Carl Merriam
Lego Ideas -- formerly Cuusoo
-- has seen some pretty great sets come to life, with the high-profile
Ghostbusters set really highlighting the power of fan love, but it's
science and research that has seen the most success, with the female
scientists set and several real-life spacecraft hitting the consumer
market.
This project, however, brings a more practical application to Lego science. Lego artist Carl Merriam has created a fully functional all-Lego microscope
and submitted it to the site. However, although it's a fascinating
idea, Merriam actually uploaded it in July of last year, where it
somehow managed to fly under the radar. With 281 days left to vote on
the project, we thought it deserved a bit more attention.
"This
build was originally inspired by the LEGO X-Pod sets. While trying to
find a use for the pod itself, I realized that it was very close to a
deep petri dish," he wrote last year.
"I used a planetary gear system to allow both coarse and fine
adjustment of the objective 'lens'. A little more tinkering and I
connected the focus to a magnifying glass and fiber optic light in the
eyepiece, so adjusting the focus knobs would actually bring the writing
on a LEGO stud in and out of focus."
Carl Merriam
The microscope has since been refined, and can now be used to achieve a magnification of 10x using actual Lego magnifying glasses, with lighting provided by the LED Power Functions Light.
Other features include adjustment knobs for an adjustable stage and
magnification, and silver swords to hold the slides in place.
The microscope needs 10,000 votes on Lego Ideas to be considered by Lego for an official set. If you like the idea, head on over to the project page (you'll need a free Lego ID to vote on projects) and give it your support.
Foram usadas mais de 100 mil peças nesta original paragem que demorou 14 dias a construir
À primeira vista poderá parecer uma paragem
de autocarro igual às outras. Mas um olhar mais atento vai revelar que,
afinal, esta original paragem é feita, integralmente, com peças de
LEGO. A estrutura está exposta na rua Regent Street, em Londres.
Para celebrar o “Ano do Autocarro”, a empresa que gere os transportes de
Londres (TfL, sigla em inglês) convidou a LEGO a criar uma estacão de autocarro, em tamanho real, feita integralmente de peças lego. No total, revela a TfL em comunicado de imprensa, foram usadas mais de 100 mil peças para construir a original paragem.
Tanto a estrutura exterior, como o ‘teto’, o banco e até a placa que
indica os destinos dos autocarros são feitos de peças LEGO.
De
acordo com o mesmo comunicado da TfL, a paragem foi desenhada pelo
designer da LEGO Duncan Titmarsh e demorou 14 dias a construir.
Esta paragem de autocarro única pode ser visitada até ao dia 15 de Julho. Para quem não está em Londres, a TfL criou uma página no Flickr onde é possível ver várias fotos da paragem de LEGO.
O
ex-futebolista falou sobre o seu quotidiano após a sua retirada dos
relvados. Beckham vive com a sua mulher, Victoria, e os quatro filhos
numa casa no bairro de Kensington, em Londres.
foto Arquivo
Victoria e David Beckham
Numa entrevista ao "The Sunday Times",
o antigo jogador admite que após o seu afastamento do mundo do futebol
ocupa parte do seu tempo a construir peças de Lego e a cozinhar para a
família.
Beckham foi capitão da seleção de
Inglaterra e vestiu a camisola de clubes como o Manchester United e o
Real Madrid. Apesar disso, David contou à mesma publicação que não se
sente diferente "de qualquer outra pessoa".
Considerado
uma lenda viva do futebol, multimilionário e um ícone de moda, o inglês
reconheceu que considera "relaxante" completar estruturas de lego e que
cozinhar é um processo "terapêutico".
"O
último que construí foi a Torre de Londres. Foi incrível. Acredito que o
Lego ajuda-me a relaxar". Cozinhar também faz parte da rotina do
ex-jogador que confessou ser um apaixonado pela cozinha italiana.
"Quando estava em Italia, e como gostava muito da comida de lá, aprendi a
cozinha-la. Por sorte, os meus filhos gostam muito e assim é fácil
fazer-lhes algo".
Na entrevista, o craque
revelou também que prepara o pequeno-almoço aos seus filhos e os leva à
escola: "O único que não acompanhamos à porta da escola é o Brooklyn,
que quer que o deixemos no outro lado da estrada porque não é 'cool' que
o pai o leve".
Fornecimento
de comida e abrigo para as vítimas de um desastre natural é uma das
primeiras prioridades para os serviços de emergência, mas o processo
muitas vezes pode gerar um monte de desperdício desnecessário. Para
ajudar a resolver este problema, o UNICEF desenvolveu um reutilizável
incrível tijolo LEGO inspirado
que funciona como um recipiente de armazenamento de alimentos e
material de construção, abordando múltiplas necessidades em uma só
penada. Leia mais para ver mais fotos deste objeto inteligente
projetado por Psychic de fábrica !
Os
tijolos possuem dois compartimentos - um que tem o arroz e outra que
contém água. Uma vez que estes sinais vitais foram consumidos, os
tijolos são, então, preenchido com terra e areia para dar-lhes peso e
empilhadas como tijolos de lego em abrigos temporários que dá sinistrados alívio dos elementos. No entanto, toda a embalagem, que possa ter sido usado para fornecer água potável
e alimento são poupados, bem como a dor de cabeça de abastecimento e
distribuição. E a melhor parte? Quando esta área se recupera, os
tijolos podem ser reutilizadas em outro lugar!
Details:
In the early days of motion pictures, they didn't have film reels or
real video technology. Early on, moving pictures were created by using
series of still frames in a circle, with slits between each one. Looking
through the slits at the image on the other side while the circle was
spinning would make it look like the image was moving.
If you remember what blog you're reading, this next part shouldn't surprise you - here's a an example of a zoetrope that works in this manner made out of LEGO. Much like the first example of this (based on a series of photographs taken by Eadweard Muybridge), this particular ones animates a horse's gallop.
Dia dos Namorados não é apenas para nós humanos - Minifigures LEGO também estão encontrando maneiras de mostrar amor.
Você pode criar um (familiar) Valentine foto sua Minifigure? Mostre-nos!
Este Dia dos Namorados, ReBrick está se unindo com a página de LEGO no Facebook , Pinterest , Instagram , Twitter e Google + de convidá-lo para compartilhar suas fotos de Minifigures no amor. Entre hoje e 14 de fevereiro dia
, compartilhar suas fotos no canal de mídia social de sua escolha com
as hash tags # # LEGO Valentim. Vamos compilar o melhor em uma galeria ReBrick para compartilhar em 14 de fevereiro dia !
Por
favor, note que qualquer marcador que é inapropriado, vulgar, ou
encontram-se em violação das regras do site serão removidos.
Mantenha-caras limpas.
Envie
suas fotos sobre o canal que deseja, apenas certifique-se de usar as
tags # # LEGO Valentine de hash para que possamos encontrá-los e
compartilhá-los com a comunidade LEGO!
A feira de brinquedos alemã acabou e no fim de semana mais galerias de imagens apareceram na web.
Joe Meno, que nos forneceu o primeiro conjunto de fotos para ser publicado, submeteu mais a seu Flickr . (Graças R4-G9)
Site austríaco Spieletest.at
publicou vídeos e fotos, incluindo alguns dos conjuntos que não vimos
antes, e que não foram mostrados no brinquedo Londres feira, como este
Grande Prémio caminhão, 60025 . (graças Aanchir)
Dê uma olhada através das galerias e deixe-nos saber o que você pega olho.
O New York Toy Fair começa no domingo, 10 de fevereiro. Espere cargas mais fotos depois
Postado por Huw , 31 de janeiro de 2013 03:51. Arquivado em Novos conjuntos .
Eu tomei
foto de Joe do castelo do post anterior e endireitou-lo (usando
Viewpoint DxO, se você estiver interessado) para que possamos ter uma
visão melhor dele. Como você pode ver que é um tamanho decente, e design
decente. Os bons são cinza claro e azul com leões em seus sheilds,
enquanto os caras saco são preto e vermelho, com dragões em seus
escudos. Como eu disse, depois de vê-lo em Londres, eu não acho que há
projetos de qualquer novo capacete de arma, ou armadura.
Ele tem mais do que uma semelhança passageira com o primeiro minifig castelo, 375 , não é mesmo!
We’ve seen and shared LEGO cameras
before, but never before today have we seen a camera made from a single
2×2 stud LEGO brick. That, however, is what a Colorado State student
recently managed to create.
Ryan Howerter is a graphic design student at CSU, and he was inspired to create the teeny LEGO pinhole camera after he learned about this pinenut pinhole camera named the Pinholo.
“Being a fan of Lego bricks, I had to carry this idea to its logical conclusion,” he told CNET. And that’s just what he did.
Here’s a closer look at the camera and that photo of a tree the little guy up top is holding:
You can create this yourself, of course. In the description on his Flickr profile, Howerter describes the simple camera:
It’s
just a piece of brass shim with a pinhole cut in it, with tape to cover
the bottom of the brick. The brick’s tube has been cut out, and the
photo paper just rests in the back of the brick.
It
can even shoot film, but Howerter says he’s not yet been able to
properly develop a piece of film that tiny, so he’s had to stick to
photographic paper for his ‘prints.’
Wandering
round the house this morning after I left the boys at school it struck
me how some of the things they've been enjoying are the same ones that I
liked when I was little.
Remember
the Wombles? Orinoco and Bungo and Madame Cholet. I like to call out,
"Coo-ee, Wumbles" sometimes, just like she does when tea's ready. The
book was published in 1973 and cost the grand sum of 35p. Those were
the days. The Womble philosophy is more popular than ever now, although
"making good use of the things that they find, the things that the
everyday folk leave behind" has fancier names now, repurposing,
recycling, upcycling and the like. I found this book on the sofa, the
middle boy is reading it, and I'm happy that he likes the gentler
stories, as well as some of the more action-packed stuff he also reads.
Upstairs
there's Lego. A while back, in a frenzy of decluttering, I nearly got
rid of the tin of old Lego from my childhood. I've no idea what I was
thinking. It's a biscuit tin full of the pieces I played with over and
over again when I was little, making houses and a little milk float,
complete with blue milk bottles.
And check out those biscuits! Oh life was good.
I
must have made this house twenty times or more. I think I wanted to
live in a house like this one day. I loved it. Thank goodness I didn't
give it all away. It's a tin full of memories.
The
middle boy is a huge Lego fan, but this week all of them have been
happily building things. I love to see their happy imaginings.
Also
up there is another tin ("Biscuits for Cheese" this time), filled with
my old plastic Mecchano. More classic stuff that they still love today.
Party planning
doesn’t have to be as painful as stepping on a piece of Lego. In fact,
we’ve made it super-simple with everything you need for nibbles, sweets,
decorations and more.
Lego Cake
You
can either make multiple cakes and place them near each other, or if
you’re more confident, give your stacking stills a go. Find the tutorial
on how to make this cake here.
For nibbles – Lego Sandwiches
Make
everything awesome with Lego sandwiches. The best part? They’re
super-simple to make and will satisfy even the fussiest eaters. Find
filling ideas here.
For drinks – Lego Juice Boxes
Cover juice boxes so they look like Lego bricks. You can either draw your own or print onto coloured paper. Find the template here.
For sweets – Lego Cake Pops
Blow your guests’ minds with Lego cake pops. Not only are they adorable but they taste great too. You can find the recipe here.
Decorating – Lego style
Cover
a tissue box with wrapping paper, cut a few holes, and put plastic cups
in them. These are terrific for displaying snack foods like pretzels,
lollies, and more. Find the full instructions here.
Lego Invitations
Make invitations using coloured card stock, a one inch hole punch, and 3D foam tape. Find the full instructions here.
Lego Party Bag
Lastly,
send your guests home with these Lego-themed goodie bags. Use a circle
maker to cut the circles, then affix them to colorful bags.
The Master At Work: Daniel at home working on his Lego models.
Daniel
says this is how it started: He and a friend were kind of tipsy one
night, and they ended up in a Toys ‘R Us (Don’t ask questions. Just keep
reading). They found themselves in the Lego aisle. They had a credit
card.
Fast forward a few months: Daniel has fashioned a La Marzocco Linea out of Legos. He’s made a Spirit. And he made a mini San Marco lever.
One version of the Linea.
Another version of the Linea, and the San Marco lever.
The Kees van der Westen Spirit.
And then he decided to go bigger.
“I thought, what if I made the Blue Bottle
at the Mint out of Legos?” Daniel says, like it’s a rational musing.
But thank goodness he did. It’s pretty genius—check it out.
It took Daniel around 100 hours to complete the Blue Bottle
Mint café. He used to work there, which is why he had such a good sense
of the place and how everything fit together in the famous shop.
The busy interior of the Blue Bottle cafe at the Mint Plaza in San Francisco.
Have you ever been to the Blue Bottle cafe at the Mint? Then you’ll find this as eerily amazing as I do.
Daniel says his next project is to work on the exterior of the Mint cafe.
Daniel
is particularly proud of the dish area in his Blue Bottle Mint cafe
model. Having worked in this cafe for a long time, he knows the area
well.
Notícia sugerida por Patrícia Guedes
Fornecimento
de comida e abrigo para as vítimas de um desastre natural é uma das
primeiras prioridades para os serviços de emergência, mas o processo
muitas vezes pode gerar um monte de desperdício desnecessário. Para
ajudar a resolver este problema, o UNICEF desenvolveu um reutilizável
incrível tijolo LEGO inspirado
que funciona como um recipiente de armazenamento de alimentos e
material de construção, abordando múltiplas necessidades em uma só
penada. Leia mais para ver mais fotos deste objeto inteligente
projetado por Psychic de fábrica !
Os
tijolos possuem dois compartimentos - um que tem o arroz e outra que
contém água. Uma vez que estes sinais vitais foram consumidos, os
tijolos são, então, preenchido com terra e areia para dar-lhes peso e
empilhadas como tijolos de lego em abrigos temporários que dá sinistrados alívio dos elementos. No entanto, toda a embalagem, que possa ter sido usado para fornecer água potável
e alimento são poupados, bem como a dor de cabeça de abastecimento e
distribuição. E a melhor parte? Quando esta área se recupera, os
tijolos podem ser reutilizadas em outro lugar!
Via PFSK
por socokitty5
04 de fevereiro de 2013 às 15:24
Dia dos Namorados não é apenas para nós humanos - Minifigures LEGO também estão encontrando maneiras de mostrar amor.
Você pode criar um (familiar) Valentine foto sua Minifigure? Mostre-nos!
Este Dia dos Namorados, ReBrick está se unindo com a página de LEGO no Facebook , Pinterest , Instagram , Twitter e Google + de convidá-lo para compartilhar suas fotos de Minifigures no amor. Entre hoje e 14 de fevereiro dia
, compartilhar suas fotos no canal de mídia social de sua escolha com
as hash tags # # LEGO Valentim. Vamos compilar o melhor em uma galeria ReBrick para compartilhar em 14 de fevereiro dia !
Por
favor, note que qualquer marcador que é inapropriado, vulgar, ou
encontram-se em violação das regras do site serão removidos.
Mantenha-caras limpas.
Envie
suas fotos sobre o canal que deseja, apenas certifique-se de usar as
tags # # LEGO Valentine de hash para que possamos encontrá-los e
compartilhá-los com a comunidade LEGO!
A feira de brinquedos alemã acabou e no fim de semana mais galerias de imagens apareceram na web.
We’ve seen and shared LEGO cameras
before, but never before today have we seen a camera made from a single
2×2 stud LEGO brick. That, however, is what a Colorado State student
recently managed to create.
Ryan Howerter is a graphic design student at CSU, and he was inspired to create the teeny LEGO pinhole camera after he learned about this pinenut pinhole camera named the Pinholo.
“Being a fan of Lego bricks, I had to carry this idea to its logical conclusion,” he told CNET. And that’s just what he did.
Here’s a closer look at the camera and that photo of a tree the little guy up top is holding:
You can create this yourself, of course. In the description on his Flickr profile, Howerter describes the simple camera:
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