- The FIRST LEGO League Discover programme is a joint venture between Leicester City in the Community and The Institution of Engineering and Technology
- The scheme has proved to be a big hit with school children from four Leicester-based primary schools
- Children are encouraged to be creative and design their own masterpieces out of LEGO and DUPLO bricks
- So far, more than 180 school children have been a part of the programme, which is designed to develop STEM skills
The programme - running since March - is designed to develop STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) skills and enjoyment in children from an early age through creative and collaborative play time.
Four Leicester primary schools from the Lionheart Academy Trust take part: Highcliffe, Brocks Hill, Riverside and Hallam Fields.
Some 180 Year 1 pupils across the four schools participate in the 10-week initiative, and further schools have expressed their interest for the next academic year.
The theme for the 2021 season is ‘playmakers’, all about designing and building things to help people stay active and healthy through sport and exercise, with a focus on accessibility and inclusion for everyone.
Participants have been making their own sport stadiums, obstacle courses and treehouses and explaining how people of all ages and abilities can use what they’ve built.
As well as developing their engineering skills, the programme has strong links to the school curriculum through science, numeracy and literacy elements, as well as developing more general skills such as creativity, communication, teamwork and resilience.
Each session starts with a game or challenge using bricks that aim to develop different skills such as memory, quick reflexes and problem-solving.
As part of the programme, each child also gets to take home a box of their own DUPLO to keep, so that they can then teach these games to their own friends and family.
Every child will get a chance to show off what they have learned and receive certificates in a celebration event upon completion of the programme.
Two Year 1 classes at Oadby-based Brocks Hills Primary School take part, taught by Kate Taylor, who said the programme has got her year group excited for each session.
“In the first session, the children were mostly working on their own, but now there is much more collaboration and teamwork happening,” she commented.
“Quite often, they will work on different aspects of a project independently and them combine them at the end to make something big and spectacular.
“In some of the sessions, the children also get to draw and label what they have been building in their engineering notebooks.
“The children always say that they look forward to ‘LEGO day’.”
Dr. Alex Evans, STEM Coordinator at Leicester City in the Community, has explained about the big impact the LEGO Discover programme has made from the few sessions that have been running so far.
He said: “The range of creativity I see every week is awe-inspiring. The session structure is focused enough to help guide them towards shared goals, but flexible enough to let them fully express their imagination.”
“The LEGO Discover programme has reached 180 children in Leicester so far since April and this is just the start!”
Lucy Owen, IET FIRST LEGO League Education Manager, commented on the purpose of the FIRST LEGO League Discover.
“FIRST LEGO League Discover allows young people to experience engineering in action as well as bringing excitement to STEM subjects," Lucy said.
“Children aged four to six get hands-on experience with designing innovative solutions to real-world problems and developing vital key habits of learning.
“There is a great need for young people with STEM skills to fill the next generation of engineering roles.
“We are excited to work in partnership with Leicester City in the Community, who are developing even more bright young engineering minds by delivering FIRST LEGO League Discover to local schools in Leicester.”