A construction set is a standardized piece assortment allowing for the construction of various different models. Construction sets are most often marketed as toys . Popular construction toy brands include Lincoln Logs and LEGO .
75-831: Lego ( / ˈ l ɛ ɡ oʊ / , LEG -oh ; Danish: [ˈle̝ːko] ; stylised as LEGO ) is a line of plastic construction toys manufactured by the Lego Group , a privately held company based in Billund , Denmark . Lego consists of variously coloured interlocking plastic bricks made of acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) that accompany an array of gears , figurines called minifigures , and various other parts. Its pieces can be assembled and connected in many ways to construct objects, including vehicles, buildings, and working robots. Assembled Lego models can be taken apart, and their pieces can be reused to create new constructions. The Lego Group began manufacturing
150-533: A Master Model Builder creates, with the help of volunteers—a larger-than-life Lego statue, which is then displayed at the new store for several weeks. Since around 2000, the Lego Group has been promoting "Lego Serious Play", a form of business consultancy fostering creative thinking, in which team members build metaphors of their organizational identities and experiences using Lego bricks. Participants work through imaginary scenarios using visual three-dimensional Lego constructions, imaginatively exploring possibilities in
225-547: A children's toy, there have also been adult fans of the toys. In 2020, Lego introduced sets aged at 18+, generally some of their more expensive and difficult-to-assemble sets based on real world or fictional objects, such as the Concorde or Rivendell . The timing of these sets favorably aligned with the COVID-19 pandemic , with many adults purchasing these sets to work on during various lockdown periods. Popularity within adults
300-470: A common sentiment, Lego toys seem to have become a significant exception to the dislike of plastic in children's toys, due in part to the high standards set by Ole Kirk. By 1954, Christiansen's son, Godtfred , had become the junior managing director of the Lego Group. It was his conversation with an overseas buyer that led to the idea of a toy system. Godtfred saw the immense potential in Lego bricks to become
375-665: A cylindrical head and a tapered, limbless body, similar in design to Fisher-Price 's Little People . Another new brick was a half arch. The new sets included figures, doors, and two-by-six brick wagons that could act as a car or train. The name Duplo was brought back in 1979, along with a new reworked logo. Some brick sets were sold inside a plush version of the rabbit from the logo, that zipped closed. In 1983, other Duplo figures appeared, often called Duplo people. These figures have moveable heads, arms, and legs and look like large Lego minifigures , but cannot be taken apart, making them safer for small children. Also in 1983, set number 2700
450-502: A doll house and princess castle are available. Some Duplo sets have cars, trucks, and buildings which cannot be disassembled. Some DUPLO sets do not include building manuals. Lego Duplo is manufactured at a factory in Nyíregyháza, Hungary. Over 90% of all Duplo elements are manufactured at the plant, alongside traditional Lego bricks. Csaba Tóth, Communications Director, commented, "Every year, about 14 million Duplo boxes come out of
525-528: A height of 149 cm (60 in), which makes it the tallest set and tower but the second in number of parts after the World Map. The company also initiated a robotics line of toys called 'Mindstorms' in 1999, and continued to expand and update this range until it was eventually discontinued in 2022. The roots of the product originated with a programmable brick developed at the MIT Media Lab , and
600-399: A large fan community based around building competitions and custom creations, and a range of films , games , and eight Legoland amusement parks have been developed under the brand. The Lego Group began in the workshop of Ole Kirk Christiansen (1891–1958), a carpenter from Billund , Denmark, who began making wooden toys in 1932. In 1934, his company came to be called "Lego", derived from
675-410: A major influence, and his son John Lloyd Wright invented the widely-known Lincoln Logs building set. In addition to teaching architectural concepts such as modularity and load-bearing construction, many architects credit construction set play as influencing their later design. Lego Duplo Lego Duplo (trademarked as DUPLO and stylised in the logo as duplo ) is a core product range of
750-400: A safe digital environment for children, including the protection of personal information and the heavy moderation of all uploaded user-generated content and communication. My Lego Network was a social networking site that involved items, blueprints, ranks, badges which were earned for completing certain tasks, trading and trophies called masterpieces which allowed users to progress to go to
825-639: A scale that would fit with the existing Lego System of Play, exploring 3:1 and 4:1 scales, but eventually settled on a 2:1 scale. In 1968, second-generation owner Godtfred Kirk Christiansen provided the idea of hollowing out the studs on the Duplo bricks to make them compatible with the system. Duplo is derived from the Latin word for "duplex", meaning double. Duplo bricks were introduced in 1969, in four colours: red, yellow, blue, and white. The following year, two more sets were added with blue and red wheel plates. In
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#1732775524035900-492: A serious form of play. Lego branched out into the video game market in 1997 by founding Lego Media International Limited , and Lego Island was released that year by Mindscape . After this Lego released titles such as Lego Creator and Lego Racers . After Lego closed down their publishing subsidiary, they moved on to a partnership with Traveller's Tales , and went on to make games like Lego Star Wars , Lego Indiana Jones , Lego Batman , and many more including
975-426: A shipment of bricks delivered by clone producer Qman was blocked from passing through German customs due to concerns over the potential infringement of Lego's intellectual property. The recipient toy retailer initiated an appeal for donations to import containers of Lego clones from China to Germany and donate them to children's homes, which received more than € 350,000 within a couple of weeks. First launched in 1996,
1050-406: A small four-wheeled wagon with two rows of six studs. With these new Duplo sets, Lego began targeting children 1 + 1 ⁄ 2 years old with the intention that when the children became older, their Duplo bricks could be used together with regular Lego bricks. In 1977, the Duplo name was dropped in favour of Lego Preschool. Small figures the size of two-by-two bricks were introduced, made up of
1125-492: A system for creative play, but the bricks still had some problems from a technical standpoint: Their locking ability was still limited, and they were not yet versatile. In 1958, the modern brick design was developed; ABS subsequently replaced cellulose acetate as the manufacturing material five years later. A patent application for the modern Lego brick design was filed in Denmark on 28 January 1958 and in various other countries in
1200-721: A television series titled Nexo Knights made its debut for the Lego Nexo Knights brand. An animated series titled Lego Elves was released in 2015 and another titled Lego Elves: Secrets of Elvendale was released in 2017 for the Lego Elves brand. In 2016, Lego Bionicle: The Journey To One was released for the Bionicle franchise and Lego Friends: The Power of Friendship for the Lego Friends brand. In June 2019, an animated series titled Lego City Adventures
1275-405: A tolerance of up to twenty micrometres to ensure the bricks remain connected. Human inspectors check the output of the moulds to eliminate significant variations in colour or thickness. According to the Lego Group, about eighteen bricks out of every million fail to meet the standard required. Lego factories recycle all but about 1 percent of their plastic waste from the manufacturing process. If
1350-613: A wave hit a cargo ship off the coast of Cornwall , England. Pieces have washed up over the ensuing decades, attracting attention from news outlets and social media. In May 2011, Space Shuttle Endeavour mission STS-134 brought 13 Lego kits to the International Space Station , where astronauts built models to see how they would react in microgravity , as a part of the Lego Bricks in Space program. In May 2013,
1425-465: A year. The claim was reiterated in 2012. In April 2023, Lego broke ground on its first manufacturing facility in the United States. The new carbon-neutral factory will be located near Richmond, Virginia. It will amount to over $ 1 billion in investment once completed in 2025. The 340 acre site will have rooftop and ground solar panels and an on-site 35-40 MW solar plant, generating the equivalent of
1500-602: Is 4,240 newtons . Since an average 2×2 Lego brick has a mass of 1.152 grams (0.0406 oz), according to their calculations it would take a stack of 375,000 bricks to cause the bottom brick to collapse, which represents a stack 3,591 metres (11,781 ft) in height. Private tests have shown several thousand assembly-disassembly cycles before the bricks begin to wear out , although Lego tests show fewer cycles. In 2018, Lego announced that it will be using bio-derived polyethylene to make its botanical elements (parts such as leaves, bushes and trees). The New York Times reported
1575-403: Is an official piece of Lego software for Mac OS X and Windows which allows users to create their own digital Lego designs. The program once allowed customers to order custom designs with a service to ship physical models from Digital Designer to consumers; the service ended in 2012. Since 1963, Lego pieces have been manufactured from ABS plastic. As of September 2008, Lego engineers use
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#17327755240351650-405: Is available as a free download and only features Lego-related content. It was designed to be a social network for children to be inspired, create and share their Lego builds, photos and videos with a like-minded community, whilst also providing Lego content in the form of product advertising, images, videos, campaigns and competitions. The app incorporates a variety of child safety features to provide
1725-537: Is to identify market trends and developments, including contact by the designers directly with the market; some are stationed in toy shops close to holidays, while others interview children. The second stage is the design and development of the product based on the results of the first stage. As of September 2008 the design teams use 3D modelling software to generate CAD drawings from initial design sketches. The designs are then prototyped using an in-house stereolithography machine. These prototypes are presented to
1800-1087: The Blackstone Group of New York while the remaining 30% is still held by Lego Group. There are also eight Legoland Discovery Centres , two in Germany, four in the United States, one in Japan and one in the United Kingdom. Two Legoland Discovery Centres opened in 2013: one at the Westchester Ridge Hill shopping complex in Yonkers , New York, and one at the Vaughan Mills in Vaughan , Ontario, Canada. Another opened at American Dream Meadowlands in East Rutherford, New Jersey , in 2021. The first Lego store to open anywhere in
1875-715: The CoCo Toy Company in Beijing for copyright infringement over its "Coko bricks" product. CoCo was ordered to cease manufacture of the products, publish a formal apology and pay damages. Lego sued the English company Best-Lock Construction Toys in German courts in 2004 and 2009; the Federal Patent Court of Germany denied Lego trademark protection for the shape of its bricks for the latter case. In 2005,
1950-553: The Danish phrase leg godt [lɑjˀ ˈkʌt] , which means "play well". In 1947, Lego expanded to begin producing plastic toys. In 1949 the business began producing, among other new products, an early version of the now familiar interlocking bricks, calling them "Automatic Binding Bricks". These bricks were based on the Kiddicraft Self-Locking Bricks, invented by Hilary Page in 1939 and patented in
2025-547: The NX CAD / CAM / CAE PLM software suite to model the elements. The software allows the parts to be optimised by way of mould flow and stress analysis . Prototype moulds are sometimes built before the design is committed to mass production. The ABS plastic is heated to 232 °C (450 °F) until it reaches a dough -like consistency. It is then injected into the moulds using forces of between 25 and 150 tonnes and takes approximately 15 seconds to cool. The moulds are permitted
2100-570: The 2004 spring catalogue, there was a reminder that Duplo was now called Explore, but that fall the well-known Duplo name was back yet again with a new rabbit logo designed to match the new elephant logo for the Lego Quatro range. Lego has made Duplo sets licensed with Bob the Builder and Thomas & Friends characters. Those Duplo ranges have been discontinued, but Duplo sets now include farm, zoo, town, castle, and pirate lines. As of 2008
2175-480: The Duplo range has expanded since then to include sets with figures, animals, cars, houses, and trains. Duplo products are manufactured in Nyíregyháza , Hungary . Before its introduction in 1969, The Lego Group investigated ways to produce safe, age-appropriate Lego bricks that were larger than traditional bricks to target young children aged one-and-a-half years and above. The company initially struggled to find
2250-699: The Lego Company sued Canadian company Ritvik Holdings Inc., which makes Mega Bloks , for trademark violation. However, the Supreme Court of Canada upheld Ritvik Holdings Inc.'s rights to sell its product . In 2010, the European Court of Justice ruled that the eight-peg design of the original Lego brick "merely performs a technical function [and] cannot be registered as a trademark." In 2020 and 2021, Lego sent cease and desist letters to small toy retailers and popular YouTubers in Germany. In 2021,
2325-405: The Lego website has developed over the years, and provides many extra services beyond an online store and a product catalogue. There are also moderated message boards that were founded in 2001. The site also includes instruction booklets for all Lego sets dating back to 2002. The Lego website features a social media app named Lego Life , which is designed for children under 13 years of age. The app
Lego - Misplaced Pages Continue
2400-550: The Nyíregyháza factory. For this, we inject 2 million Duplo cubes and Duplo parts a day". In 1995, Lego Duplo was the sponsor of the British children's preschool television series Tots TV on Children's ITV . In 2014, Lego Duplo made an appearance in The Lego Movie , as aliens built from Duplo bricks that threaten the citizens of Bricksburg. They reappear in the 2019 sequel, The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part , as
2475-553: The United Kingdom in 1940 before being displayed at the 1947 Earl's Court Toy Fair. Lego had received a sample of the Kiddicraft bricks from the supplier of an injection-molding machine that it purchased. The bricks, originally manufactured from cellulose acetate , were a development of the traditional stackable wooden blocks of the time. The Lego Group's motto , "only the best is good enough" ( Danish : det bedste er ikke for godt , literally "the best isn't excessively good")
2550-622: The United Kingdom to mark the opening of the games. For the 2016 Summer Olympics and 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro , Lego released a kit with the Olympic and Paralympic mascots Vinicius and Tom . One of the largest commercially produced Lego sets was a minifigure -scaled edition of the Star Wars Millennium Falcon . Designed by Jens Kronvold Fredericksen, it was released in 2007 and contained 5,195 pieces. It
2625-440: The activity of the muscle in the stump and send a signal to control movement in the attachment. A processing unit in the body of the prosthetic contained an engine compatible with Lego Mindstorms, which allowed the wearer to build an extensive range of customised, programmable limbs. Lego's popularity is demonstrated by its wide representation and usage in many cultural works, including books, films, and art. It has even been used in
2700-463: The barriers of being withdrawn and highly structured. Red and yellow Lego building blocks, which were manufactured between 1963 and 1981, can release carcinogenic cadmium when exposed to stomach acid in amounts exceeding today's limits about 10-fold. Construction sets can be categorized according to their connection method and geometry: Renowned architect Frank Lloyd Wright credited his childhood building blocks designed by Friedrich Fröbel as
2775-528: The bricks themselves, but as is common for trademarks , Lego group insists on the name being used as an adjective when referring to a product (as in "LEGO bricks"). Lego bricks have a reputation for causing pain when stepped on, often being humorously exaggerated as more extreme than that caused by even the worst injuries. The last significant patent for Lego bricks expired in 1978. Since then, competitors have produced blocks of similar dimensions and design that can be connected with Lego bricks. In 2002, Lego sued
2850-640: The classic themes that continue to the present day include Lego City (a line of sets depicting city life introduced in 1973) and Lego Technic (a line aimed at emulating complex machinery, introduced in 1977). Over the years, the company has licensed themes from numerous cartoon and film franchises and some from video games. These include Batman , Indiana Jones , Pirates of the Caribbean , Harry Potter , Star Wars , Marvel , Minecraft and Wicked . Although some of these themes, Lego Star Wars and Lego Indiana Jones, had highly successful sales,
2925-672: The classroom as a teaching tool. In the US, Lego Education North America is a joint venture between Pitsco, Inc. and the educational division of the Lego Group. In 1998, Lego bricks were one of the original inductees into the National Toy Hall of Fame at The Strong in Rochester , New York. "Lego" is commonly used as a mass noun ("some Lego") or, in American English , as a countable noun with plural "Legos", to refer to
3000-549: The company expressed in 2015 a desire to rely more upon their own characters and classic themes and less upon such licensed themes. Some sets include references to other themes such as a Bionicle mask in one of the Harry Potter sets. Discontinued sets may become a collectable and command value on the secondary market . For the 2012 Summer Olympics in London , Lego released a special Team GB Minifigures series exclusively in
3075-531: The company said it would aim to produce its bricks without using crude oil , by using recycled polyethylene terephthalate bottles, but in 2023 it reversed this decision, having found that this did not reduce its carbon dioxide emissions. Since the 1950s, the Lego Group has released thousands of sets with a variety of themes, including space , pirates , trains , (European) castle , dinosaurs , undersea exploration , and wild west , as well as wholly original themes like Bionicle and Hero Factory . Some of
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3150-435: The company's footprint that year was "about a million tons of carbon dioxide each year" and that it was investing about 1 billion kroner and hiring 100 people to work on changes. The paper reported that Lego's researchers "have already experimented with around 200 alternatives." In 2020, Lego announced that it would cease packaging its products in single-use plastic bags and would instead be using recyclable paper bags. In 2021,
3225-409: The construction toy Lego by The Lego Group , designed for children from 1 + 1 ⁄ 2 to 5 years old. Duplo bricks are twice the size of traditional Lego bricks in each of their three dimensions, making them easier to handle and less likely to be swallowed and choked on by younger children. Despite their size, they are still compatible with traditional Lego bricks. Initially launched in 1969,
3300-411: The earliest iteration of the product, the program would be uploaded to the programmable brick via an infrared transmitter, while in later versions this was achieved via Bluetooth or a USB cable. Unofficial programming languages that can be used with Lego Mindstorms programmable bricks have also been developed There have been several robotics competitions which used the Lego robotics sets. The earliest
3375-664: The early 1990s. As of March 2024, Lego operates 1031 retail shops, called Lego Stores, globally. The world's largest Lego store is located in Leicester Square , London. The U.S. stores include the Downtown Disney shopping complexes at Disneyland and Walt Disney World Resorts as well as in Mall of America in Bloomington , Minnesota. The opening of each new store is celebrated with a weekend-long event in which
3450-590: The end of a child's limb. Iko was the work of the Chicago-based Colombian designer Carlos Arturo Torres, and is a modular system that allows children to customise their own prosthetics with the ease of clicking together plastic bricks. Designed with Lego's Future Lab, the Danish toy company's experimental research department, and Cirec, a Colombian foundation for physical rehabilitation, the modular prosthetic incorporated myoelectric sensors that register
3525-529: The energy of powering 10,000 American homes. In December 2012, the BBC 's More or Less radio program asked the Open University 's engineering department to determine "how many Lego bricks, stacked one on top of the other, it would take for the weight to destroy the bottom brick?" Using a hydraulic testing machine, members of the department determined the average maximum force a 2×2 Lego brick can stand
3600-413: The entire project team for comment and testing by parents and children during the "validation" process. Designs may then be altered in accordance with the results from the focus groups . Virtual models of completed Lego products are built concurrently with the writing of the user instructions. Completed CAD models are also used in the wider organisation for marketing and packaging. Lego Digital Designer
3675-631: The following years. Lego: The Adventures of Clutch Powers was released on DVD in February 2010, a computer-animated film made by Tinseltown Toons. A computer-generated animated series titled Lego Ninjago: Masters of Spinjitzu began in January 2011 for the Lego Ninjago brand. Another television series titled Legends of Chima began in 2013 for the Legends of Chima brand. In December 2015,
3750-623: The former three countries and in Kladno in the Czech Republic . The Lego Group estimates that in five decades it has produced 400 billion Lego blocks. Annual production of the bricks averages approximately 36 billion, or about 1140 elements per second. According to an article in BusinessWeek in 2006, Lego could also be considered the world's number-one tyre manufacturer; the factory produces about 306 million small rubber tyres
3825-850: The fourth in Carlsbad , California, the fifth in Winter Haven , Florida, the sixth in Iskandar Puteri , Malaysia, the seventh in Dubai , United Arab Emirates, and the eighth in Nagoya , Japan. A ninth is planned to open in 2020 in Goshen , New York, United States, and a tenth in 2022 in Shanghai , China. On 13 July 2005, the control of 70% of the Legoland parks was sold for $ 460 million to
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#17327755240353900-562: The games use dice . In Lego Games, the dice are Lego, with Lego squares with symbols on Lego studs on the dice, surrounded by rubber. The games vary from simple to complex; some are similar to "traditional" board games, while others are completely different. The first official Lego film was the straight-to-DVD release of Bionicle: Mask of Light in 2003 developed by Creative Capers Entertainment and distributed by Miramax Home Entertainment . Several other straight-to-DVD computer-animated Bionicle sequels and Hero Factory movies were produced in
3975-553: The interlocking toy bricks in 1949. Moulding is done in Denmark, Hungary, Mexico, and China. Brick decorations and packaging are done at plants in the former three countries and in the Czech Republic. Annual production of the bricks averages approximately 36 billion, or about 1140 elements per second. One of Europe's biggest companies, Lego is the largest toy manufacturer in the world by sales. As of July 2015, 600 billion Lego parts had been produced. Lego maintains
4050-497: The largest model ever created, made of over 5 million bricks, was displayed in New York City; a one-to-one scale model of a Star Wars X-wing fighter . Other record breakers include a 34-metre (112 ft) tower and a 4 km (2.5 mi) railway. In February 2015, marketing consulting company Brand Finance ranked Lego as the "world's most powerful brand", overtaking Ferrari . While Lego has generally been considered
4125-746: The name was taken from a paper by Seymour Papert , a computer scientist and educator who developed the educational theory of constructionism , and whose research was at times funded by the Lego Group . The programmable Lego brick which was at the heart of these robotics sets underwent several updates and redesigns, with the last being called the 'EV3' brick, being sold under the name of Lego Mindstorms EV3. The set included various sensors such as touch, light, sound and ultrasonic waves, with several others being sold separately, including an RFID reader. The programmable brick could be programmed using official software available for Windows and Mac computers. In
4200-399: The next rank. The website had a built-in inbox which allowed users to send pre-written messages to one another. The Lego Network included automated non-player characters within called "Networkers", who were able to do things which normal users could not do, sending custom messages, and selling masterpieces and blueprints. The site also had modules which were set up on the user's page that gave
4275-578: The plastic cannot be re-used in Lego bricks, it is processed and sold on to industries that can make use of it. Lego, in 2018, set a self-imposed 2030 deadline to find a more eco-friendly alternative to the ABS plastic. Manufacturing of Lego bricks occurs at several locations around the world. Moulding is done in Billund , Denmark; Nyíregyháza , Hungary; Monterrey , Mexico; and most recently in Jiaxing , China. Brick decorations and packaging are done at plants in
4350-412: The players usually build the playing board out of Lego bricks and then play with Lego-style players. Examples of the games include "Minotaurus", in which players roll dice to move characters within a brick-build labyrinth, "Creationary", in which players must build something which appears on a card, or "Ramses Pyramid", in which players collect gems and climb up a customizable pyramid. Like many board games,
4425-402: The product catalogue for 1971, the sets were described as being for children from 1 to 2 years but were still sold mixed with Lego bricks, normally designed for ages 3 to 12. In 1972, the Duplo brick with two rows of two studs was introduced. In 1975, Duplo became its product brand, with five sets made up exclusively of Duplo bricks. New additions included a round-topped two-by-two stud brick and
4500-434: The same alien invaders, with the story picking up from the events of the previous film. In March 2020, a new theme park attraction was announced at Legoland Windsor Resort . The Duplo Dino Coaster was introduced as part of Duplo Valley, an area of the park designed for children aged five and under. The area also includes Duplo Valley Airport, which involves fully controllable helicopters. In October 2019, Lego Duplo World
4575-403: The subsequent few years. The Lego Group's Duplo product line was introduced in 1969 and is a range of blocks whose lengths measure twice the width, height, and depth of standard Lego blocks and are aimed towards younger children. In 1978, Lego produced the first minifigures, which have since become a staple in most sets. In 1997, more than five million Lego pieces were swept into the sea when
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#17327755240354650-502: The toy takes place at the Billund headquarters, where the company employs approximately 120 designers. The company also has smaller design offices in the UK , Spain , Germany , and Japan which are tasked with developing products aimed specifically at their respective national markets. The average development period for a new product is around twelve months, split into three stages. The first
4725-578: The user items, or that displayed picture compositions. My Lego network closed in 2015. Before My Lego Network, there were Lego Club Pages, which essentially held the same purpose, although the design lacked complex interaction. Merlin Entertainments operates eight Legoland amusement parks , the original in Billund , Denmark, the second in Windsor , England, the third in Günzburg , Germany,
4800-578: The very well-received Lego Marvel Super Heroes game, featuring New York City as the overworld and including Marvel characters from the Avengers , the Fantastic Four , the X-Men , and more. In 2014, Lego created a game based on The Lego Movie , due to its popularity. Lego Games launched in 2009, was a series of Lego-themed board games designed by Cephas Howard and Reiner Knizia in which
4875-682: The world was in Sydney, Australia, in 1984. Located in the Birkenhead Point Outlet Centre it was not only the first dedicated Lego retail outlet, but it also had displays including many iconic Australian items such as the Holden FJ, Sydney Harbour Bridge, and the Sydney Opera House as well as buildings from Amsterdam, dinosaurs and an English Village. Known as The LEGO Centre, Birkenhead Point, the store closed in
4950-599: The world. The international RoboCup Junior football competition involved extensive use of Lego Mindstorms equipment which was often pushed to its extreme limits. The capabilities of the Mindstorms range have also been harnessed for use in the Iko Creative Prosthetic System, a prosthetic limbs system designed for children. Designs for these Lego prosthetics allow everything from mechanical diggers to laser-firing spaceships to be screwed on to
5025-672: Was Botball , a national U.S. middle - and high-school competition stemming from the MIT 6.270 Lego robotics tournament. Other Lego robotics competitions include FIRST LEGO League Discover for children ages 4–6, FIRST LEGO League Explore for students ages 6–9 and FIRST Lego League Challenge for students ages 9–16 (age 9–14 in the United States, Canada, and Mexico). These programs have offered real-world engineering challenges to participants using LEGO-based robots to complete tasks. In its 2019–2020 season, there were 38,609 FIRST LEGO League Challenge teams and 21,703 FIRST LEGO League Explore teams around
5100-436: Was created in 1936. Christiansen created the motto, still used today, to encourage his employees never to skimp on quality, a value he believed in strongly. By 1951, plastic toys accounted for half of the company's output, even though the Danish trade magazine Legetøjs-Tidende ("Toy Times"), visiting the Lego factory in Billund in the early 1950s, wrote that plastic would never be able to replace traditional wooden toys. Although
5175-599: Was found in high school students. For children specifically, children who complete models using toy building blocks have much better spatial ability than children who do not complete such models. Spatial ability also predicts completion of models. Construction toy play is also beneficial for autistic children when both individual and group play with building blocks is incorporated. Autistic children who played with building blocks were motivated to initiate social contact with children their age, able to maintain and endure contact with those children, and were also able to surpass
5250-874: Was further pushed by the release of The Lego Movie and the reality series Lego Masters . By 2024, nearly 15% of the sets released in the U.S. were aimed for adult builders. Lego pieces of all varieties constitute a universal system. Despite variations in the design and the purposes of individual pieces over the years, each remains compatible in some way with existing pieces. Lego bricks from 1958 still interlock with those made presently, and Lego sets for young children are compatible with those made for teenagers. Six bricks of 2 × 4 studs can be combined in 915,103,765 ways. Each piece must be manufactured to an exacting degree of precision. When two pieces are engaged, they must fit firmly, yet be easily disassembled. The machines that manufacture Lego bricks have tolerances as small as 10 micrometres . Primary concept and development work for
5325-565: Was introduced with a model of a steam engine with two train cars. In 1986, a Duplo doll house with sliding doors was introduced. This included a Duplo people mother, father, and smaller child. In 1992, Duplo Toolo was introduced, which was a range of construction sets using screwdrivers and was aimed at children between the ages of three and six. 1993 brought a grey rail train system with a stop-and-start track. Later, two more train systems arrived. In 2005, Lego started selling Duplo trains themed after Thomas & Friends . In 1995, Duplo Primo
5400-544: Was launched, which is an educational game app that was designed to help children between the ages of two and five reach their key learning goals. It was developed by StoryToys in partnership with The Lego Group. The app has won several awards, including a 2020 Licensing International Award, a 2020 KAPI award at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, a 2021 Notable Children's Digital Media award from
5475-488: Was launched, which was a line aimed at children aged between 6 and 24 months. Most of the products in this line were not construction toys. Duplo Primo was later renamed Lego Primo. The name Duplo was dropped again in favour of Explore in 2002. The new brand name was used to emphasise the relationship between the bricks and the child's learning. Explore introduced four different ways of exploring play: explore being me; explore together; explore imagination and explore logic. In
5550-506: Was released for the Lego City brand. In 2021, an animated series titled Lego Monkie Kid was released to support the Lego brand of the same name. Construction set Construction toy play is beneficial for building social skills and building trust in others because it acts as a collaborative task where individuals have to cooperate to finish the task – building an object out of Lego , for example. The effect
5625-674: Was surpassed by a 5,922-piece Taj Mahal . A redesigned Millennium Falcon retook the top spot in 2017 with 7,541 pieces. Since then, the Millennium Falcon has been superseded by the Lego Art World Map at 11,695 pieces, the Lego Titanic at 9,090 pieces, and the Lego Architect Colosseum at 9,036 pieces. In 2022, Lego introduced its Eiffel Tower . The set consists of 10,000 parts and reaches
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