June 30, 2014

Some toys just feed the imagination

Watching my great-nephew Sam proudly displaying his latest Lego creation the other day made me think back to a time when a couple other little boys used to delight in spending endless hours with their Legos.

Most of Sam's models are Star Wars-themed and the seven-year old boy carefully followed the intricate directions to complete them.  When my sons were his age, they used to delight in dumping the numerous boxes filled with plastic pieces onto the floor.  The carpets in the living room were literally awash in a sea of red, white and blue parts. They would play with their Legos for hours at a time and never seemed to tire of the game.

Son #1 and his best friend loved constructing race cars.  Then they would hold a smash up derby and destroy what they'd built.  Son #2 delighted in stretching his creative limits to devise any number of fantastical machines.  The possibilities were always limitless and the best part was that they never tired of the game.

Perhaps these beloved toys have been around so long because one just never tires of the infinite possibilities that spill out of the box when its opened.  Personally I love them because they encourage creative and analytical thinking, demand dexterity and determination, and they're just plain fun.

Best of all, I think that playing with Legos teaches you one of the greatest lessons:  If you can imagine it, you can build it.  And if you build it, do it with careful attention, because at any moment it may crumble into pieces.  But if that happens, you just put the pieces back together again.  They might not all be in the same place, but things always find a way of coming together in the end.