HOW IT STARTED

There are many libraries that now host a Lego Club for kids and I wanted to jump on the bandwagon! I had a conversation with a patron who was talking about her son and how he wasn’t really into sports and was very quiet. I told her I was thinking about starting a Lego club at the library and she loved the idea because her son loves Legos. I advertised for donations and a few trickled in. The Friends of the Library bought a few larger boxes and some green base plates. Everyone wanted to know when the first meeting would be and I said I didn’t know because we didn’t have enough Legos to start! Finally I just decided to set a date and see what happened.

ADVICE FROM THE EXPERTS

I sent out a plea for advice on how to structure the club. What ages? How long? Can they bring their own Legos? Should each meeting have a theme? Etc. I received so many emails from other Children’s Librarians in the state about how they run their programs – it was great. They had some great advice, tips and they told me what HAD NOT worked. The best tip I received was from a wonderful Children’s Librarian in the North Shore: a king-sized sheet to spread under the Legos to make cleanup easier. This probably saved me 20 minutes of cleanup time, no joke. I would have been crawling around on my hands and knees for a long, long time. Thank you!!

THE WAY IT WORKS

I decided to have the club for ages 6 & older, but younger kids could come with an adult. There would be a “Lego Challenge” written on the board but would not be required, just a guideline for kids who might want to do it. I bought a few Lego books to put out and I subscribed to the Lego Magazine – they send a bunch to teachers and librarians for free – so everyone who came to the meeting would get a copy to keep. I bought a sheet to spread out on the rug. I would explain to the kids that they could dump out the Legos onto the sheet and ask that they try to keep most of the Legos on the sheet. I also would put out small bins on the floor for kids who wanted to fill them up with Legos and build at the tables. I also had a survey for parents with ages of interested kids and which days & times worked best. I now have Lego Club twice a month, on the 2nd Tuesday and 4th Thursday from 4-5 pm. It seems confusing, but this seemed to be the only way for everyone to get to at least one meeting a month.

THE FIRST MEETING

The first meeting was during April vacation week. I figured this way kids would be looking for something to do and might come. I ended up with about 35 people! A few parents, about 3 girls and the rest ALL BOYS. It was amazing. Plus, once I set a date, I received TONS of Lego donations. And they were all extremely well-behaved. I was walking around the room and wondering what was going on – why were almost 30 boys (ranging in ages 4-12) being so quiet? They were completely concentrating on building. Legos may actually have magic powers. The “Lego Challenge” was to build a robot and some did, but most did whatever they wanted. I explained to them that they could not bring home what they made, but that I would display their creations in the Children’s Room with their name. (Only a couple younger kids had some trouble with this.) Also, the older kids did not seem to have any problem building next to younger ones. And clean-up was VERY EASY with a couple helpers and the sheet!

WRAP-UP

Basically, this is an easy program once you have your donations and figure out how it will work. The kids have been great so far. The second program I had around 44 people and my most recent one was about 25. And the parents are very supportive too. The creations are displayed for about a week and a half, which also advertises for the club, and then my staff breaks them apart to be used for the next meeting.

If you have any questions, just ask!