The Big Lego Book

We were getting all nostalgic about Lego at the agency a few days ago, and the day after Wolfgang brought in “Das große Lego-Buch”.  As someone who grew up in an era when Lego came with glossy step-by-step manuals, and was getting marketing savvy doing stuff like licensing themes from movies, this book was illuminating. It started by giving kids a loose narrative (it began on a rainy day…) and takes them on a journey to ports, farms, train stations and finally “building the new world”.

And it makes you wonder what we’re doing to our toys that once encouraged creativity, overactive imaginations and exuberant invention. There was an article on fastcodesign about fostering creativity play with great points about open-ended play, and the importance of ambiguity, complexity, and improvisation. And as play goes more digital, will future generations creativity be stifled by the parameters of a game? Food for thought…