4 year old not into LEGO?

[Anonymous]

Mine loves playing with LEGO airplanes, trucks, etc. once assembled, and he finds it funny when some pieces break off and we have to put them back together, but he's also not that interested in constructing tings creatively. He just wants to play with LEGO toys. It'll come. I'm not worried.

[Anonymous]

Ha - really don't worry so much. It's funny because my now 6 year old Kindergartner was never really into them either and still isn't. Once in a while he'll engage, especially if a friend is doing it - but it is definitely not his first choice and never has been. He was just tested at school and scored in the 99% for math - it's his strong suit and he loves math. So, no correlation it seems here!

[Anonymous]

My kid hated legos due to a fine-motor delay and is doing great in math so far. Interestingly though, when the teacher just showed us his end-of-year assessment, the only questions he could not get required visual-spatial skills: draw the triangles in a hexagon, things like that. So I assume that that is not one of his strong points, which is probably all tied in with the fine motor delay and lack of interest in puzzles/building toys. But, he's doing fine in math otherwise and really enjoys it!

[Anonymous]

I have a PhD and school was always super easy for me. I also always hated puzzles and legos ad do all of my kids

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Jesus H. Christ, the crap some people find to worry about.

This was my thought too.

I mean, what if your child isn't great at math? Would your head just explode?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DS is 4 years old and has never been into LEGO or really any building toys/activities (blocks, duplo, magnatiles, etc.). If he receives a set, he'll engage in assembling it with assistance, but he has no interest in spending time creating things. FWIW, he's not a huge fan of puzzles, either, though he can do them. Loves pretend play, still loves his cars, train sets, action figures, all things super hero, riding his scooter. He's doing well in preschool, though has lagged a bit with fine motor so I assume this could be part of it, and at 3 we learned he was extremely farsighted so needed glasses, which could have played a role as well (though that should be resolved by now). I know all kids are different, but with such an emphasis on building toys these days I feel like we're a bit of a failure....and of course I fear he is doomed to a life of sucking at math. Anyone with a reassuring story about their non-LEGO loving kid?

Absolutely NOT a problem. The LEGO type of blocks are very limiting at this age and many kids find them very frustrating, it is very rigid and limiting way of thinking that comes with this type of structure building and truly creative kids just don't care much about them. Truly creative kid thinks outside the blocks and box that the Legos force them to think into.
A creative kid will take a tape and sticks and a paper and glue and will make truly magnificent structure in quarter of the time the boring lego blocks would take. The true art and creation are within the artist and architect and not within the blocks.

What the Lego does is tells your kid,.. here use those bricks and build something that someone before you decided you have to build. How is this creative?

Don't worry about this. This is truly limiting medium and your kid can go very far in the world that is full of forms that are not so predesigned. Think free spirit. Lego to the mind is like painting by numbers to art. Imagine what would David look like if Michealangelo has been given a task of using only small cubes of Marble.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Jesus H. Christ, the crap some people find to worry about.

This was my thought too.

I mean, what if your child isn't great at math? Would your head just explode?

Actually.. most kids who are really brilliant at math do hate Lego.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have a PhD and school was always super easy for me. I also always hated puzzles and legos ad do all of my kids

Yep.. Lego is so limiting.

[Anonymous]

Playmobil is so much fun. It has SOME minimal elements of blocks but 90 percent of it is ready made figures that a kid can start working with right of the bet.

Lego seem like invention for kids who can not create on their own.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Jesus H. Christ, the crap some people find to worry about.

Right?!?!? I don't know whether to be jealous or amazed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DS is 4 years old and has never been into LEGO or really any building toys/activities (blocks, duplo, magnatiles, etc.). If he receives a set, he'll engage in assembling it with assistance, but he has no interest in spending time creating things. FWIW, he's not a huge fan of puzzles, either, though he can do them. Loves pretend play, still loves his cars, train sets, action figures, all things super hero, riding his scooter. He's doing well in preschool, though has lagged a bit with fine motor so I assume this could be part of it, and at 3 we learned he was extremely farsighted so needed glasses, which could have played a role as well (though that should be resolved by now). I know all kids are different, but with such an emphasis on building toys these days I feel like we're a bit of a failure....and of course I fear he is doomed to a life of sucking at math. Anyone with a reassuring story about their non-LEGO loving kid?

Absolutely NOT a problem. The LEGO type of blocks are very limiting at this age and many kids find them very frustrating, it is very rigid and limiting way of thinking that comes with this type of structure building and truly creative kids just don't care much about them. Truly creative kid thinks outside the blocks and box that the Legos force them to think into.
A creative kid will take a tape and sticks and a paper and glue and will make truly magnificent structure in quarter of the time the boring lego blocks would take. The true art and creation are within the artist and architect and not within the blocks.

What the Lego does is tells your kid,.. here use those bricks and build something that someone before you decided you have to build. How is this creative?

Don't worry about this. This is truly limiting medium and your kid can go very far in the world that is full of forms that are not so predesigned. Think free spirit. Lego to the mind is like painting by numbers to art. Imagine what would David look like if Michealangelo has been given a task of using only small cubes of Marble.

I take it you don't know much about Legos. You know you can buy boxes of them, not just kits for a specific thing, right? I had a bucket of them as a kid, and played with them for hours, figuring out how to make the thing in my head out of the blocks. My kid also plays with them all the time, and she absolutely uses her imagination to build things without Lego plans or instructions--she particularly likes building houses and furniture for her small toy figures, or parks, or who knows what else. "Truly creative kids" can use Legos like any other material. You can reassure the OP without making sweeping, and wrong, generalizations about a toy that many kids enjoy a lot.

[Anonymous]

Op here. Thanks for all the responses. I don’t think my head would explode if he’s bad at math but I’d be a little sad for his sake that this is a struggle...and yes, of course, there are more worthy concerns but I’m just trying to understand my kid. I feel like, as the parent of a preschooler, you can’t swing a dead cat without encountering an article or some insights on how crucial building activities are for development, and it's certainly pushed in school as well, but I can’t find much about when your kid just won’t do it. It also seems to have (minor) social implications... When his preschool posts pictures of indoor playtime, the boys are always swarmed around the LEGO (I’m going to keep calling it LEGO now) table - but not my son. Also can’t be a shared interest on play dates. Not the end of the world but just seems a little aberrant. He is and will be my only so I do tend to sweat the small stuff, probably more than I should. Anyway, thanks again.

[Anonymous]

Interesting regarding preschool. My two kids were at different preschools and I don’t think either had legos (or if they did, it wasn’t emphasized). I certainly don’t recall “building things” being particularly emphasized. There are many other toys/activities that kids can bond over.

Signed,
A quantitative finance person who was never good at (and never liked) legos.