LEGO

One of my boys favorite toys of all time are Lego Bricks. Actually Legos is one of my favorite toys too. A box of Lego bricks has absolutely endless possibilities. It can be so much fun to build anything that pops into your head using a box of the colorful interlocking bricks. Lego sells both boxes of assorted Legos and sets with directions to follow. My sons and I love playing with both.

Lego was started by a carpenter named Ole Kirk Christiansen in Billund Denmark. He began making wooden toys in 1932. In the 1940's they started making plastic toys as well. In 1949 the famous Lego Bricks were born. Legos were actually based on Hillary Page of Kiddicraft's idea and patent from 1939. Christiansen bought the rights to the patent and started making his own Lego Bricks. At the time plastic toys were considered cheap and few people would buy them. In 1954 Godtfred the son of Ole Christiansen was talking with a buyer and realized the true potential of selling the Lego Bricks as a creative building system. He worked on getting the bricks perfect. So that they could more easily lock together without coming apart until the user tries to take them apart. He experimented with different plastics and molds. On January 28th 1958 the Lego Brick was perfect. Even todays Lego bricks work fine with them.

Lego got its name from the Danish phrase leg godt which means play well. The LEGO companies motto is "Only the best is good enough".

Recently Disney and Lego have gotten together to make an awesome new Lego set. Toy Story Lego Sets are now available and my boys are pretty excited about them. We have watched the movies tons of times and can't wait for the third one to be released. So the Lego sets will have to tide us over for now.

I am amazed at all of the great artists that work with Legos. Whether it is a stop motion animator making a cool youtube video. Or a sculptor that works with colored Lego bricks. They have all found great outlets for their creativity and love of Lego. Last week at our local mall, the LEGO Store had a LEGO Master come and make an 8 foot tall pirate with all of the kids. 

In 2005 The Lego Star Wars video game was released and it was an enormous hit. Soon two more Lego Star Wars games were released for the various video game systems. The games are great. They offer numerous characters, large levels and are a lot of fun. The games have great repeat value because you can play in both a story mode and a free play mode. After you complete each story you can go back into the level and collect anything you might have missed. The games have very funny scenes that kind of parody the movies between the levels. Lego has also made additional games for Batman and Indiana Jones. My boys and I love all of the games.