Lego helps build a love of literacy
Using Lego to get children interested in reading is working a treat at one Taranaki library.
New Plymouth’s Puke Ariki is running a Lego Literacy Club on Wednesday afternoons. The group helps to engage children with reading, as they read a story and then have a challenge to build something related to it out of the little plastic building blocks.
On one occasion they read the story of the three little pigs, and then had a challenge to build a fourth, wolf-proof house for a cousin that was coming to stay.
Puke Ariki marketing and communications manager Polly Catlin-Maybury said it helped make stories relevant to the kids.
‘‘It’s about helping them to connect with books through something they like doing...reading stories and getting them to think about it.’’
She said they had a good mix of boys and girls in the classes.
‘‘Boys are really hard to get into reading, yet you will find boys connect with Lego really easily. It’s about finding a way to help them learn.’’
There are two groups running on alternate weeks for term two – Master Builders for ages 9-12 and Lego Juniors for ages 5-8. All spaces are full.
Catlin-Maybury said it helped connect kids across cultures.
‘‘Lego’s just such a universal language. It’s everywhere. We have a lot of immigrants here in New Plymouth but they can come to a club like this and sit down with another kid and find that connection through the Lego.’’
They also wanted to engage kids with the library early on in life, and show them it was about more than just reading books, she said.
Nine-year-old Charlotte Flood was making a maze after the story, trying to make it so someone would get lost halfway through.
‘‘It’s going to be really confusing,’’ she said.
She really enjoyed the Lego Literacy Club.
‘‘You can do your own thing without anybody telling you what to do. It’s fun to create different types of things.’’
Catlin-Maybury said they plan to take the sessions around the community libraries, starting with Waitara Library during the next school holidays. Bookings are essential.