Museum brings Lego building event, contest online
Its inaugural Lego brick building event was so popular last year that the National Museum of the American Sailor at the
Naval Station Great Lakes is bringing it back.
This time however, it will be a virtual event featuring demonstrations of building a Navy ship, Blue Angel plane, U.S Navy armored vehicle and a historic building at Naval Station Great Lakes — all out of Lego.
From 10 a.m. to noon Sept. 19, participants can watch Lego building, build along at home and show their creations through Zoom. A master builder also will show his Navy-themed creations, providing advice to beginners. Kids will then have a week to create their own Navy-designed Lego pieces to enter into an online contest by Sept. 25.
Contest participants will submit a registration form with photos of their designs to nmas.fct@navy.mil.
All it takes is a home collection of Lego — 20 or 30 of any color will do — the ability to use Zoom, and some creative spirit.
Brick to Brick, an event featuring shipbuilding with Lego, was founded by Hampton Roads Naval Museum in 2012. “We brought Brick to Brick to Great Lakes last year and we had more than 400 people attend,” said Tricia Menke, curator of education at the National Museum of the American Sailor. “We also had a large number of entries into the competition — we ended up giving out nine different prizes in four different age groups.
“People really enjoyed having the opportunity to not only build some ships that were based on Navy ships but also learn a bit more about those ships,” she said. Sailors also talked to the youngsters about being on a ship. “The sailors won’t be with us this year,” Menke said. “So we’re going to pull from our sister museums to dive deep into what it’s like to be a Navy sailor and what it’s like to build with Legos.”
During the two-hour online event, a Hampton Roads staff member will build the USS Zumwalt, a guided missile destroyer. Participants will also learn about the ship’s history.
Participants also can watch a live building of a Blue Angels plane out of Lego. “Everybody loves the Blue Angels,” Menke said. “If they don’t have all blue Legos, they can certainly build a red angel.”
Compared with the live event, in the online format, “We can talk more about the history and show actually photographs of a Blue Angel plane or ship,” Menke said. Participants can also watch recorded session of the construction of a mine resistant armor protected vehicle with Lego by the United States Navy Seabee Museum.
“Seabees are the construction battalion of the Navy,” Menke said. “They tend to be on land. We’re not just talking about ships this year, but anything the Navy might need to get its work accomplished.” In between demonstrations, children can use their own Lego bricks to build whatever Navy-inspired design they’d like. “There will be images of Navy ships and vehicles on the screen for inspiration. We’ll ask people to hold up their design. Whatever they created in 15 minutes, they can hold up to their camera,” Menke said.
One of the oldest and most iconic buildings at Naval Station Great Lakes will be built out of Lego bricks during the event.
“We’ll be talking about boot camp, what it means to sailors, what it was like in early days, what it’s like today and why all our enlisted sailors begin their career at Naval Stations Great Lakes. We’re trying to give a full picture of what it means to be in the Navy, everything from boot camp to being on a ship, to being a naval aviator and being a Navy Seabee.
“Master builder Dave Colamaria will end the virtual event describing how he designs and builds huge ship models out of Legos. Youngsters can submit via online registration a Navy-themed Lego creation by Sept. 25 for a chance to win prizes and be featured on the museum’s Facebook page. Museum staff and volunteers will choose first and second place designs in various age groups. Fans will choose their favorites from the Facebook pages.
“We’re asking them to use the Legos the have at home,” Menke said. “We don’t them to use prefabricated kits — we want them to be creative and come up with own design.”
The free event requires advanced registration to obtain the Zoom link.