Legos @ the Library: How to Host Your Own LEGO Club
Kennedy Joseph (they/them) is the STEM Experiences Library Assistant at the Evanston Public Library.
Let me start this off by making one thing clear - LEGO clubs are nothing new. Initially, I modeled my LEGO club after The LEGO Librarian, who got their club from The Show Me Librarian. However, as you will read on to find out, I have now created my own programming model for LEGO club that works for my community. Please keep in mind that whatever works for my community, might not work for your community, and that is OKAY!
Take what you need and leave the rest!
LEGO clubs are great to get both kids and adults making. In this article, learn more about supplies, locations, set up, and impact.
Image by Markus Spiske from Pixabay.
Materials
Our library provides all the LEGO bricks. All of the LEGO bricks that our library owns have been gifted to us as donations from community members. Whether you put up a “CALL FOR DONATIONS” sign in your library, post it on social media, or even just ask around, asking for donations is probably the best way to curate a large selection of LEGO bricks. Generally, many families are always looking to get rid of stuff, especially unused toys and games, so they are more than happy to donate whenever the library asks for something. My LEGO club attendees are always asking if I need anymore bricks and I generally have to turn them down because I have so many already.
However, you can always buy them. Although it might be costly up-front, you can get them from a variety of retailers (LEGO, Walmart, Target, Barnes and Noble to name a few), so they are relatively easy to find and you can shop around to get the best price.
Here are some things that you should keep in mind if you plan on purchasing LEGO bricks for your program:
Start off with a few base sets. The base sets include hundreds of LEGO bricks of all shapes, sizes and colors. Don’t worry about not having “enough” of something as most people will make something cool out of whatever you can give them. LEGO club is all about imagination!
Get lots of people (or Minifigures if you want to use the proper term)! Everyone loves the LEGO people and many of my attendees are very attached to the Minifigures in their builds. However, this is the most expensive part as the base sets do not have people in them. You can buy sets of multiple Minifigures from LEGO. You can also buy some separate, limited-edition Minifigures from toy stores or department and craft stores like Kohl’s or Joann’s Fabrics.
Get some baseplates. Again, this is another thing that doesn’t come in the base set. However, they are a necessity for folks to use as a foundation. Not everyone will utilize them all the time, but they are great to have!
Keep in mind when using cheaper “substitute” bricks. When I first started my LEGO club, I could not tell the difference between an actual LEGO brick and a knockoff. They look almost identical, but I have learned the hard way that some of the knockoffs will not work with the OG LEGO bricks. They can also be flimsy and loose fitting, so keep that in mind and research these bricks to make sure they will work with your collection.
The Audience
I run two monthly LEGO clubs: LEGO Club for 3-5th Graders and LEGO Club for Grownups. The target audience for my programming is 3-5th graders (or “tweens”) as there tends to be a gap in programming for this age group in my community.
I know many libraries allow younger kids into their programming, which is great. The great thing about LEGO is that they truly are for everyone, but I tend to keep my programming like this age-specific because, like teenagers, tweens also need a separate space to foster independence, social connection, and critical thinking. They’re at this a transition point in their lives where they may feel too old for children’s services, but not yet old enough for teen programming, so age-specific programming is the perfect way to provide them a space to explore new interests with their peers.
The idea for LEGO Club for Grown Ups came from my LEGO Club for 3-5th Graders. My program partner and I noticed that after LEGO Club, many of the kids’ parents and caregivers were REALLY into their builds. Many of them would linger during the program, wanting to build with their kids, so we decided to craft a club just for grown ups! It was the perfect idea because, similarly to the lack of tween-specific programming, there is also a lack of fun, social programming for adults. So, we thought: “Why not do the same thing as the kids!? And better yet - let’s host it at a bar!”
The brewery where we run this program is family friendly, so often we do have families and kids taking a look at folks building, but LEGO Club for Grown Ups is only for adults ages 21 and up. And we always encourage folks to bring their friends or come to meet someone new!
We have had people bring their parents, their college-age kids that are home for break, and even their co-workers! Some library staff like to come as patrons if they’re free! We have demonstrated the club at my library’s Staff Development Day as an activity, too!
Location and Set-up
So, you did read that right! I do host my LEGO Club for Grown Ups at a bar! Well, I host it at our local brewery and it is actually one of our library’s greatest partnerships, too!
All we did was write up a venue request letter to ask if the brewery would host us and that was it! Personally, I have found that one of the best things about hosting a program like this outside of the library is that you reach so many more people!
Although it might seem daunting at first, hosting library events like LEGO Club at a bar, park or local community center is a great way to get out into the community and showcase all that your library has to offer, especially to those who aren’t already regularly coming into your building.
The set up for each of my LEGO clubs is the same. I set up two long tables with chairs surrounding each table (around 10-15 chairs per table). On those tables, we set down one craft tray per seat. Then we have two additional tables where we set out giant bins of LEGO bricks for folks to come and take back to their seats. I use about 3-4 of these bins and sort the LEGO bricks into them (One for people, one for flat bricks, one for wheels, one for trees, specialty bricks, etc).
The idea is that folks will load up their trays (you could also use paper bags) with LEGOS and go back to their seats to build. These bins are also super helpful for cleanup, so when folks are done, I just have them dump their builds into an empty bin and get some teen volunteers to sort them later!
Program Model
The best thing about running a LEGO Club is that once you’ve done it a few times, it basically runs itself.
To make things easier for myself and my program partner, we use the same activities for both the Kid and Adult Lego Clubs. It works surprisingly well, and the adults serve as test subjects for our kid group, especially since many of them are parents themselves.
Each program is one hour long and is broken into 4 parts.
Part 1 - Welcome (10 minutes)
Everyone is welcomed into the room and let folks get settled. They’re encouraged to grab a tray and free build until everyone arrives. For LEGO Club for Grown Ups, this time allows folks to get up and grab a drink, which takes a minute depending on how busy the brewery is. Once everyone is settled in, we go over the rules (No unkind language, no throwing or stealing bricks or breaking people’s builds, etc) and then discuss our warm up activities.
Part 2 - The Warm Up (varies; around 15-24 minutes)
We always open LEGO Club up with 2-3 timed, open-ended, building challenges to get everyone’s creative juices flowing. They’re usually super broad, so folks aren’t limited on what they can build. A few examples of challenges are:
Build something you can find in an airport
Build something you can find at the grocery store
Build a number
Build something using only one color
Build your favorite late night snack
We generally give folks between 5-8 minutes per challenge, depending on what they are. However, the sky's the limit with these warm ups and folks seem to have a lot of fun with. People are really creative when you give them something simple, so don’t worry about thinking of something complex. Sometimes we keep them in theme with our Main Challenge, but it really depends on how we’re feeling. While folks are building, we walk around and peek at what they’re doing.
Part 3 - The Main Challenge (20 minutes)
These challenges are a bit harder to plan. However, there are a bunch of places to go for inspiration. We mostly stick to The Lego Librarian’s archives for ideas, but we also just take ideas from our day-to-day and figure out a way to incorporate them into LEGO building.
For example, we had a luminary crafting program one night at the library and then we had folks build LEGO luminaries and put fake tea lights in them.
The LEGO Masters TV show that comes on FOX is also a great place to get inspiration as well!
However, we always let people know that they do not have to stick to the theme and are welcome to free-build, but most people tend to stick to the theme. It is also at this step that we encourage folks to either work with a partner if they would like to.
My program partner and I generally use this time to walk around and chat with people as they build, get to know them and ask them if they need anything.
Part 4 - Closing (10 minutes)
As folks begin finishing up their builds, one of us will walk around with an empty bin for their unused bricks. After they’re done, we take their trays and everyone will walk around to view everyone’s build in museum-gallery style. We usually use this time to thank people for coming and take pictures!
After everyone has had a chance to take a look at everything, we say our goodbyes and let folks know when to join us again. Our library does not store the builds anywhere, but I, again, always make sure to take lots of photos to share on social media and promote the club!
That’s pretty much all that goes into both my LEGO clubs! I try to keep things pretty simple since we have so many things going on, but truly, it is super easy to run and sustain once you’ve got a model going.
This is the model that has worked for our community. It has changed since I initially started it and it will probably evolve as time goes on.So, don’t be afraid to get started and let your LEGO club find its own life in your community!
Good luck!
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