LEGO is huge at our house. Even if some of their marketing to girls efforts miss the mark (did you read this?), the toy is still amazing for boys and girls. LEGO is creative as well as great for spatial and fine motor skills. This LEGO game is super simple and is probably one of my favorite games for 3 year olds, it can easily be adapted using Duplo too! My kids play it often building on to their creations or making new ones. What I love about this game that wasn’t really part of the design was that it’s a great way to kick start LEGO creations.
When kids feel like building something but don’t know what to build this LEGO game acts as kindling. It helps start the fire for bigger ideas. Of course, layers are also working on subitizing skills (recognizing amounts without counting – on dominoes, dice, tally marks etc…) and number recognition. If that is your goal you could use multiple dice for older children. Have them add or subtract and match up the sum or difference to the numbered sections. It’s so versatile!
Gather your materials. You will need some LEGO or DUPLO, a divided tray or individual bowls, a die, and a permanent marker.
Write the numbers 1-6 on the divided tray. Don’t worry you can use a dry erase marker to remove the permanent marker when you are done playing. 
Fill the sections of your tray with different types of LEGO bricks. You can have your children help you sort them as well. Sorting is an important skill so any time you have to practice is worthwhile. I included a lot of mini figures because in my experience kids tend to create more stories with the figures and my daughter loves to make stories with her LEGO.
Once they are all sorted it’s time to play. Use the center section to roll the die and whatever number they roll is the type of brick they get to build with. 
She was into it immediately.
Soon she had an audience and hearing her explain the game to her dad was awesome. 
Understanding multiple steps is important and when she taught her dad she had all the steps down pat! 
One of the great things about this activity is that there is no strict ending point. Kids can stop when they feel their creation is complete or pop it to the side and come back another day. Ours is STILL in our sunroom two weeks after getting it out. I find both my kids playing with it most days.
Do you have suggestions for another Lego game that you and your kids play? Share them below or stopover on my Facebook page and share them there!
If you teach preschool or preschool at home, you will love my Little School eBook of preschool activities.
Cait Fitz @ My Little Poppies says
I love how creative this is! You made lego into a game- love love love!
Heather H says
How creative! My girls would love this game, and I love how it promotes flexible thinking. Thanks!
Summer says
This looks like great, creative fun! I love the container you used too. Thanks for sharing the idea!
Emma says
Awesome!!! We did this straight away as my 5 year old loved it! We had one whole section for wheels as he loves making vehicles. Kept him busy for ages. Thank you for such an awesome idea xx
Catherine says
This looks so fun. I want to try this with my 3-year old.
Kathy Ritchie says
What a great idea! Going to do this as a center rotation in my preschool class! They will love it!
Thank you. We were getting bored!
Linda Olivier says
Brilliant idea,will share with our pre-school and all my friends who have younger children!
Taryn says
I just want to say THANK YOU sooooo much for this wonderful idea. My daughters are going on 2 hours playing this game! They are using their imaginations, I’m getting a break and they’re getting along?! It’s a miracle!
Allison McDonald says
That is AWESOME!!
Nancy Hunt says
The plastic muti-sectioned trays are available at Dollar Tree. I use them for craft supplies when working with my Grands!
abcya8.xyz says
After I originally commented I seem to have clicked the -Notify me when new comments are added- checkbox and now each time a comment is added I recieve
four emails with the exact same comment. There has to be a means you
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Allison McDonald says
Oh gosh let’s see if I can edit your original comment!!
Jessica Sager says
Allison, my favorite part of this entire post was the idea of creating a contained space to roll the die, lol. Every dice game with my kids devolves into a dice chucking game. *insert laughy/cry emoji* This is such a wonderful idea. I can’t wait to try it out!
Allison McDonald says
My youngest LOVES huge dramatic dice throws. They drive me batty. This totally kept them in check.
Hope says
Set this up for my girls, ages 3 and 7, while they were out yesterday. They came home and immediately started building. Today, the 7-year-old’s friend came over, and they immediately began playing too. I love the creativity it inspires; also the flexibility when they don’t the exact piece they want and have to modify their plan. Thanks for the great idea!
Tina says
I love this idea! My son and I play a game where we take a few big handfuls from our misc. LEGO bin and count out a certain number of pieces – 35-50 each usually, and then we give our pile to the other person and have to build something with the pieces. Sometimes after we get our piles we are allowed to pick any ten extra pieces from the bucket (plates and bigger pieces are helpful here if we don’t have any). It’s always a lot of fun and forces us to get creative and imaginative with what we have, explaining our creation at the end.