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Republication of official LEGO Company press release of May 16, 2000:
http://www.lego.com/info/pressspecific.asp?PressReleaseId=104&Year=2000
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Infant stimulation maximises future opportunities
LEGO Company encourages putting more focus on stimulating children age 0-5. New
extensive research shows that by stimulating 0-5 year-olds with just the right
level of meaningful challenge, children are more apt to realising their full
potential as adults.
The issue of early stimulation is more relevant now than ever before. Research
clearly indicates that early childhood is the single most important learning
period in our lives. For that reason all good efforts should be released to
create fun and learning rich environments for our children. Thus, it is crucial
for children to have good toys to play with, and for more than 50 years LEGO
Company has offered just that - inspiring the active and creatively learning
child.
This is strongly concordant with advice springing from recent brain research and
studies on children’s optimal development. In a large-scale study involving more
than 200.000 respondents Professor of Psychology David G. Myers of Hope College
has shown how happy people, of all ages, report a number of common traits
including learning new things on a daily basis, controlling their own time,
being in control of time, and enjoying the little everyday things as they add up
to higher meaning. These people thrive, stay curious and retain self-initiative
and drive to break new boundaries.
'Humane Creativity,' an international research study initiated by Howard Gardner
of Harvard University, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi of Chicago University and William
Damon of Stanford University shows that not only enjoyment and happiness, but
also learning and creativity should be actively nurtured throughout life.
Gardner says: “The brain learns best and retains most when the organism is
actively involved in exploring physical sites and materials and asking questions
to which it actually craves an answer. Merely passive experiences tend to
attenuate and have little lasting impact.”
Leading the Nordic branch of Humane Creativity, Ass. Professor Hans Henrik Knoop
of the Royal Danish School of Educational Studies elaborates: I am convinced
that the origins of humane creativity rest on a clear understanding of how
important it is that children are challenged appropriately, and that we
understand that most children are born with a very strong ability to challenge
themselves just right. Children protest anxiously if they are over-challenged
and they become bored and uneasy if they are under-challenged. Children know by
instinct that if they are not having challenging fun, they do not develop
appropriately. Children are born with the essential survival kit, and their main
objective is to be able to use it.
[Image]
Hans Henrik Knoop, Associate Professor, Royal Danish School of Educational
Studies, Denmark - and Howard Gardner, professor of Cognition and education at
Harward University, United States. Photo by Susie Fitzhugh.
Csikszentmihalyi, Gardner and Knoop all stress the importance of stimulating
self-initiative and curiosity in children during the early years, and point to
the threat of poorly structured learning environments. If children experience
much anxiety and boredom while learning this tends to lead them to avoid
learning later in their life. For many this happens when they encounter school,
because self-initiative and curiosity is replaced with teacher-initiative and
curricular demands. The model below illustrates how some people manage to
maintain their self-initiative and curiosity throughout life while many seem to
loose these drives.
[Image]
Knoop continues: ”Our early experiences very much form basic learning patterns
that run through to adulthood. If parents manage to create learning rich
environments for their children they are providing resources for them to use the
rest of their lives. And if small children’s natural ability to learn can be
continued and elaborated in formal school and in later life we will be able to
advance our learning culture significantly”.
Tools for creativity
With these research conclusions in mind how, then, can parents create an optimal
environment for their children? Child development experts state that parents
should always commend their children for imitating culturally established
behaviour. However, children should also be encouraged and motivated to take
initiative to create something new.
[Image][Image]
Some of the best tools for pushing children to be creative encompass everyday
objects. President of The British Association for Early Childhood Education and
a Government Advisor, Jean Ensing says: “It makes a tremendous difference how
children are stimulated. In everyday life even basic objects like an apple, a
stick, a metal pan or a cardboard box can be optimal tools for early learning.
They simply trigger children’s imagination and “become” a part of their play. A
common joke is that, at X-mas, children are more interested in the box
containing the toy than the toy itself.”
Triggering children’s imagination in the same natural way as these everyday
objects LEGO products are also tools for stimulating children’s creativity at
this early age. The difference is that LEGO products are specifically developed
with quality and safety in mind. Jean Ensing gives an example: “Sometime ago I
watched a group of 4 year-olds who had the Grimm-story of the three goats read
to them. Afterwards they were provided with piles of LEGO DUPLO blocks and soon
the blocks were “goats” and they managed to build a bridge. The toy allowed the
children to be stimulated and to create something on their own. When the ability
to create something new is constantly stimulated it will extend into adult
life”.
In other words, a key to creative stimulation is to provide children with play
materials that allow them to experiment and explore their own ways of doing
things. Parents should observe, engage and assist when necessary, making sure
that the child’s exploration is frequently rewarded with positive experiences.
Getting response from its playful efforts is crucial for motivating the child
into taking yet another step.
LEGO offers parents a tailored toolbox for infant stimulation
In the quest for devoting more attention to children’s early learning LEGO
Company aims at supplying parents of 0-5 year-olds with products that provide
uniquely fun and engaging experiences; products that fill children with
enthusiasm and enhance their abilities to tackle everyday challenges in life.
Tailored for each step of the child’s development the LEGO infant and pre-school
product range is divided into three categories: LEGO BABY (0-2 yrs.), LEGO DUPLO
(2-4 yrs.) and LEGO ActionWheelers (3-5 yrs.). In a safe way LEGO BABY
stimulates the basic senses, motor skills and curiosity – curiosity being the
first step towards creativity. LEGO DUPLO takes children’s imagination to the
next level by stimulating creativity and learning through fun building and play.
Taking into account children’s increasingly sophisticated needs and learning
capacity as they grow older, LEGO ActionWheelers products invite children to
create their own stories. At the same time they develop children’s social
ability when interacting with other children through action oriented play.
LEGO BABY designer Valentina Ziliani explains: “Naturally a 2 year-old’s
learning capacity is very different from that of a 5 year-old. As parents it is
good to have the exact tools that match this learning capacity when stimulating
our children. But children undergo a magnificent development during their early
years, and this sets high demands for developing products specifically tailored
for children every step of the way”.
Valentina Ziliani continues, “When developing LEGO products for children between
0-5 we have to secure that the child does not become bored because of too much
structure. On the other hand, too much openness can make the child fail and give
up. At each age level we want to strike the right balance in order to enhance
children’s ability to learn”.
All products within the three 0-5 categories have multiple functions and keep
revealing possibilities for new ways of playing. In this way they continue to
match the child’s development throughout each age category (0-2, 2-4 and 3-5).
Cleverly designed to strike a right balance between structure and open
possibilities LEGO products contribute positively the child’s creative and
adaptive abilities in later life – abilities which apply to all situations both
socially and professionally.
For further information:
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LEGO Company
Eva Lykkegaard, Global Company Communication +45 79 50 60 70
© 2000 LEGO Company TM and ® indicate trademarks of the LEGO Company
Page updated May 16th, 2000
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