"Play Well" History of Lego

Legos have always been a piece of childhood that has remained timeless for me; I often think about the set that I had as a kid that I wish I didn't destroy or lost pieces. Recently I was gifted a new set by a friend of mine that I was impressed with, and it got me thinking of Legos history. Lego was started in 1932 by a Danish carpenter Ole Kirk Kristiansen he started by making wooden toys and named his company "Lego". Combining the Danish words LEg GOdt meaning "Play Well" in Danish. In 1949 the first plastic brick is created called the automatic binding brick. These are the early designs of what became patented in 1958 utilizing a unique coupling mechanism that lets Legos click together.

The Current Lego brick.

The 1st Brick.

Lego has come a long way since the original brick; they now use recycled plastics and even sugarcane-based plastics to manufacture their new designs. In 2020 they even launched Lego Braille bricks for children with visual impairments legobraillebricks.com/about/. They use numbers and letters marked on the bricks that correspond to the braille alphabet. It's worth mentioning its fandom is similar to those of Pokémon regarding the resale value of certain sets that becomes retired. Many collectors fork out big bucks or buy more than one set to try to make a profit later on in the set lifespan. Lego started as a couple of plastic bricks and is now more than a toy reaching into movies, video games and even teaching aspects with their Mindstorm series. These mighty bricks are more than a toy allowing kids to explore, create, and collect letting their imagination reach beyond a set of instructions.