Plan This Fun Lego Challenge for a Group of Kids or Just One

With summer coming on in the Northern Hemisphere, I feel like we all need some fun activities we can do with one kid at home or a bunch in a classroom when it’s too hot to go outside (I guess you can say the same for if it’s too cold to go out in the Southern Hemisphere, too).

This disaster island Lego challenge from Lego Librarian was designed to be done with a Lego club, but you can do it in a classroom if you have bricks handy, or at home with one or two kids.

The idea is that first the kids each design their own island, with a given amount of time where that is the only prompt.

Then each person draws a disaster card. You can use the ones from Lego Librarian or make up your own. These are things like there’s a storm coming so you need to build a strong shelter, or there’s a rescue plane so you need to build something so they will see you.

There’s a whole bunch of ideas, which should get kids thinking creatively about ways to alter their islands for whatever situations you throw at them.

If you’re doing this with just one or two kids, the idea is the same, or you could have them draw several cards over a session if they want to keep the fun going.

This is a great low prep STEM activity for kids that should get them thinking creatively about how to solve problems. It’s a great idea to have the kids explain what they did to solve their particular problem, too, and why they think that will help.

Even though it won’t be a surprise what’s going to happen after the first time you play it, this is one you can do again and again because the kids will probably draw different cards.

Get all the details and a printable list of challenge prompts at Lego Librarian.

[Photo: Lego Librarian]

My brother went through a phase where he was obsessed with maps. He loved to look at maps and he would draw maps of places real and imagined. He even drew maps that followed our route when we’d go to visit our grandparents in another state!

I assume there are still kids who go through map phases, and kids with an interest in history and how things got to be the way they are. Both kinds of kids will enjoy the book Borders: Understanding the Lines that Unite and Separate Us by Karim Ressouni-Demigneux, with illustrations by Karine Maincent.

The book describes how the original borders were natural, such as oceans, rivers, mountains and deserts, and while some of those borders are still in use today, many borders are human made, decided by treaties or carved out by colonizers. It covers the history of people congregating in one place and how city-states evolved into empires, how maps are drawn and how human conflicts can reshape borders.

There are stories about walls that reinforce borders, how borders work in the air and at sea, how people cross borders with passports or as refugees and how climate change is altering the borders of some countries.

You’ll also learn some fun border facts like the fact that if you stand in the middle of the bridge over the Zambezi River you can be in four countries at once because that’s where the borders of Botswana, Zambia, Namibia and Zimbabwe meet. Or how there is only one border crossing between India and Pakistan that’s closed each night in an elaborate ceremony.

The book talks about time zones, border towns and places where countries and parts of countries are inside other countries and places where borders are less important such as the European Union.

While there are serious subjects in the book, it’s still a fun read that’s sure to interest those kids around ages 8-12 who like travel, maps and weird but true facts.

About the book: 72 pages, hardcover, published 2026 by Blue Dot Kids Press. Suggested retail price $21.95.

Have you read?

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