Helping kids express their emotions with LEGO® bricks

It can be tricky to talk about your emotions, especially when you’re a child! Help kids to express what they’re feeling with LEGO® bricks, talking through them as you play. Here’s how to get started at home…

Looking for a fun, interactive way to help your child explore their feelings? All you need to get started is a splash of imagination, a dollop of enthusiasm and a bowl of LEGO bricks! Let us explain…

We’re huge advocates for the benefits of learning through play – it’s not only fun but also teaches kids lifelong skills and coping techniques. Playing encourages kids to feel relaxed, happy and content, in turn making them feel more comfortable to talk and open up. This creates the perfect environment for you to get your parenting probe out (don’t worry, we all do it), to ask questions, guide, and explore their deeper feelings.

From making new friends to bullying, online safety to inclusivity, children are faced with many different emotional scenarios, and understandably, it can be overwhelming to communicate these back to you. Pretend play can be particularly useful for learning how to express emotions. Couple that with building and your child can easily create scenes and characters to role-play scenarios to replicate real-life situations. This may help them to express difficult emotions that may be bothering them.

More family time? Check. Getting creative? Check. Opening up? Check. Having fun? Double check! Sounds wonderfully cathartic for the whole family, right? Let’s run through how to get you started…

Before you build

Here are a few things to consider before you start...

• Choose the right place to build: be it the kitchen table or living room floor, let your child choose a comfortable place to play.
• Set aside time: find time to sit, get creative and chat. No phones, if you can help it.
• Get the family involved: finding time for togetherness can be tough, but sharing a big box of LEGO bricks brings the family together for an activity.
• Pick the right time in your routine: whether it’s Saturday mornings or after school, make a regular slot in your family’s schedule.
• Decide on the bricks: choose bricks or sets you know your child will love to play with.

How to encourage emotional expression with building

Once you’ve decided on the time and place and you’ve armed yourself with bundles of bricks, it’s time to get creative with your child. Here are some ideas…

Create scenarios with LEGO® minifigures

If you’re trying to help your child express something in particular, for example, an argument with a sibling or an interaction with a shy new friend, try creating scenarios. Role-playing with characters is an interactive way to teach your child how to handle social situations.

Give your characters names, build houses or scenery, and let them meet at the place you’ve constructed together. Swap your roles and let your child take the lead in play. Guide them if they get a little lost, and ask questions to explore what triggers those feelings. It’ll be a wonderful insight into your child’s mind.

Color-coordinate emotions

Color-coordinating emotions is a really visual way to get your child to express how they are feeling. Label the colors and put bricks into colored groups; blue for sadness, red for anger, yellow for happiness, and so on.

Ask them to decide how they are feeling and to build something using that particular color. Color-coding emotions allows you to discuss each one individually – what it means, how it can make you feel, reassurance that it’s normal to feel that way, and how to regulate such feelings.

Build prompting scenes

Another way to nurture emotion is by asking your child to build scenes that reflect a certain feeling. For example, a field full of bright, blooming flowers might reflect positive emotions, whereas a stormy scene with crashing waves could reflect negative emotions.

Let them take the lead

That messy, miscellaneous box of bricks you have with all the random pieces? Let your kids have at it! Allow them to create whatever springs to mind, and while they’re in the build zone, you can ask questions with the hope of sparking deeper conversations about emotions. Guide them and let them take the leading role.

Personalize play

Make playtime even more personal by creating custom minifigures – children can then put themselves into scenarios and role-play events.

Build environments that they can relate to, like a school, house or playground; places where emotions may run high. Or choose their favorite LEGO characters for more imaginative fun (projecting experiences onto much-loved characters can be a little less scary than playing it out on themselves).

So, if you’re looking to open up deeper discussions with your child, building with LEGO bricks together is the perfect starting point. Don’t stress if your child doesn’t share straightaway, though. Sharing feelings through play takes practice and may work for some children and not others. It’s all about sparking the joy that playtime brings and using that connection and comfort to encourage more emotionally driven conversations.

So, are you ready to build?