I recently saw the following picture online and showed it to Ninja Boy. He was amazed and said he didn’t think he could ever build something like that. I told him I believed he could and he just needed to use his imagination and start small. After looking through several more pictures of Lego® creations on Pinterest, he was excited. It wasn’t long before he and his sister were busy building and excitedly told me they were using their imaginations. They ended up with structures larger and a little more complex than I have seen them build in the past.

On the link to this picture, it says the boy has been working with his dad for several months to build this tower. What a wonderful activity for a father and son to do together. It not only builds relationship between the two, but the father is playing! Studies are showing that play is good not just for kids, but for adults as well.

Many corporations are now finding that “play” helps their employees be more creative and productive in the workplace. As a matter of fact, Lego® developed a program for businesses to use called “Serious Play”. Constructing with Lego® bricks, they work through various problem solving and team building activities, in order to foster creative thinking.

In this article from Business Insider showing pictures of the 15 Coolest Offices in Tech, you will see how these corporations are trying hard to make their workplaces fun, playful places to inspire creativity.

Dr. Stuart Brown, founder of the National Institute for Play, “came to research play through research on murderers, unlikely as that seems, after he found a stunning common thread in killers’ stories: lack of play in childhood. Since then, he’s interviewed thousands of people to catalog their relationships with play, noting a strong correlation between success and playful activity.”

Watch Dr. Stuart Brown’s TEDtalk entitled, “Play is More Than Fun” and you will be encouraged not only to make sure your kids play more, but to include play in your own life as well.

So the next time I encourage the kids to play with the Legos, I’m going to sit down on the floor and join them!