All About LEGO: History, Quotes, FAQs, Fun Facts

LEGO is the quintessential toy. Why is that? Well, for starters, toy industry experts named LEGO the “greatest toy of all time” because of its combination of creativity, fun, and value for the money. And, really, who can disagree?

LEGO fans say it starts at the brick level. Each brick is an astounding feat of engineering that would make the masters of the Egyptian pyramids envious. You can purchase hundreds of kits and not find one bad brick. The precision of the LEGO Group’s engineering is a marvel.

The bricks are seemingly indestructible. Anyone who has ever stepped on a LEGO brick knows this to be true. But, the tradeoffs for those short moments of pain is incredible. What other toy enables a child to have such open-ended play, building a city-scape, sorting through options, and using their creativity?

It should be noted that it’s not kids alone who enjoy the fun of playing with LEGO. Many adults are also big fans. And, for good reason.

All About LEGO

A toy of this importance is deserving of more focused attention. Let’s start by taking a closer look at the benefits of playing with LEGO.

Benefits of Playing with LEGO

Lego benefits are wide and far-reaching. Here are some that we’ll call out for you.

2.) Assembling the brick increases fine motor skills.

Applying the right amount of pressure to connect the bricks and putting them in just the right place requires some finesse and practice. Using indestructible game pieces is a great place to practice.

3.) The concept of teamwork is developed.

When playing with other children, players learn to take turns, share pieces, and work together. Instead of a competition, a spirit of togetherness can be fostered.

4.) Problem-solving and attention to detail skills are practice.

Trying to translate the vision in your head of what you want to create to the bricks in front of you requires some thought.

5.) The three P’s: Planning, Persistence, and Patience are advanced.

The simple act of playing with these bricks encourages kids to think in advance, continue on in their efforts to see results and to be patient as they build.

6.) Kids learn basic engineering concepts.

Over time, a child will learn that skinny, one-brick-thick structures don’t have the same stability as those with a thicker, solid base. In building towers and various other structures, basic engineering ideas are reinforced even if they can’t be expressed clearly.

7.) Patterns, symmetry, and quantity can be shown in a quick and easy way.

It’s great to give kids time alone with LEGO, but it also helps to play with them at times to introduce some of these concepts. A little direction can go a long way.

You’ll love these funny LEGO jokes for kids.

LEGO Quotes

Lego has essentially taken the concrete block, the building block of the world, and made it into the building block of our imagination.
Ayah Bdeir

You don’t know true pain till you stepped on a Lego barefooted.
Every parent everywhere

I’m gonna pick up the pieces and build a Lego house. If things go wrong, we can knock it down.
Ed Sheeran, Lego House

A girlfriend? No thanks, I’d rather play Nintendo and build my Lego set.
Zac Hanson

Life is like Lego bricks. You build it up one brick at a time. Slowly, but surely, it takes shape and one small knock can make it all come crashing down.
Ace Boulton-Lear

The sound a box of Lego makes is the noise of a child’s mind working, looking for the right piece. Shake it, and it’s almost creativity in aural form.
Grayson Perry, Playing to the Gallery

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LEGO Quotes Meme

LEGO Sayings

I would walk across Legos for you.
Unknown

I’ve seen nerdists make tributes to their obsessions out of Legos that are like works of art. It just goes to show you how pervasive this stuff has become in our culture. It really is an ideology that you can subscribe to now.
Chris Hardwick

What do Harley-Davidson, LEGO, and Apple have in common? They’re all based on communities.
Martin Lindstrom

There are all sorts of things embodied in the Lego brick – geometry and mathematics and truth and proportion and shape and colour… It is a faintly spiritual activity that everybody connects with.
James May

50 Years of the Lego Brick Excerpt

Since 1963, LEGO bricks have been manufactured from acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene copolymer – ABS copolymer for short – a plastic with a matte finish. It is very hard and robust – import criteria for a children’s toy. Laboratories in Switzerland and Denmark regularly test the quality of the ABS.

The plastic is distributed to factories as granules rather than in liquid form. These grains of plastic are heated up to 232ºC and converted into a molten mass. Injection molding machines weighing up to 150 tons squeeze the viscous plastic mass into the desired injection molds – of which there are 2,400 varieties.

After seven seconds, the brick produced in this way has cooled down enough to be removed from the mold. The injection molding method is so precise that out of every million elements produced, only about 18 units have to be rejected. Unsold bricks are converted back into granulates and recycled.
Christian Humberg, 50 Years of the Lego Brick

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LEGO FAQs – Frequently Asked Questions

With any great invention, there’s bound to be a series of questions. Fans want to know more about their favorites. LEGO is no exception. We rounded up some of the more common questions and answered them below.

LEGO History

Where did it all begin. Please read on.

Who created LEGO?

The history of LEGO focuses on a Danish genius by the name of Ole Kirk Christiansen invented LEGO bricks. Christiansen operated a modest woodworking shop where he made stepladders, ironing boards, and wood toys.

Where was LEGO invented?

LEGO was invented in the village of Billund, Denmark..

When did Legos come out?

The interlocking pieces we know as LEGO were invented in 1932.

What does Lego mean?

In 1934, Christiansen named his business LEGO, or “leg godt” in Danish, which means “play well.”

In Latin, LEGO means “I put together.”

What were LEGO bricks originally named?

LEGO bricks were originally named Automatic Binding Bricks.

What were the first LEGO bricks made of?

Christiansen used wood to make the first LEGO bricks. He started using plastic in 1947.

Background

Is it Lego or Legos?

The use of the term Legos is primarily in the U.S. In other parts of the world, LEGO is used as a mass noun – think luggage or china – or as an adjective, e.g., LEGO bricks or LEGO sets.

How many LEGO bricks are made each year?

About 20 billion LEGO bricks are produced annually.

Where are Legos made?

LEGO blocks are made at three factories located at these spots:

• Billund, Denmark,
• Nyiregyhaza, Hungary, and
• Monterrey, Mexico.

There are no LEGO bricks made in the USA.

How many LEGO bricks are there in the world?

There are more than 400 billion LEGO bricks in the world. With the world population at about 7.6 billion people, that means there are more than 50 LEGO bricks for every person in the world. Wow!

How many LEGO sets are there?

It’s estimated that LEGO has released up to 15,000 different sets. The number isn’t precise because sometimes packaging may change slightly but the core product remains the same.

Where are LEGOLAND theme parks?

There are eight LEGOLAND parks around the world. They are located in:

1. Billand, Denmark
2. California
3. Florida
4. Malaysia
5. Dubai
6. Windsor
7. Japan
8. Germany

How many LEGO movies are there?

There are four LEGO movies:

1. The Lego Movie
2. The Lego and Batman Movie
3. The LEGO Ninjago Movie
4. The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part

How many pieces are in the average LEGO Set?

There are about 300 pieces in the average LEGO sete.

What percentage of LEGO bricks are defective?

LEGO reports that their plastic molds are so precise that only 18 out of every one million bricks do not meet quality standards. That’s a mere .000018 percentage of defective bricks.

What is the biggest LEGO set?

The LEGO 75192 UCS Millennium Falcon features 7,541 pieces, which set the record for the LEGO set with the most pieces.

What Celebrities are LEGO fans?

An AFOL is an Adult Fan Of LEGO. Here are a few notable AFOL’s:

• David Beckham
• Sergey Brin
• Terry Crews
• David Duchovny
• Mark Hamill
• Anna Kendrick
• Jason Momoa
• Larry Page
• Matthew Perry
• Brad Pitt
• Chris Pratt
• Daniel Radcliffe
• Brittany Spears

LEGO Fun Facts

1. LEGO bricks made in 1958 are compatible with bricks made today.
2. More than 600,000 sets of LEGO are sold every day.
3. If you stacked all of the LEGO bricks up, the height would be 2.4 million miles tall which is some 10 times the distance from the earth to the moon!
4. LEGO bricks were first available for sale in the U.S. in 1962.
5. The first licensed LEGO set was for a movie property named Star Wars.
6. A LEGO brick can hold up to 953 pounds of pressure. So, stepping on one isn’t going to break it.
7. Did you know that the LEGO Group is the biggest manufacturer of tires? They produce about 318 million tires for LEGO vehicles for their building sets.
8. The LEGO Group logo was designed back in 1973. It remains the same to this day.
9. Over 60 colors are used in the production of LEGO sets.
10. Most LEGO characters do not have noses.
11. The LEGO Group has pledged to use sustainable materials in all of its main products and packaging by 2030.
12. LEGO was named “Toy of the Century” in the year 2,000 besting the Barbie Doll, the Teddy Bear, and Monopoly.

— Mike O’Halloran

Mike is the co-founder of ListCaboodle.com and a toy inventor. He’s taken over 35 of his inventions to market.

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