Lego for kids is like flat-packs for adults: study
Children face the same mental challenges when building Lego models as adults do when putting flat-pack furniture together, research reveals.
A study carried out by Dr Miles Richardson, at the East Midlands' University of Derby in the UK, looked at the way children built a series of models using Lego bricks.
The work aimed to show how a greater understanding of the way children approach construction tasks could help boost their development in maths and science.
The study suggests four factors play a part in assessing how easy or difficult children find it to complete models.
These are: the variety and number of blocks needed to complete the task, symmetry of the blocks and the number of spare blocks.
Dr Richardson found the issues affecting children building Lego models were the same as those affecting adults building flat-pack furniture kits.
The same formula he previously developed to determine the ease of assembly for such kits for frustrated DIY-ers also helped predict children's Lego-building performance, the university said.
He said the research could help educators and developmental psychologists identify, then take measures, to help children who might struggle academically.
"Construction tasks form a major part of children's play and can be linked to achievement in maths and science," Dr Richardson said.
"However, there is a lack of understanding of construction task ability and development.
"Given the breadth of construction from infants' play using things like Lego bricks, to adults building self-assembly products, the lack of understanding of its development is surprising.
"Our research shows that exactly the same challenges that affect adults during construction also affect children, just to a different level.
"Greater understanding of the characteristics of construction tasks, and how children's ability is mediated by cognitive factors, can inform curriculum development."
In the study, children aged seven to eight and 10 to 11 were timed and observed as they built a series of seven models using Lego bricks.
Items included a chair, sun bed and a table. Children had a picture of the completed model and a diagram showing how each brick was put together.
Every child completed the task, but with varying times.
Early indications suggested that the older the child, the quicker they completed the model-making task, the university said.
The research found children were challenged by the same aspects as adults in the flat-pack furniture study, particularly with the variety and symmetry of component parts.
In Dr Richardson's previous study with adults, he identified four characteristics common to all self-assembly products, then monitored people grappling with the intricacies of furniture kits to see how long they took to complete the task.
The results showed how each of the characteristics affected difficulty of assembly and could be used in a formula to distinguish easy kits from more baffling ones.
