Wait, does one actually need instructions to have fun with LEGO? Maybe not, but here’s a few things I’ve been enjoying.
I get to build with LEGO!
As a busy mom, I don’t make enough time to build with LEGO myself. I enjoy it, for sure, always have, and I’m thinking I need to be more intentional about this. But… last week, I did make time!
New LEGO TV
Have you seen this new show? LEGO Masters, pairs of amateur builders are competing to build the neatest design they can come up with and build in 15 hours. I watched the first episode with the 2 boys and we really enjoyed it. Of course, the boys are not used to commercials, so there were great groans at each commercial break. :::sigh::: kids these days got it so good.
Watching reminded me how much fun moving parts are…..
Learning Gears and Motors
The Technic line of LEGO elements are so much fun! Gears, motors and moving parts! This is a major part of Great Ball Contraptions, and I would love to build a component some day. For now, we are going to work learning how the gears and motors work.
LEGO Mosaics
Ah, Mosaics. These are so much fun! I used to use a program called Mosaick, and I really liked it, but its not around any more. Sad day. This program let you save the design in a format that you could then open in Stud.io and edit as you wanted, which I did several times for our chinese character mosaics!
In Stud.io, I could adjust the colors or the background. We wanted the background to be solid, but Mosaick had put it out mottled, so I edited it in Stud.io to be all one color!
But there is still Legoaizer, as I know it, though its changed its name to Brickaizer for somewhat obvious reasons. (google for download). Its not the easiest program to use, but you can come up with a picture, and even find out prices on bricklink.com. But there is no way that I’ve figure out of creating a file I can edit in a LEGO design program. If you know how, please share!
A few mosaics with their original pictures. Scroll through!
picture used to create a mosaic 
This picture might just have too much detail to do a mosaic well. Its interesting! 
picture used to create a mosaic, its a crop of the previous picture to zoom it in. 
As you can see, many details are lost. But if you sit back and relax, you can really see the picture. 
picture used to create a mosaic 
This mosaic might be too busy to really be a good mosaic. I’ve found that simpler pictures make better mosaics. 
picture used to create a mosaic. another close crop to create a picture with fewer details. 
the mosaic doesn’t get all the details, so don’t try.
I always am trying to create all kinds of detailed pictures as mosaics, but really simpler pictures work better. And with the loss of Mosaick, I might have to try creating a mosaic directly in Stud.io.
Having even more fun with LEGO?
So when browsing LEGO ideas gets old, it might be time to pull out your collection and start building! Or get some gears and lift arms so you can build moving parts. There are so many options out there, and when you need pieces, we got them.
