Introduction to Six Bricks
Welcome to an exploration of the Six Bricks method—a simple yet transformative tool that’s reshaping early childhood education.
This playful, colourful learning approach isn't just any educational tactic - it's a hands-on tool and a bridge to enhanced cognitive, motor, and emotional development for children.
These simple exercises and activities with sets of 6 bricks in red, yellow, orange, green, light and dark blue provide so much to children: emotional skills, maths exploration, multi-sensory learning as well as physical skills such as gross motor movement.
These essential skills (also known as critical skills or core skills) form the basis of ongoing success at school.
What is Six Bricks?
Six Bricks is a hands-on learning tool involving sets of six LEGO® bricks, where each set contains bricks of different colours.
Developed through Care for Education and supported by the LEGO Foundation, this method leverages the universal appeal of building blocks to foster learning through play.
The bright colours of the bricks are obviously immediately attractive to children who don't even realise just how much they are gaining through play-based learning.
The Origin of Six Bricks
Born from the partnership between LEGO® Foundation and academic institutions, Six Bricks was initiated to integrate playful learning into daily activities, making educational processes both fun and impactful.
The method provides amazing learning opportunities for children of all abilities as the activities can be scaffolded depending on the development level of the child. This makes it the perfect resource in a classroom - and the price point is affordable.
If you believe in hands-on, experiential learning, these bricks make all the difference in a class!
Core Concepts of Six Bricks
At its heart, Six Bricks is about simplicity and versatility. The method uses these tactile tools to enhance memory, attention, and decision-making through structured activities that are easy to integrate into any classroom setting.
As you build your collection of bricks, children become so motivated to learn that they approach teachers themselves demanding to do an activity. Six bricks becomes part of their holistic learning experience every day.
Cognitive Development
By engaging with Six Bricks, children enhance their cognitive flexibility and problem-solving skills. Each colour and shape combination poses a new challenge, prompting kids to think critically and creatively.
Whether it is an early learning centre or a school applying this learning in Grades K-2, the developmental skills are being targeted including mathematics skills as well.
Enhancing Motor Skills
These seemingly simple tasks of stacking, sorting, and building with bricks are instrumental in refining fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination among young learners.
These playful activities include patterning activities as well as some quiet time activities.
One method and so many aspects of child development that are addressed!
Social Skills Improvement
Six Bricks activities often require collaboration among children, thus providing a natural setting for social development. Children learn to communicate, share, and work together towards common goals.
Even autistic children are generally able to use these sets of bricks as part of their learning in life.
Emotional Growth
As children navigate through different tasks, they learn to manage frustrations and celebrate achievements, which plays a crucial role in emotional health.
This is a way for children to learn self-regulation and the ability to focus and concentrate.
Implementing Six Bricks in the Classroom
Incorporating Six Bricks into daily classroom activities is straightforward. Teachers can use these bricks for a wide range of educational games that align with curricular goals.
Setup and Materials Needed
All you need to get started are the LEGO® bricks — six per set per child. These tools are affordable, durable, and highly adaptable to various educational contexts.
Step-by-Step Activities
From colour recognition tasks to complex pattern building, Six Bricks activities can be tailored to various age groups and learning objectives.
For instance, a simple activity like "Memory Stack" helps improve memory recall by having students replicate a brick sequence after just a brief glimpse.
So, let's get started!
For more information about Six Bricks and how you can get trained in using the method, click here.