I was aware of the benefits of Lego bricks when I was setting up my classroom for a new school year at the end of every summer. Activities with Lego help children develop mathematical skills and spatial awareness, notice differences between two and three-dimensional objects, and learn how to cooperate with others during group work.
From a teacher’s perspective, creating lesson plans that include tasks with Lego may help incorporate several different subjects in one program, which was always my primary goal while working with younger students. Building structures during math and science lessons and setting some expectations for oral language are self-explanatory. Until recently, though, I didn’t know that visual art could be added to the list of these subjects.
Anna Nike Leskowsky’s interpretation of Vincent Van Gogh’s On the Outskirts of Paris, acrylic
on canvas, 18 x 24 inches, originally published in the Canadian Art Therapy Association
online magazine Envisage on October 23rd of 2021.
Since I’ve become a very dedicated Lego fan, I sometimes build structures for my own enjoyment. Within the last year, I put together some Lego blooms, such as roses, poinsettia, and a wildflower bouquet. Bright colours, variety of shapes, and a super realistic design encouraged me to think outside the box. I used it as a reference for a painting I named Conscious Garden. This creative act opened me up to a reflection on how Lego could be used in school during art lessons.
Young children respond better to small projects with a few steps to follow. I found several instructional videos illustrating simple processes of building fruits with Lego bricks. If you decide to use this Lego project, make sure that your collection of blocks is sufficient to accommodate the whole class with a variety of Lego bricks including curved and rounded pieces.
As teachers, we have a choice between giving specific instructions for children to follow and allowing children to create their own designs. Both approaches are good—the first to practise following the steps and the second to develop independent minds and individuality.
After the children finish building, they can showcase their final products and describe colours, shapes, dimensions, differences between a half and a whole, symmetry, asymmetry, etc. It’s important not to express judgment about what the students made and how they did it. Letting children talk could be a great discovery of what they had in mind creating their Lego fruits. Sometimes an uneven shape or a hole could be deliberate to create a representation of a fruit with a bite in it.
If you have ever had a Lego set in your classroom, you probably experienced what I often did. My students didn’t want to take their structures apart! They wanted to keep their creations on display. It was a major challenge for me to make sure that the bricks were again available for the next session of building with Lego.
At this point, you could be ready to introduce an art lesson on still life. Small groups of children may gather their Lego fruits, put them in the middle of the table, and draw or paint their and their classmates’ fruits made of Lego in an arrangement that they agreed upon. Again, any type of judgment should be avoided. Some children could be very messy and free in their paintings that would show few details. Others could be very precise in making Lego blocks visible in their artwork. You may also notice that some students show some details of real fruits and some of those made of bricks in their paintings.
This time, inform children that they will keep the images of their Lego structures they just painted. They should also be made aware that after the class discussion and showcasing their artwork, the blocks will be put back in the bin to be ready for use in the next project.
Anna Nike Leskowsky,
Conscious Garden, acrylic on
canvas, 24 x 12 inches, originally
published in the 127th issue of
Blocks magazine, 2025.
When I painted Conscious Garden, I created an image of the Lego blooms that in some parts changed into a likeness of a natural English garden. It was not obvious to me why I chose the mix of nature and the man-made design. After I finished painting, I realized that both can bring art and beauty to our lives. This could be a topic of the class discussion brought to the students’ awareness through several open-ended questions, such as: How are fruits made of Lego similar to real fruits and how are they different? Depending on the students’ age, impressionism and super realism as different expressions in art could be introduced.
Fruits are only just one example that I am using in this article to simplify the concept of Art and Lego combined in a coherent set of lessons. There are many other ideas that could be used in a classroom. With the help of parents, every child can bring one of the small boxes with their favourite Lego projects, such as cars, flowers, characters, etc. Building, painting, talking about the creations, and showcasing will always bring joy to our classrooms.
Junior or senior division and high-school students could benefit from using Lego in their classrooms as well. Many years ago, students made quilts together to create one piece of art. Now, one Lego set representing the painting of Vincent Van Gogh’s sunflowers has enough packages of Lego bricks to involve all students to collectively create this incredible structure.
If financial resources are not available to cover a specific Lego set for the classroom, the reverse process could be used. You may find a painting that is simple enough that students could create the image in Lego. The first example that comes to my mind is Vincent Van Gogh’s painting On the Outskirts of Paris. Students could learn about the painter and paint their own interpretation of the painting as I did some time ago. This particular painting used as a reference is very appropriate for using inexpensive classic Lego bricks to create three-dimensional structures. Discussions about the shapes of the buildings in the distance on the painting and buildings built with Lego blocks could be a great lesson in physics.
The goal is to engage students in programs when they learn without even noticing that they are becoming engineers, negotiators, and artists. Their enjoyment is priceless for them, their teachers, and our students’ future.
References
Lego Fruits Building Instructions – Lego Classic 10705 “How To” YouTube video
How To Make Lego Fruits – Apple Orange Pear Tomato – 10664 LEGO Bricks and More Tutorial YouTube video
Anna Nike Leskowsky is a retired elementary school teacher. Her creative and journalistic writings and her artwork have been featured in Canadian and international magazines, papers, and college textbooks. Anna lives in Toronto.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Anna Nike Leskowsky
Anna Nike Leskowsky is a retired elementary school teacher. Her creative and journalistic writings and her artwork have been featured in Canadian and international magazines, papers, and college textbooks. Anna lives in Toronto.
This article is featured in Canadian Teacher Magazine’s Winter 2026 issue.
