Brick by Brick – building LEGO® love for 90 years

Starting this month, LEGO ® celebrates 90 magical years of Play! To commemorate this amazing milestone, the LEGO ® Group has launched its biggest ever global brand campaign inviting fans to come together and prioritise play with more LEGO ® sets and a slew of activities for 9 weeks until its 90^th Anniversary on August 10^th, 2022.

What started off as a humble line of small wooden toys crafted by a Danish carpenter, Ole Kirk Kristiansen, in his workshop back in 1932, is now one the biggest toy companies in the world that inspires millions of children to play each year.

“When my great-grandfather founded the company 90 years ago, he only had a small workshop. But he had big ambitions to ensure as many children as possible could experience the benefits that play brings,” said Thomas Kirk Kristiansen, Chairman of the LEGO® Group.

Indeed, Ole’s passion for fun and high-quality toys has endured as his legacy. “Whether it is 1932, 2022 or on our 100th Anniversary in 2032, we strive to continue this legacy by helping all families, wherever they are in the world, to play well."

Play – the incredible force behind literally each of the 90 years of LEGO® building – is more than just pure enjoyable fun. It is integral to healthy childhood development, as well as overall family happiness and wellbeing. It is absolutely vital to prepare the young generation for the future. Therefore, the LEGO® Group has conducted a LEGO® Play Well Study to show the powerful impact of play.

For the 2022 LEGO® Play Well Study, the company polled more than 55,000 parents and children in over 30 countries and found that almost all parents think children strengthen their creativity (93%), communication (92%), problem-solving skills (92%), and confidence (91%) while they play. Not only do they develop skills that help them thrive in a rapidly changing world, but almost all children also say playing as a family makes them happy (97%), helps them relax and takes their mind off school (95%), and is their favourite way to learn (67%).

Play isn’t just for kids; it’s a family affair too. According to 95% of parents, playing together makes the whole family happier, builds stronger family bonds and improves their well-being. Over 4 in 5 parents (85%) mentioned LEGO® play specifically, saying that their families are happier when playing with LEGO® bricks.

As the study indicated, children and adults alike love LEGO®. To evoke the nostalgic fun of LEGO® building, the LEGO® Group has launched an anniversary exclusive playset – LEGO® Classic 90 Years of Play – which we, at Kiddy123, had the awesome opportunity to try our hands at recreating iconic models from this set too! It comes with 1,100 pieces of bricks for builders to reconstruct creations from the past like the 1932 Duck, 2013 LEGO® NINJAGO® Golden Dragon and 2020 Pineapple Pencil Holder.

“The step-by-step instructions in both the printed and digital guides are a breeze to follow, making it suitable for children aged 5 years and above. It’s amazing how a modest 6 bags of LEGO® pieces can be put together to build an array of different designs, such as the 1998 Secret of the Sphinx and 2001 Tahu. There are also an additional 2 bags of rainbow bricks for free building, which is great for igniting the imagination of little builders as they play,” said our business development executive, who enjoyed this set as much as any child would.

On to more fun, the LEGO® Friends Water Park set filled our editor’s weekend with hours of creative play with her friend’s child. “Let’s go get rainbow popsicles after we go down the slide 2 more times. No, 3 more times!” expressed the little one in delight, it’s almost as if she were at a real water park. “The realistic features and authentic detailing really help spark children’s storytelling abilities for an interactive playful experience, not to mention that this colourful set looks fantastic on display. And as with all LEGO® products, quality is always consistent and safety assured, making them great birthday or any-other-day gifts,” shared our editor.    

In addition, as part of the LEGO® Group’s 90^th anniversary celebrations, Kiddy123 was also invited to the LEGO® Imagination Playground – a physical installation at the ground floor of Centre Court, Mid Valley Megamall, at the beginning of the month. It was a treat for us to be able to take a walk down memory lane of the wonderful LEGO® journey since 1932. 

With various play-centric stations, the Imagination Playground showcased the endless potential of play and highlighted why play matters in child development. Aside from fun activities such as the Cupcake Making Zone and Build & Race Zone, there were also stations that transported visitors back in time as they revisited key milestones in the company’s history. One such station is The Memory Lane, which showed the brand's 90-year history as well as The Tiny Block Theory, which detailed the history of the iconic LEGO Minifigure.

At the Endless Creativity Zone, LEGO fans could unleash their creativity and share their well wishes with LEGO DOTS bricks. Be it a LEGO build of a sushi platter or a designer handbag, the Imagination Playground immersed itself into its venue by showcasing unique builds from brands within Mid Valley Megamall at the Mall Tenants’ Creation Zone for all to see. For certain zones, visitors could walk away with goodies by participating in the various activities.

For in-store promotions (across all-channels), customers who spend a minimum of RM 199 on any LEGO range, will be entitled to a limited edition 30510 LEGO® 90 Years of Cars from 9 June onwards, nationwide. These offers are available while stocks last.

Follow the hashtags #LEGO90Years, #LEGOMY #midvalleynow or visit https://www.lego.com/en-my/90-years-of-play to join in the fun!