Basic Building Techniques

Exploration Time Use the next 15 minutes to build. After the 15 minutes are up, everything will need to be broken apart and put back in the box.

Connecting Bricks Bricks can be connected in a variety of ways. We will look at 3 ways here: – stacked – overlapping – staggered

Stacked Stacking bricks does not work well for walls unless you connect the bottom or top with longer bricks or plates. Stacking bricks can be useful for creating stripes in structures or features such as legs or posts.

Overlapping Bricks Overlapping bricks adds strength to your structure. This will help a structure from falling apart.

Overlap other Structures Other structures, such as doors and windows, should also be overlapped to make them more secure.

Staggered Bricks Staggering bricks allows you to use bricks to make slopes Staggering bricks allows you to make a roof or stairs using only regular bricks.

Building Walls Walls are important part of many Lego structures We’ll look at two aspects of wall building – how to connect two walls – how to build round walls

Round Walls Sometimes you don’t want a straight wall. You can use straight bricks to create a curved wall or even a complete circle

Connecting Walls Walls that connect should be built together so that they strengthen each other. The best way to do this is use an overlapping brick technique at the joint.

Real world construction

Review Use the wooden blocks to demonstrate – stacked bricks – staggered bricks – overlapping bricks

Stacked Bricks Make an animal that uses stacked bricks.

Overlapping Bricks Create a wall 4 blocks high using overlapping bricks.

Staggered Bricks Create a corner wall using staggered bricks.

Create wall joint

Create a curved wall Use 1 x 3 bricks to create a curved wall. Try making a wall with longer bricks.

Lego Challenge Create a small house. – use overlapping bricks to create the walls – use staggered bricks to create a roof – use stacking bricks to add a chimney – add a fence using a round wall