PLAY UNSTOPPABLE – New Launch from The LEGOⓇ Group to empower girls Brick by Brick

Stepping into a new era where we celebrate gender equality, the new era of womanhood encourages women to embrace their individuality and defy societal expectations. The LEGOⓇ Group launched a new campaign Play Unstoppable intending to empower girls to experiment and express themselves creatively.

In a recent global study by The LEGO Group, it is found that the fear of failure, pressure to achieve perfection, and language can play a central role in shifting the creativity and confidence of young girls. It reveals that two-thirds of girls highlighted their fear and worry about sharing their ideas and the need to be perfect. The launch of Play Unstoppable is targeted to empower girls to break through such fears and concerns. 

Play Well Study Reveals How Daily Language and Excellence Affects Creative Confidence

Getting comfortable with failing is challenging even in adulthood. The Play Well 2024 research has revealed that girls as young as five years old struggle to express themselves freely. Based on the result conducted, 76% of girls actually faced a decline in their confidence levels as they grew older.  It is important for us as parents to guide and instil a positive mindset in them.

Fostering Creative Confidence Through Play

As a past Early Childhood Educator, I’ve witnessed and understand the power of learning through Play. Given a space, time, and meticulous planning of a “play environment” with the proper tools, our little ones can indeed benefit from holistic learning.

Guide to Foster Creative Confidence 

Jennifer B Wallace, Harvard-trained parenting researcher and best-selling author has collaborated with The LEGO Group to launch a 10 steps to Fostering Creative Confidence Parenting Guide

1. 1. Praise the Process – Recognise their effort over ability with praise. “You’re great at doing this”, “Wow, I love how you put these colours together!”, “Can you share how did you do this?”  We all love beautiful words, the same goes for our little ones. Make them feel good to encourage the flow of their creativity!
   2. Celebrate setbacks:  Help children to understand mistakes are not scary. They are valuable lessons to be learned and growth opportunities. Guide them to complete the task to build a sense of accomplishment in them! It can take a village to learn a skill together and help them to understand they are not alone in this.
   3. Play with words: It may take work for this but putting in effort to be mindful of our choices of words is impactful. We tend to use “pretty” and “gorgeous” for girls, “strong” and “power” for boys. Such words may be understandable to adults that it is used in other contexts but not necessarily to children. Phrasing sentences such as “This little Garden is gorgeous. I love how colourful it is”, may help children to divert and understand how  “gorgeous’ ‘ can be used in other content instead of gender.  
   4. Build Frustration Tolerance: Trying to get things done can build tension and anxiety, especially in our little ones. Patience takes time to train and we adults can help our little ones to learn how to acknowledge and release their negative emotions. Taking deep breaths and the “Eyes-shut challenge”. Gather some bricks and build something randomly with your eyes shut! Reflect together on the process, and emotions that flow through and embrace the result. 
   5. Cultivate a growth mindset: Build a growth mindset with your child and believe things get better by working hard and not giving up.  Growth takes time and it doesn’t come naturally. Highlight “yet” to their challenges, saying, “I can’t do it, yet”. This simple shift emphasises that creative abilities are not fixed, but something they can develop with practice and belief in themselves.
   6. Celebrate Process. Dial down pressure: Keep focus on celebrating their efforts instead of trying to let them hit the goals. Everyone is different, and recognising the effort we put in to learn together with our little ones is more important than reaching the end goals
   7. Consider play your superpower”: Guide little ones with open-ended questions to help them open up and share their thoughts. Open-ended questions are questions with no fixed answers. For instance, “How do you come up with ideas for your LEGO builds?” or “If you could bring one of your LEGO creations to life, which one would it be?”
   8. Introduce Inspiring Models: We all have those little heroes in our little hearts. Discover your little one’s favourite character and find out what they like about them as an inspiring point.  
   9. Challenge your comfort zone! : Parents are the first teachers to their children. Try to pick up new skills and be open to letting your little ones witness the process of it. When they see you trying new stuff even though it’s tough. It teaches them 
   10. Check your Progress: Celebrate every little win and the result of what you gain in the process of building! Focus on the fun and interactions that you share with your little ones! 

The LEGO launches other new products and we have our hands on 3 products here – LEGOⓇ Friends Vintage Fashion Store, LEGOⓇ Disney Princess™ Market Adventure and LEGOⓇ Animals Crossing™ Nook’s Cranny & Rosie’s House.

My little boy is too young for this play and hence, I tried it out with my two nieces. They were ecstatic when I gave them these LEGO packs. My two nieces decided to start with LEGOⓇ Friends Vintage Fashion Store. The girls have a great time helping each other to find the parts and fix them together. They even noticed that the Vintage store has many recycling logos and started to talk about how mummy also recycles clothes by using them for other purposes or blessing them away. A great pack for them to have fun with upcycled clothing items while learning about sustainability.

It took the girls about 3 hours to finish the whole set. Despite the long hours, the process of working together enhances their social skills! It’s heartwarming and perfect for some family bonding time. My little boy and nephew decided to join in the fun after too!

The girls were ecstatic when they finally completed the product and had fun playing with it!

Website: https://www.lego.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lego
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LEGOSingapore 

About The LEGO Group

The LEGO Group’s mission is to inspire and develop the builders of tomorrow through the power of play. The LEGO System in Play, with its foundation in LEGO bricks, allows children and fans to build and rebuild anything they can imagine. 

The LEGO Group was founded in Bilund, Denmark in 1932 by Ole Krik Kristiansen, its name derived from the two Danish words Leg Godt, which means “Play Well”. Today, The LEGO Group remains a family-ownded company headquartered in Bilund. Its products are now sold in more than 130 countries worldwide. 

 

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