Our most recent build of “El Toro Loco” went the most smoothly of all our previous builds. I found Christian now more engaged and excited to perform our build. This was the highest piece set we had attempted thus far at 247pcs and I’m proud to say we finished it with time to spare! Although this may seem like a small task, we’ve come a long way from where we had started. We were unable to finish a truck with 35 less pieces in an hour during our first build and now I have no doubt we may be able to get close to a 300pc set done within that time frame! Christians hands on and problem-solving skills have developed week to week in the first week he was somewhat discouraged while trying to put the first truck together, constantly asking for help. With this last build he took the lead and rarely asked for help!
This project has helped me in various ways, I learned that it is possible to develop basic hands on and problem-solving skills in children using a simple toy like Lego. I had also developed various ways of motivating him to stay focused and not become discouraged, I think those lessons will help me further down the line in my teaching career. I enjoyed being able to do this project with Christian because I truly believe he has grown from it, but also because I was able to still devote some time to him in my new hectic lifestyle.
As for what would I have changed? I guess I may have reworded my initial genius hour question. I figured it would be easy to build at least 2 trucks within the hour, but this wasn’t the case. At the end of this last hour Christian was disappointed that it was going to be our last week saying, “but we still have one more truck!” and he is right so we will likely continue our Sunday night build for another week. After that I think we may take on a bigger project that I know will not take us more than an hour just to keep challenging him! Thank you for following along and I hope you now see the value of the simple toy Lego like I do!