Madison Elementary School LEGO Zoo Challenge Day

Recently, I had the pleasure of being asked and participating in a celebration event at an elementary school. The event honored students who achieved over 95% attendance in the second quarter. We prepared a space filled with a vast array of LEGO bricks, where rewarded students engaged in a creative challenge.
Quick Powerful Bursts of Creativity
In a matter of 20-30 minutes as the schedule allowed, students formed teams and accepted the mission to design a new animal species, combining elements of two different animals. The energy in the room was a constant ebb and flow among grade levels, students coming and going, as these young minds collaborated, designed, and built their creations, which we displayed as a "school zoo" by the day's end.
Being Ready To Pivot And Not Always Be Scripted(Extending the Experience)
It was incredible what they created in such a short amount of time. Students organized themselves into teams, brainstormed what their animal would be along with the habitat design, then set to work to bring their ideas to life. We kept every base plate aka zoo habitat so that at the end of the day we had a school zoo of all the builds.
The twist of the zoo was this..... students had to create a new animal that was at least a combination of two animals. They had to collaborate and listen to hear ideas from their friends and build a new animal.
The excitement was high and also contagious by students and staff. The enthusiasm was so infectious that we decided to extend the LEGO zoo for an additional week. This allowed students to earn more building time, create explanatory videos, and motivate their peers to strive for attendance rewards in the future..
Structured for Success and Process
The staff scheduled the day, transforming a classroom into a LEGO playground with accessible bricks and ample building space. Although we had educational resources like zoo videos from our local zoo, the students' eagerness to build took center stage.
1. Staff created a schedule for the day so all grade levels would have 20-30 minutes to bring the students down.
2. We transformed a classroom into a LEGO build space with tables on outside for them to build on or they could build on the floor. LEGO was placed down the center for easy access and pickup.
3. Slides were created to give them some ideas to consider. Most have never been to a zoo so we had to provide context. A video from our local zoo was available to talk about what they do for animal health and happiness. We did not always get a chance to use it due to time constraints and volume was hard. Plus the kids were ready to build!
4. After rules and explanations of the zoo were presented, students were placed in teams, given a baseplate and were set free to build until time to clean up arrived.
5. Adding to the excitement, a local college basketball team joined us(St. Ambrose), offering assistance and camaraderie. Their presence was a highlight for the students, who enjoyed building alongside athletes from diverse backgrounds.
6. As we neared the end of each session we took a post it note and wrote down what the animal combo was so we could help explain to others.