We were at the Bluxome Street Fair celebrating the South of Market District of San Francisco with families.
Tag: LEGO City
We Built Austin Out of LEGO® at SXSWedu
During SXSWedu, we help create a LEGO version of the City of Austin with the help of teachers, school administrators, and students.
We started with one building and watch the evolution throughout the event.
A high school band even came by.
Celebrating International LEGO Day At Austin Public Library
On Sunday, January 28th, 2017, we will be celebrating International LEGO Day with families at Austin Central Library. Families have the opportunity to build the city of Austin out of 40,000 LEGO Pieces.
Location: Austin Library Special Event Center, First Floor, 710 W. César Chávez St., Austin, TX
Time: 1:00 PM – 4:00 PM
Here is our last City Build in Austin, TX.
Building San Francisco out of LEGO® at AT&T Park
For the 2017 Bay Area Science Festival, we helped families build the city of San Francisco out of 50,000 LEGO® Pieces. It was part of their Discover Engineering Day at AT&T Park.
Press Advisory: Building Washington D.C. out of LEGO To Bring The Community Together
In the midst of all the saddening news around immigration, DACA, the pending Supreme Court decision regarding the travel ban, and discussion around what it is to be an American, there is an event on the outskirts of the politically divided beltway that represents the exact opposite of these storylines. In Silver Spring, MD a community is deciding to come together by playing, despite their differences.
On Saturday, September 16th, 2017, at the Silver Spring International Middle School, recently resettled refugee families will be building the towns, villages, and cities that they recently left out of LEGO bricks. The International Rescue Committee Silver Spring has been working closely with these families as they get acquainted with their new homeland.
Later that day, the IRC Silver Spring will be inviting local families from the Silver Spring Community to meet their new neighbors and together they will build Washington D.C. out of 40,000 LEGO® pieces. The event revolves around connection, community, and play.
Date: Saturday, September 16th, 2017
Time: 1:30 PM – 3:30 PM
Location: Silver Spring International Middle School, 313 Wayne Avenue, Silver Spring, MD 20910
Eventbrite Link: http://bit.ly/BuildingDCOutOfLEGOWithIRC
Press Contact:
Preethi Nampoothiri, Deputy Director
International Rescue Committee Silver Spring
Here are examples of Play-Well’s other city builds:
Attendees Playing Well At VMworld 17
At VMworld 17, VMware’s largest thought leadership and education event of the year, attendees got an opportunity to not only learn, but also play. When not in sessions, attendees got the chance to build with over 70,000 pieces of LEGO, as well as create their own LEGO Minifigure to take home. Here are some of the highlights of what was created:
#VMworld2017 #vmworld #vmworld17 #lego #playwell #playmatters @vmware @vmwarenews @VMwareEvents #awesomeconference pic.twitter.com/8G9dGxV8Pg
— PlayWell TEKnologies (@PlayWell_TEK) August 31, 2017
Bird's Eye View of the Creation Zone at @VMworld. You have one more day to add your LEGO creation to the area. @VMware #VMworld17 #playwell pic.twitter.com/8TzTVhsPqq
— PlayWell TEKnologies (@PlayWell_TEK) August 31, 2017
The @VMworld hero gallery is busy with people making LEGO Minifigures. Come by and make yourself out of LEGO. @vmware @vmwarenews #playwell pic.twitter.com/CtM3w2i29Y
— PlayWell TEKnologies (@PlayWell_TEK) August 30, 2017
Displayed at the VMware office.
Press Advisory: Creating the City of Austin out of 40,000 LEGO® Bricks at The Thinkery
On Wednesday Night, June 14th, 2017, Play-Well TEKnologies will be collaborating with the Thinkery to build the city of Austin out of 40,000 LEGO® Bricks. Families will get the opportunity to build the city of Austin as they would like to see it. They also get to tackle these questions through play:
- If you had the chance to design the city of Austin, how would you design it?
- What else would you add to the city that you currently think is missing?
- How would you make Austin even better than it is now?
Building The City of Austin out of 40,000 LEGO® Bricks takes place during Thinkery’s special Community Night hours (Wednesdays from 4–8 pm), when admission to the museum is by donation—meaning families are able to pay what they can. The suggested donation is $1.
Thinkery strives to provide a friendly, inspiring space to learn for the entire community, regardless of financial status. By providing experiences to underserved audiences, the museum broadens its ability to equip and inspire the next generation of creative problem solvers.
For information about Thinkery and its Community Night program, please click here.
For information about Thinkery’s STEAM on the Spot program, please click here.
Here are the details of the event:
Event: Building The City of Austin out of 40,000 LEGO® Bricks
Location: The Thinkery, Austin Children’s Museum, 1830 Simond Ave, Austin, TX 78723
Date & Time: Wednesday, June 13th, 2017 / 4:00 PM – 8:00 PM
Thinkery Contact:Taylor Grobelny, tgrobelny@thinkeryaustin.org.
Play-Well Contact: Miranda Urban, miranda@play-well.org
Thinkery is an evolution of Austin Children’s Museum. It’s Austin’s home for “why” and “how.” A place where science and families play side by side. Where people connect with ideas by doing, making and experiencing. It’s a foundry for a new generation of innovators and creative problem solvers. And it’s a heck of a good time. For more information, visit thinkeryaustin.org.
Play-Well TEKnologies teaches LEGO-Inspired STEM Programs to approximately 100,000 kids/year around the U.S. Their goal is to inspire the next generation of engineers, innovators, scientists, and inventors all through the power of play. Kids dive into our classes and exercise their innate gift for building. They come away understanding fundamental principles of engineering and physics. The experience boosts their confidence, creativity and ability to collaborate. For more information, visit play-well.org.
Examples of city builds in other states:
Partnering with Hawaii State Library To Build Honolulu Out of LEGO® Bricks
On Saturday, June 3rd, 2017, 318 keiki builders imagined big and created a LEGO® inspired city of Honolulu with their favorite Hawaii landmarks—both manmade and natural, using over 20,000 LEGO®! The event was the kickoff to Hawaii State Library’s Summer Reading Program.
Hawaii’s First Lady Dawn Amano-Ige was amazed and tickled to add the LEGOR-esque version of her favorite President Abraham Lincoln landmark statue that proudly stands at the front of her alma mater Ewa Elementary School.
Here’s what the library had to say about the event:
Aloha, Wrenn!
You and the Play-Well TEKnologies team “Build a Better World” in all that you do!
We deeply appreciate all of your efforts to help us build a successful kick-off event for the Hawaii State Public Library System’s 2017 Summer Reading Program. It was truly awesome to witness a total of 318 keiki builders imagine big and create even bigger a LEGOR-inspired city with their favorite Hawaii landmarks—both manmade and natural!
Your team’s super positive encouragement and warm demeanor combined with the 20,000 LEGOR bricks were a winning combination to building super-sized smiles from all the participants and their family members partaking in the build.
We received many glowing reviews at the event from keiki and their families who shared how much the enjoyed the activity. Even Hawaii’s First Lady Dawn Amano-Ige was amazed and tickled to show off the LEGOR–esque version of her favorite President Abraham Lincoln that you created for her to add the landmark statue that proudly stands at the front of her alma mater Ewa Elementary School.
Again, thank you very much for helping our public libraries to kick off the summer of reading to “Build a Better World”.
Mahalo!
Mary Okinaka
Project Specialist | Library Development Services Section
Hawaii State Public Library System
Creating Downtown Novato out of 40,000 LEGO® Pieces
On Saturday, May 20th, 2017, Play-Well TEKnologies collaborated with the South Novato Library and families in the community to build Novato out of 40,000 LEGO® Bricks. Families rebuilt the city of Novato, as they would like to see it. Families got to tackle these questions through play:
- If you had the chance to design the city, how would you design it?
- What else would you add to the city that you currently think is missing?
- How would you make Novato even better than it is now?
Here is what they came up with.
Building The City of Honolulu out of 20,000 LEGO® Pieces
On Saturday, June 3, 2017, Play-Well TEKnologies and the Hawaii State Public Library will be collaborating together to create an opportunity for families to build the city of Honolulu out of 20,000 LEGO® Bricks. Families will have the opportunity to create Honolulu, as they would like to see it. They can construct the library, downtown Honolulu, their own home, school, playgrounds, parks etc., all out of 20,000 LEGO® pieces all for FREE. Kids will explore hands-on architecture and learn about how to build strong structures out of LEGO® bricks.
The event is the Kick-off to Hawaii State Public Library’s Summer Reading Program and is completely FREE to the public. We do encourage families to register at the link below, as the event may sell out.
Here are the details:
Date & Time: Saturday, June 3rd, 2017 / 10:00 AM – 1:00 PM
(You can register for one of six different 30-minute time slots throughout the day)
Location: Hawaii State Public Library, 478 South King Street, Honolulu, HI 96813
Register For The City of Honolulu Build Here
Event Contacts:
- Hawaii State Public Library Development Services: lds@librarieshawaii.org
- Play-Well TEKnologies: Wrenn Okada, wrenn@play-well.org
Frequently Asked Questions:
What do these city builds look like?
- Great question. Check out our Play-Well City Builds from around the country here or see the videos below:
Can I drop my kid off at the event?
- We ask that parents stay with their kids at all times
Will the kids get to keep their LEGO® creations after the event is over?
- Unfortunately no, as these LEGO® pieces are used to teach our LEGO-Inspired STEM Classes throughout the year.
Can kids bring their own LEGO pieces to add to the city?
- We ask that kids keep their LEGO® pieces at home as we would not want them to lose their favorite LEGO® pieces
We aren’t able to make it to the event, but would love for you to come to our neighborhood or school. Is that possible?
- Absolutely! Simply fill out our special request form here.
How Long Has Play-Well Been in Hawaii?
- Play-Well has been on Oahu since December 2015. Here is one of our first classes we ran at Millani YMCA back in 2015.
For more information about Play-Well, visit play-well.org or send a question to Wrenn Okada at Wrenn@play-well.org.