The LEGO Group has launched new, free activities on its website to help families share in digital play and learn about online wellbeing, including an interactive video for children ages 6 to 9 and video and audio adventures for children ages 9 to 12.
Aiming to help families connect and share in digital play experiences, the LEGO Group has launched three new activities on its website designed to entertain while educating children about topics like online etiquette and screentime.
One of the findings in the LEGO Group’s 2024 Play Well report was that 61% of surveyed parents believe that their children know more about technology than they do, and 63% want to learn more about and keep up with their children. So the LEGO Group set out to create new digital play experiences for families that could help lessen this gap.
The activities are called Build & Talk, This or That and Audio Adventure. They are all free to play on the LEGO Group’s website and can be found here.
Build & Talk is designed for a younger audience, children aged 6 to 9. The activity utilises building prompts (which can be built or drawn physically after pausing the interactive video) and storytelling to teach players about online kindness, screentime and gaming. All three are certainly important to discuss with children in an increasingly digital world, though teaching about screentime via online activities feels as helpful as it does ironic.
This or That is meant for children aged 9 to 12 and is a question-based experience. Also centred around values and preferences about digital play, the activity uses active movement and light-hearted this-or-that questions to teach its players. The actual deciding of this or that happens via jumping either left or right, matching the answer you prefer.
Audio Adventures is also intended for children aged 9-12 and advertises “immersive audio stories” set in Wow-Wow-World. A sandbox-style game, players follow Jamie, a 10-year-old living in Wow-Wow-World and help make important decisions along the way. The choices are meant to help children and their parents reflect on decisions made in digital spaces. Eight chapters, each about four or five minutes, make up this activity.
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“As the digital world becomes a bigger part of children’s lives—from how they play and learn, to how they build friendships and express themselves—many parents and caregivers are looking for ways to better support their children online and keep them safe, especially when it comes to gaming. These new activities are designed to help make that first step feel easy and playful—turning everyday moments into meaningful conversations about life online,” said LEGO Vice President and Head of Social Responsibility Diana Ringe Krogh.
It is worth noting that these activities lean more towards being interactive videos and audio dramas than actual games, but the effort from the LEGO Group to create family-friendly and cooperative digital experiences is still worth commending. If you’re interested in checking out any of these digital experiences to play with your children, they can be found here.
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