If you missed it yesterday, the classic toy brick, Lego, celebrated it’s 50th anniversary. Though Lego founder Ole Kirk Christiansen had been selling toys since the 1940’s, it was not till 1958 did Christiansen perfect and file the patent for “the LEGO brick” that we’ve known and recognize today. The same design and construction of the Lego brick have not changed since then and technically Lego bricks today should still fit those from 1958.

If you saw the Google search engine logo yesterday, you’d also see that they designed the “Google” logo in Lego bricks and the familiar “minifig” (which is also celebrating it’s 30th anniversary and Mindstorms celebrates its 10th anniversary). The name of the company actually originated from Mr. Christiansen himself. The name “LEGO” is actually the fusion of the Danish words, “LEg” and “GOdt” which means “play well”. In order to celebrate golden anniversary of the Lego brick, the Lego group is sponsoring a series of Lego building challenges around the world in order to determine the best builders in each respective country (between the ages 6 - 13).

Like I’ve mentioned in my previous posts, Lego has always been a toy which is dear to my heart because it is the ultimate toy to help build the creativity and imagination of children. No matter the age, sex, race or religion, Lego transcends all barriers and no child should be denied the opportunity to play with such a simple, yet versatile toy. Heck, I still have some of the Lego I’ve accumulated over the years and I’ve been collecting some of the Star Wars Lego sets. Congratulations Lego Brick, may you continue to bring joy and happiness to children (and adults) around the world.

-Stephen