Saturday, August 21, 2010

Quest #25 - Bridge

Can you construct a bridge out of LEGO?

Your bridge may connect two structures, it might provide passage over a river or roadway. It might be scaffolding, a catwalk, a gangplank an arch, even a branch. The idea is, it reaches/spans/extends a distance.

Experiment with how long you can make this extention, while still keeping it stable. Also, try to see if your bridge can hold any weight. You can use coins, cars, LEGO men, whatever you like to place on your bridge to see if they can be held up.

Here are all the bridge designs kids from all over the world created for this challenge.

Tuesday, August 3, 2010

Back in September

LEGO Quest is taking a break for the rest of August, but be sure to stay tuned for more exciting, challenging quests coming your way in September!

Thank you all for playing along. We currently have 108 kids playing on and off from all over Canada, the United States and Europe!

I continue to be amazed at the creativity I see with each submission. Thank you for having fun with me!

Illumination Photos

by Tyler, age 7, Minnesota, USA.

"My structure was a building with all the lights on at night. I illuminated it by using 5 candles."

This is fabulous! I love how it really does look like a building at night with all the lights on inside. Very cool that you used actual candles for your light source. The low, wide architecture is perfectly illuminated.


by Josh, age 5, Minnesota, USA.

"I made a fort with no ceiling, just a bar across."

This is a great little fort! Did you use a candle to light up your design? Good idea to have an open ceiling on your creation. It would work wonderfully as a ventilation system to release the heat that is building up from the light source.


by Alex K. age 10, Dana Point, California, USA.

"My Lego creation is a home-made flash-light. It is 3 inches long by 2 inches high and 2 inches wide. It uses a Mindstorms N.X.T. light sensor functioning on lamp mode color red. The light is enclosed in a Lego box to illuminate things."

Brilliant! Very smart design combining LEGO with Mindstorms N.X.T. I love how this home-made flash light shines red! Nice compact design.


by Jonathan, age 6, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA.

Ship At Night. "I floated my boat on water in the dark. I shined a light to look like moonlight."

I love how you combined two LEGO Quests in one with this awesome creation. You've got Buoyancy and Illumination. This looks like a lonely ship in the night. Is your glow coming from a flash light by any chance?


by Nathan, age 10, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA.

Dinosaur "I made this model with LED Lego lights in the dinosaur's eyes."

LED LEGO lights are so cool! How scary to see the dinosaur's eyes glowing. Perfect illumination interpretation! It looks like you have a very interesting scene surrounding the dinosaur.


by Logan age 7 and Connor age 5, Nova Scotia, Canada.

"Rock Monster Crystal Cave."

Great scene you've created here. I love the glow coming from the Crystal Cave! I'm very curious what you used to illuminate your design, I'm guessing a flash light.


by Austyn, age 6.5, Ontario, Canada.

"We finally visited Toronto. We went on the subway and went up the CN tower. We walked on the glass floor and could see just how far down the ground looked. It was so exciting! Here is, yet another, Toronto Cityscape, set up on a clear flat Lego piece. It is illuminated up, through the buildings, from below by a flashlight on our glass coffee table."

This creation is so great! I love that you designed a place that you just visited. The clear flat LEGO base for all the buildings is neat to see. It lets through the light source and creates an awesome effect. Also reminiscent of the glass floor in the real CN Tower!


by Reece, age 8, Nova Scotia, Canada.

"This is a lighthouse. The man looking up is wondering what it would be like to be up on the top of the lighthouse. The battery pack is the generating station which gives the lighthouse power. If you look closely, you may be able to see that the light is on. I hope you enjoy it! (My battery pack and the light comes from my Snap Circuits that I got for Christmas."

What an awesome lighthouse! I love the tall alternating color design, and especially enjoy your light source. The addition of the little LEGO guy makes this into an interesting scene.


by Cole, age 4, Nova Scotia, Canada.

"I love the lighthouse. I use the lighthouse in my stories about pirates and ships. I put a yellow lego piece inside to make it look like a lighthouse."

A lighthouse is the perfect structure for you to build, especially since you are from Nova Scotia! You must see these types of buildings all the time. Adding the yellow LEGO piece inside the lighthouse makes it look like it has light coming from it. Great outdoor installation. Especially love the rock!


by Wesley, age 6, Greenville, South Carolina, USA.

"Instead of lighting up a Lego structure, I used some glowy bricks because they seem to light themselves up when the sun hits them."

Brilliant to use translucent bricks. You are absolutely right, the light does seem to radiate through them and make them glow! Such an interesting scene, feels like Dr. Suess meets SpongeBob Square Pants. I love that you collected all the clear pieces and then built what you could with them, instead of knowing what you were going to build first, then gathering the pieces.


by J, age 9, Pennsylvania, USA.

"J loves to build airplanes and so for this week's challenge he added a runway. We love flying and the lights on the runway help to guide the planes. He used some of the little legos that are like lights."

This is fantastic, it looks just like a real runway! The translucent bricks are the perfect choice for highlighting the passageway. This is quite an excellent plane design as well.


by David H. age 10, London, Ontario, Canada.

"I used a light to show that there is gold in the mine. I plugged in my night light to shine through the mine entrance.
Stinky Pete (Toy Story) is walking into the mine and shouting, "Eureka! Gold, gold, gold! I found gold!""

There must be mountains of gold in the mine to create that amount of glare. Using a night light is an ingenious idea! What did you use to make the gold? It looks like foil paper. I love this little scene, the mine structure is so neat!


by Julius, age 6, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.

"This is my light creation. When you pull the little peg the tire falls. It is supposed to be like in an Indiana Jones movie."

This totally reminds me of an Indiana Jones movie! When that tire falls, get ready to run for your lives! I love that you used a night light for your light source and that your creation is somewhat kinetic. When you pull the peg you get the action of the tire falling. So cool!


by Cooper, age 9, Dayton, Minnesota, USA.

"I made a candle holder."

Great idea to make something functional. I would love to have a LEGO candle holder, this seems to be giving off lots of light! Is this a real candle, or a battery operated one? Good idea to keep the top open so it can be well ventilated. Notice how the white bricks glow and the black bricks absorb the light.



by Nathan, age 7, Georgia, USA.

"This is an Army runway with an airplane landing on it. The lights are to light up the runway at night and to light up the air traffic tower. I had fun building this!"

This is so cool! Did you use Christmas lights? What a great idea. This has such a mysterious feel to it. If you've ever landed in a plane at night, it looks very similar to this.


by Noah, age 11, New Jersey, USA.

"The Cave Crawler. I had my brother hold a flashlight over my Lego creation. I illuminated the rock monster and the crystal because they are my favorite part of the picture."

I love the spotlight on the rock monster and crystal. It makes this seem like a stage production. The shadow your light source created brings drama to this display.


I received the terrible news that 6 year old Hunter, LEGO Quest participant was diagnosed with Leukemia the other day. His mom is asking for our prayers, please visit her blog to send her some support.