Some great news in this morning’s The Guardian re a new USD 143 million challenge – Build A World of Play – being launched today by The LEGO Foundation. Background and details are available in the Foundation’s news release and at the Build A World of Play Challenge website.
We must start building a world that puts the youngest in society first: building cities, education systems, healthcare systems and solutions to save our planet, at the forefront. This competition is an opportunity to make a real difference to the lives of the youngest children.
Anne-Birgitte Albrectsen, CEO of the LEGO Foundation
The Challenge focuses on early childhood – from birth to six-years-old – and will consider issues such as early childhood education, nutrition, emotional and social well-being of the family, and violence reduction among others.
LEGOLAND, California
The LEGO Foundation has a longstanding commitment to philanthropic work that benefits children. It is also known for engaging creatively in the promotion of play through global activities and alliances like The Real Play Coalition founded by The LEGO Foundation, Unilever, IKEA Group and the National Geographic Society in Davos in 2018.
We’re a four generation LEGO family here at PlayGroundology. There’s been a lot of building over the years – planes, boats, campers, ice cream trucks, farms, zoo enclosures, playgrounds and I’ve lost count of how many self-designed houses. Years ago, the kids were using blocks from LEGO’s little sister DUPLO as indoor skates. The ingenuity cracked us up….
With the kids getting older the storage area is now home to a big chest that no longer gets hauled out quite as frequently. When the grandchildren or younger neighbourhood kids drop in, out come the little bricks and the imaginations go wild.
Our oldest, now in the process of getting his driving licence, got his start behind the wheel at LEGO Land in California 10 years ago. Their electric car fleet brought a lot of joy to junior drivers and a good amount of laughs for parents. It was a great place to visit with so much less hype than many of the other theme parks.
It’s a fine day when a global corporation walks the walk re corporate social responsibility and spends goodly sums of money on children. That doesn’t preclude us from hoping they will commit more and that others will follow suit. I hope it works out that Low Income Countries and economically disadvantaged communities in High and Middle Income countries are the primary beneficiaries of this Challenge.
LetsGo LEGO!!
PlayGroundology 