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United States Geography and LEGO Bricks

For many years of our homeschool journey, I saw learning through the lens of a LEGO lover.

This is NOT an exaggeration.

We integrated LEGO bricks with nearly every subject. We built LEGO animal cells, LEGO landmarks, LEGO continents. My son spent several years building simple (and more complex!) machines with LEGO. We learned about rhythms in music with LEGO. Multiplication was learned with LEGO.

You get the picture. (And, you can see the journey for yourself at the LEGO Learning page!)

When I received this United States Geography/LEGO Brick building kit in the mail, I knew I had to share it with you… we received it on our doorstep at 6:30 p.m. and it was built by 9 p.m. (That’s how much my 15 year-old loved it!)

Learn About United States Geography with LEGO Bricks

(I received this product in exchange for my honest review. There has been no other compensation provided. I am simply sharing this with you because we loved it and think your LEGO lover will, too!)


United States Map Building Kit

Designed by Paul Bacio Custom Brick Sculptures, this kit comes with the following:

  • 1,395 new LEGO bricks to build the US Map (and yes, they are LEGO bricks, not an off-brand)

  • Digital Download (175 pg. PDF) with the building instructions AND facts about each state

  • Finished creation is 32x17 inches

The box is very well organized. The bricks for each state come in a labeled bag (see the video I made below).

The directions for me to access the instructions were in the box and I quickly downloaded the PDF and sent it to my son so he could access it on his Chromebook.

As you can see, my son squirreled the set up to his room and laid everything out on his desk.

I did not hear from him for the next few hours!

A few quick checks allowed me to see that he put the map together exactly as shown in the instructions. He would find the labeled bag, and complete the state.

He did keep telling me, “What a cool idea this guy has!”.

We also remarked that our friends in Classical Conversations Cycle 3 (American History) and Challenge A (drawing the continents) would really like this resource.

Here is the finished product. It’s impressive when you look at it.


Our Thoughts About the United States Map Building Kit

My son and I are very impressed with Paul Bacio’s creativity and think there is a much-needed place for this type of LEGO learning product.

I encourage you to check out his entire site for even more ideas and resources.

My wheels are still turning with ideas on how you could use this with younger children - focusing on just a specific geographic region at a time and going deeper with individual state studies.

The price is $175, but with the code HGL10OFF, you receive 10% off this kit, which makes it comparable to any LEGO kit out there. This code is good for anything on the site, too.

Offer expires 12/31/20.


Leave a comment below if your child adores creating with LEGO bricks.

Have you discovered any fun ways to learn with them recently?

Fun (and Free!) Activities for March

March seems to the month of “more” in many homeschools.

The winter months are starting to disappear, and spring is on the horizon. Moms seem to smile more - because kids can be outside more and the sun is shining more, too. In keeping with that feeling, March was a month when we could accomplish more and have more fun, too.

First we had Pi Day (always a big deal in our house) and then St. Patrick’s Day!

One of the biggest benefits of homeschooling is the creativity and flexibility we can exercise with our kids - put together your own March studies and just ENJOY your kids.

I have a lot of activities for March - all of them designed for maximum learning and an extra dose of FUN.

Fun (and free) Activities for March #homeschool

Activities for March


All of these activities are FREE.

Many of them are physical PDF downloads you can have your children complete and/or read to them. A few are activities you can do along with your children (the baking, poetry, and music).

I could see a week of St. Patrick’s Day/Pi Day themed morning times, or simply a couple of days of March fun.

Pick a good read aloud for your time - maybe something like the Magic Treehouse book, Leprechaun in Late Winter, as the “big thing” for your month - then add the other smaller things as you can.

The sky is truly the limit (ok — maybe the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow is the limit in this case!).


Celebrate Pi Day

Some kids just speak LEGO.

I took this language and translated it to every subject area in our homeschool.

It was particularly fun on March 14 (3.14) - Pi Day.

Learn about Pi with LEGO bricks!

You’ll also see in the post how we incorporated chalk pastels with our LEGO Pi activities. This was a GREAT day!


The TRUTH of St. Patrick’s Day

It has long been a pet peeve of mine when we reduce significant, meaningful holidays to make them “Hallmark Holidays”. Know what I mean?

I always wanted my children to know the true story of St. Patrick’s Day.

Simply print out this post and read it aloud to your children.

Fun (and Free) Activities for March #homeschool

Poetry, Music & Sweets for St. Patrick’s Day

It is also important to have fun with the holidays, yes?

I believe we can incorporate fun with the serious.

For St. Patrick’s Day, explore an Irish poem, listen to some traditional Irish music, and then make some cute pretzel shamrocks to give your kiddos a sweet treat.

These three simple activities would make a wonderful afternoon on St. Patrick’s Day.

Simple.

St. Patrick’s Day Coloring Fun

Here two little freebies I’ve put together for you. These will keep your littles ones engaged while you might be reading aloud or doing other things with your older children:

St. Patrick’s Day Writing Prompts

Finally - we’ll circle back to your LEGO lovers.

I created these minifigure writing prompts to inspire your children. The prompts also reinforce a grammar rule that is presented. (We’ll sneak is some learning with the fun.)

My guy LOVES to write (he is almost 15 now), and I think a lot of that has to do with these LEGO Minifig writing prompts. We made writing humorous and fun.

I hope you found something you could add to your month of March!

The days are long, but the years are short. Use this time to create beautiful memories for your children, while helping them discover all about the world around them.

What a gift we have in homeschooling!

Tell me about March in your homeschool - do you celebrate Pi Day and/or St. Patrick’s Day?

What does that look like?