Year 2 LEGO Master Challenge

Ms Sharon Joss, Year 2 Teacher

LEGO has always been a firm favourite topic for ‘show and share’ sessions, and although the boys have a varied list of items to talk about, there is always a creative ‘LEGO build’ or two proudly displayed in our classrooms. During online learning, we continued to enjoy class sharing sessions and it was during this time the boys were very enthusiastic and keen to interact and show us all their “at home” LEGO creations, since additional time away from screens was spent building. Coincidentally, Channel 9’s ever successful “LEGO Masters Australia” series, hosted by comedian Hamish Blake and Brickman Ryan McNaught, was airing during this period. As boys returned to campus, there was much chatter about this highly popular show, who was watching it and what they thought of the builds and the competitors.

During Term Two, Mrs Tyler was working with the Academic Talent Development Team and maths boys online, where weekly debriefs took place based on the week’s revealed builds, challenges of epic proportions, catastrophes, and winners. Once back to face-to-face delivery from Week 6, these conversations continued about LEGO Masters and Mrs Tyler asked the boys if they were keen to send a special video message to local LEGO Master, Mr Andrew Tuppen. Stuents Harry and Ethan sent him one and to their surprise, received a fun response from Mr Tuppen, who subsequently offered to come and meet the TSS Prep boys.

It was decided that Year 2 would hold a LEGO building competition - something exciting for them and for us to see what they were capable of building. There was a catch though... they would also need to share with their class how they created it, as well as a little bit about their design. We were extremely lucky to have Mr Tuppen join us as a guest at the end of the term to judge the finals. We asked Mr Ayres, our robotics specialist to choose a selection of finalists from each class for Mr Tuppen to judge.

During Semester One, the Year 2 boys were very fortunate to enjoy robotics classes weekly, where Mr Ayres discussed various types of robots and what makes a robot move. They explored how to create robots, and how to program them. Through these lessons, the boys learnt how to follow, describe, and represent a series of steps, as well as discover how to make decisions to solve basic problems. These were the perfect skills needed for their very own LEGO Masters build challenge!

Sixty excited boys brought their creative pieces in to be judged, and they expressed pride and excitement in wanting to tell us their eyes were evident as they observed what others had built, learning more as they looked at each different and creative piece of work.

Throughout the week, the excitement had been building about Mr Tuppen’s visit and what he may think about their build. Finally, the day arrived and our special guest joined us to judge the creations. The boys had many questions for Mr Tuppen, and he was certainly very patient in answering these. We learnt that Mr Tuppen, a Gold Coast music teacher, began building LEGO as a seven-year-old but was encouraged to continue as an adult after his own piano teacher recommended he take up a hobby to help him focus when composing his own music. He is a father of five children, two being boys, so he certainly understands the joy that LEGO brings for every age! For Mr Tuppen, LEGO has always been a source of happiness that he can share with his entire family. He told us that his favourite build was his final one in the series which was ‘The Stadium’.

Mr Tuppen spent time in each class looking at the boys creations, listening to them talk about them and judging as he went. He said to the boys that when he does a ‘build’ he considers the technique used, the story to go with it and the artistic aspect of it. He encouraged the boys to be observant in their surroundings for ideas and that it is much easier to create a build when looking at something in 3D and not just a picture.

He was so impressed with the level of the boys’ creations, and said it was much higher than he expected. We gathered in a socially safe space where Mr Tuppen was able to announce the final winners. A huge congratulations goes to our winner Mason Bogatie whose creation was unique and he used the blocks in a very interesting way, with a great story behind it. Second was Harry Beeton about their builds. The awe and delight in who had a very large and creative build and he loved Harry’s use of colour. Third was Hugo Gollan who was creative in using a different technique in placing the bricks (Hugo had been unwell all week, but he still participated and sent in his build). He made special mention of Michael Aronis who had created a build that had many sections. Harry Beeton did an amazing job of thanking Andrew on behalf of the boys for inspiring them to be better builders and to have fun creating with LEGO.