Building blocks: Lego inspires creativity in children and adults
Owen Napierkowski, 7, makes building a Lego set look simple — even a 3,955-piece “Home Alone” house.
He has been building Lego sets most of his life. His parents, Lynda and Dan Napierkowski of New Kensington, took him to the Carnegie Science Center on Pittsburgh’s North Shore when they had a Lego display in the summer of 2018.
Like most toddlers, Owen began with the Lego Duplo blocks at age 2 — the bold, bright-colored building bricks for beginners. The first one he built was the Lego Duplo Town Pizzeria.
“It is great because it helps with his fine motor skills and it is definitely better than sitting in front of a computer screen or iPad,” Lynda Napierkowski said.
Owen received some new Lego sets for Christmas and has been building them on his holiday break. He’s not the only one.
Lego building is not just for children — more adults are getting in on the fun.
Lego has a line called Adults Welcome, which features premium Lego kits of movie-themed sets, space exploration, pop culture icons and luxury cars.
Patty Manoledes Glinkerman of Greensburg recalled watching her husband Mark and their now adult son Chris building Lego sets when Chris was a young boy. Now she is the one doing the building. She has special Lego sets that are part of her holiday decorations.
“It is relaxing and when I am working on one, I often lose track of time,” Glinkerman said. “Building Legos just grabs me.”
One of the first Lego sets she built was a flower. She started looking for more options online and found a typewriter.
“I thought, ‘This is cool,’” she said. “I truly just enjoy it.”
Lego has always been a part of Chris Miller’s life. The Brackenridge resident buys Lego sets for his nieces and likes to build “Star Wars”-themed Legos.
“Building Legos is cathartic for me,” Miller said.
Marcella Spear of Penn Hills is the Lego Ambassador Network liaison with the Steel City Lego User Group. She serves as the contact person within the group and liaison with the Lego company.
The program enables the company to work with communities of Lego fans.
Spear said Lego fosters creativity, imagination and strategic thinking.
“You can just click bricks together if you want, but you can also build with purpose and create various things,” Spear said. “I am impressed with how many different Legos there are and that they are more than basic building blocks. The amount of pieces that the Lego company has come up with always staggers my mind. Just when I think a plastic brick can’t be done differently, they come up with a new angle I didn’t think of.”
It took Owen less than two weeks to build the “Home Alone” house. He received several Lego sets for St. Nicholas Day on Dec. 6 and for Christmas.
“I like creating things,” said Owen, who has a Lego area in the family home with a table and chairs, shelves to display his creations and drawers filled with Lego pieces.
Owen wants to build the Eiffel Tower. It has 10,001 pieces and stands nearly 5 feet tall.
“We are going to need more room,” Lynda Napierkowski said.
JoAnne Klimovich Harrop is a TribLive reporter covering the region's diverse culinary scene and unique homes. She writes features about interesting people. The Edward R. Murrow award-winning journalist began her career as a sports reporter. She has been with the Trib for 26 years and is the author of "A Daughter's Promise." She can be reached at jharrop@triblive.com.
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