LEGO Education, the curriculum development arm of Danish brickmaker LEGO, and STEM-focused nonprofit org FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) are aging down their learning sets with new options for kids four- to six-year-olds.
Previously targeting kids six- to 14-years-old, the new initiative is part of the science and tech-based learning program FIRST LEGO League Jr. Discovery Edition.
The new aged-down LEGO Education Discovery set comes with LEGO Duplo bricks (bricks that are bigger and easier for children to handle) and is meant to be built by teams of four. The companies opted on launching sets for that age group after seeing a growing demand for kids to start learning about STEM at a younger age, according to LEGO. The new sets also come with a guide and lesson plans for teachers so they can incorporate STEM lessons into their classes.
Together, LEGO and FIRST are also rolling out new Discover More Parent Engagement sets alongside online resources, after hearing from parents that they wanted to teach STEM skills to their kids, but didn’t know how to start.
The new toys are available today and teachers can buy a pack of 30 sets for their classes for US$395 to US$695 depending on the grades of the students.