Maybe you’ve built some Lego sets by following the instructions – but maybe you’ve also invented your own crazy cars, castles, and moving animals. Other kids might want to build your idea, too. So Lego has a webpage where anyone like you can share ideas for new sets Lego should sell. You build a new cool invention, take a picture, write down all the pieces needed, and send it in. If you get 10,000 votes or more, the Lego folks might choose it as a new Lego set!
Wee ones: If you’ve thought up a new spaceship, ice fort, stripey giraffe and robotic bird, how many new Lego set ideas do you have?
Little kids: If your crazy new Lego giraffe uses 6 colors, but Lego thinks it needs some orange and blue, how many colors does it use now, if orange and blue weren’t already in? Bonus: If the giraffe’s neck uses 2 blocks of each color, how many blocks does it use?
Big kids: If your new ice fort is a checkerboard of 60 white blocks and the same number of blue blocks, how many blocks does it use? Bonus: If Lego wants the set to have exactly 180 blocks, and you make all those new blocks white, how many times as much white as blue does it have now?
The sky’s the limit: If your spaceship needs wing pieces, twice as many engine pieces as wing pieces, and 52 regular blocks, and they want the whole set to have 76 pieces, how many wings and engines will it have?
Answers:
Wee ones: 4 ideas for sets.
Little kids: 8 colors. Bonus: 16 blocks.
Big kids: 120 blocks. Bonus: Twice as much white as blue, since it now has 120 whites and 60 blues.
The sky’s the limit: The wings and engines will together have 24 pieces, since it’s 76-52=24. Each wing has 2 engine pieces to itself, so they come in sets of 3. 24 pieces will have 8 sets like that. So there will be 8 wing pieces and 16 engine pieces.
