Why we love Lego - leading psychologist reveals the 'builder instinct' is the key to the popularity of the toy

There's three of them! Lego is one of the most enduring toys, constantly re-inventing itself

With 62 pieces of Lego in the world for each one of us, a psychologist has given his take on what makes the toy so enduring.

Jon Sutton, managing editor of The Psychologist, has written his own love letter to Lego, saying how he uses it as a psychological tool - and as a way to relax.



He said: 'What was little more than a passing interest in childhood built into something of an obsession when I had my own children, and I should probably abandon the pretence I am buying it for them.'

He noted how other psychologists feel the same way.

He said: Uta Frith (University College London) encouraged me to write an article, saying "the idea of a Lego cult is in no way exaggerated".

'She even penned her own contribution, a "fan letter to Lego", and as Roger Highfield (author and executive at the National Museum of Science and Industry) has said: "a surprising number of people care about the aesthetic appeal of these little colourful blocks".

Here's a camera! Since the 1980s, the toy has become increasingly high-tech, although it still provides the basic building blocks

Lego! From instruments to full-scale cars, the toy has been used in a variety of different ways

Sutton's journey took in a wide number of views.

Senior psychology lecturer David Whitebread at the University of Cambridge said: 'I don’t think there is one thing which makes Lego so special but they have clearly got quite a few things right.

'One feature which I think is significant is that the entry level of physical skill required to build with Lego is quite low.

'I have played with other construction kits where just the physical demands of fixing it together rather got in the way of the creativity and problem-solving opportunities.

'With Lego even quite young children can quickly start to put together models; it’s easy to build, easy to change your ideas and undo and rebuild.

Last year presenter James May build a Lego house - sadly it got demolished a week later

The Saturn 3 spaceship: Lego passes on to the final frontier...

BUILDING A TRIBUTE TO LEGO

Lego was first built in 1932 when Danish carpenter went bankrupt

With little carpentry work, he began building wooden toys in his workshop - starting with a wooden duck

He named his company LEGO - from the Danish from 'leg godt' - 'play well'

The phrase also translates as 'I put together' in Latin

The first sets - for a townscape, space scene, and castle, were manufactured in 1978

The company released different skin colors for LEGO Basketball for 2004

LEGO produces nearly 20billion LEGO bricks a year - or 36,000 a minute

LEGO also makes 306million (tiny) tyres a year - more than any other 'tyre' manufacturer

If you are an AFOL, you are an 'Adult Fan of Lego', and your hand is your HOG as you move the figures around - The Hand of God

'When you watch children playing with Lego they are often problem-solving with the constructional aspects and involving themselves in a world of pretence at the same time.

'I don’t recall that from my own childhood endeavours with, say, Meccano, where the process of building was very valuable but more demanding, and so effectively closed out the imaginative aspects.'

Psychologist Alan Redman echoed the sentiments.

He said: 'I have managed to use Lego in a professional capacity - mostly in assessment exercises, but also as the basis for a spatial reasoning test.

'These isolated moments represent the high points of my practice. Everything else is dull and monochrome by comparison.'

Writer Curtis Silver told Sutton: 'First, it taught us to follow them. The bag being dumped out onto the ground – that was chaos. The instructions guiding you through putting the pieces together – that was order.

;Second, it taught us to discard the directions, add the new bag to the current pieces and make whatever the hell you wanted. This drove our minds crazy with sick organisational delight as children – the possibilities of what we could build.'