City of Cape Town has introduced the newest library innovation ‘Lego Corner’ at Valhalla Park Library. The new library stimulated the creativity, coding and team building sessions with the vast range of Lego bricks, book and the play mats.
Two departments of the City of Cape Town, Library Information Services and the Community Arts and Culture Development have collaborated on the establishment of the space.
Lego Corner is a project that will link up with the other community groups, consisting of the seniors, women, early childhood teachers, who will collaborate on activities with a strong focus on learning through play and Lego serious play principles.
Member of the Mayoral Committee for Community Services and Health – Councillor Patricia Van der Ross said that the library Lego Corner has the potential to equip the toddlers, youth, jobseekers and library patrons for future opportunities.
According to Ross, the benefits of the building blocks cannot be over emphasised. There are some obvious benefits such as the improved hand and eye coordination, the development of spatial skills and enhanced fine motor skills.
The children present there also learned the problem-solving skills such as how to plan, innovate and social skills, including team work, following the instructions and coming up with new ideas.
Moreover, in the year 2022 a group of 20 early childhood development practitioners received basic Lego training of Level-01 and in conjunction with Valhalla Park Library, which is an unused space and was identified to turn into corner library.
The Lego training is a short course that demonstrates how the Lego blocks can be used to teach foundational skills to young children.
Considering this, Councillor Patricia Van der Ross expressed, “I want to encourage the patrons to join library and make use of this new addition. It’s another avenue for our young children to prepare for school and will further enhance their education.”