I'm so excited to be joining Toddler Approved's LEGO week!  All this week several bloggers and I will all be working together to bring you tons of fun ways to learn and play with LEGOs.  You'll be able to find links to all the posts shared this week on this landing page here - so be sure to check back at the end of the week to see that you caught them all!  

Symmetry is one of those tricky concepts that is good to practice frequently.  I love that nature produces lots of fun examples of symmetry -- one of my favorite is the butterfly.  S and I spoke a little about this when we made her DIY Butterfly Wings last year, so I think my mind naturally settled on that example yet again.

LEGOs have such fun bright shapes and colors that I thought they would be perfect for having fun with symmetry.  I set S up with a giant butterfly with sticky wings (to prevent frustration with bumping blocks) and two piles of various sized LEGO blocks on either side of her.

We talked about how to make the wings symmetric - to put the same colored and shaped LEGO in the same spot on each side of the butterfly's body.  I made sure that each pile S was grabbing from had the same colors/sizes of LEGOs to make the process faster for her.

She had so much fun designing her butterfly.  I only got to place two blocks myself - she had a lot of investment and a total plan for how this butterfly was going to look.

When it was nearly done, we found that it was easier to rotate the butterfly so that S could reach the blank spots on its wings more easily.

And voila!  The finished masterpiece!

To make your own sticky butterfly, take a piece of posterboard (or cardboard) and fold it in half.  Trace a wing on one side and cut out the butterfly.  Add a body to the center, and if you'd like, some pipecleaner antennae.  :)  Then, using the back of some contact paper, trace the outline of each wing.  Peel the paper off of the contact paper and place it sticky side up.  Use some tape around the edges of the contact paper wing to hold it in place.  The contact paper is not quite strong enough to hold the LEGOs if you hang the butterfly vertically on a wall, but it is strong enough to prevent the LEGOs from scattering as you work.

Here are the other fun ideas shared today:

LEGO Build and Knock Down via Toddler Approved

DIY Removable Non-Permanent LEGO Wall via Lalymom

Counting Syllables with LEGO bricks via This Reading Mama

LEGO Count and Move Math Game via JDaniel 4's Mom 

Word Problems with LEGO via Frugal Fun for Boys

LEGO Game: Race to Twenty via Playdough to Plato

All activities here are activities I feel are safe for my own children.  As your child's parents/guardians, you will need to decide what you feel is safe for your family.  I always encourage contacting your child's pediatrician for guidance if you are not sure about the safety/age appropriateness of an activity. All activities on this blog are intended to be performed with adult supervision.  Appropriate and reasonable caution should be used when activities call for the use of materials that could potentially be harmful, such as scissors, or items that could present a choking risk (small items), or a drowning risk (water activities), and with introducing a new food/ingredient to a child (allergies).  Observe caution and safety at all times.  The author and blog disclaim liability for any damage, mishap, or injury that may occur from engaging in any of these activities on this blog.