How do you like your Lego?

This year, Miro brought home bonus knowledge from Robotics summer camp.

Lego Digital Designer.  That's what the scribble said in the tiny piece of paper he clasped gingerly in one hand.  

Lego Digital Designer is a program available for download online (and that we did the first five minutes Miro got home).  As the name suggests, it's an application that allows kids and adults alike to design and build their Lego creations via the simple drag and click of the mouse.  Yet another proof that the digital world is definitely upon us.

I see a bunch of goodies with this Lego advancement.

• You have more bricks on-hand than you can possibly collect in a lifetime.
• You get to build fast.
• You get to create a scenario for each creation with a simple change in the background.
• You get to spot your masterpiece from all angles, thanks to an amazing camera control feature.
• You get to make your Lego creation move with a series of programmed commands.
• You don't lose pieces in the process.
• You don't make a mess.
• You don't stub your toe.
• Lastly and more importantly, it's FREE! 

The Lego Digital Designer --in all its unique glory-- honorably sat on the boys' Mac desktop dock along with the other kid-important applications like Safari, Firefox, Snood, Super Mario Brawl, iTunes,  Powerpoint, and Freehand.  But it was only touched the first week it was installed.

Surprisingly, despite their knack for high-tech toys and video game designing, my boys are old school when it comes to Lego.  They would rather play Lego in its original tactile form.  They love hunting for the right piece in that huge mound of bricks.  They love the feel of snapping the tiny blocks together.  They love the long time ti takes to build something great.  They love the mess!  And they would rather admire, move, and play with their final masterpiece with their own bare hands. 

I guess for a lot of things, it IS more the journey than the destination.  Success is sweeter when it took your blood, sweat, and tears to get there.

And for my boys --and I bet for a bunch of other kids-- that also applies to Lego.