Children reveal what the world would look like if they were in charge.. featuring chocolate swimming pools & open air spaces

New architectural renders have revealed what the world would look like if it was rebuilt by children – with some VERY creative and colourful results.

Using LEGO bricks, year 4 pupils at an inner city primary school were invited to reimagine and rebuild our homes and the world around them to make it a happier place for all. The project is part of the LEGO Group UK and Ireland’s Rebuild The World campaign, which looks to celebrate the power of kids’ creativity.

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The LEGO Group believes that inspiring the creative skills of the next generation is critical, and with its Rebuild the World Campaign, it is celebrating how kids of all ages build, unbuild and rebuild the limitless world of their imaginations with LEGO creations, whilst also enabling others to see the world through their eyes. As the LEGO System in Play allows LEGO bricks to become anything and everything, again and again, the iconic building materials served as the perfect medium for these budding architects to showcase their never-ending playful imaginations.

And the creations certainly were full of creativity! Within schools, stairs have been replaced with slides, spas have been introduced as a space for teachers to relax and monster truck shows would be put on twice a week as entertainment. Homes now have a brand new look – with eco-taxi’s to transport inhabitants between floors, as well as chocolate swimming pools so you can swim and eat simultaneously.

An overarching theme across many of the builds, particularly office spaces, saw indoor and rooftop gardens installed to bring nature to urban spaces, to encourage wildlife and enhance mindfulness in the workplace. Many of the builds also incorporated innovative energy solutions including solar panels and mechanisms to collect rainwater for more sustainable living.

These incredible results come as a result of a hilarious and heart-warming brainstorming session held with 60 pupils from the London-based school, which was facilitated by architect Dara Huang and LEGO Play Agent David Pallash. Their designs and concepts were brought to life using only LEGO bricks and their creativity, before being transformed into real life community building plans.

Children were asked to rebuild the world, designing either a school, house or office that would make people happy, following research commissioned by The LEGO Group, which found that children can get creative more easily compared to adults. The extensive review of academic and neuroscientific literature[1] revealed that, as their brains are not yet fully developed, children face fewer limitations when accessing a creative frame of mind, meaning their creative ideas are more free-flowing and plentiful.

It’s perhaps no surprise then that the activity resulted in children developing inspiring designs showing a world rebuilt with lots of colour, greener energy solutions, schools built around nature and futuristic, self-sufficient homes.

Children also have the ability to think more creatively through connecting unrelated tasks in the brain. As they aren’t held back by having to conform to logic or convention, children are more able to come up with creative and extraordinary ideas – such as a swimming pool made of chocolate!

Not only can adults learn from children’s ideas, the process of play is also proven to be beneficial to children’s development. Additional research from the LEGO Group shows that 94%[2] of parents globally believe that play helps develop creative skills, with resilience viewed as one of the most important skills for kids to learn for their future success.

Award winning writer, director, broadcaster and documentary maker, Reggie Yates, set the brief to the school kids. Reggie said “I’ve always been passionate about nurturing talent and putting real energy behind creative thought, so seeing the incredible ideas the children came up with was inspiring. It’s clear that they are able to access ideas and thoughts that wouldn’t occur to us adults”.

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LEGO Play Agent, David Pallash, who led the workshop, said: “This session and exercise was a great way of encapsulating what the Rebuild the World campaign stands for, which is to celebrate kids’ creativity and challenge adults to see the world through children’s eyes. They have a unique, playful outlook and the ability to make the world a little brighter. Without the inhibitions of social norms, logic and social aspects such as status in society, a child’s thinking is fearless. There is no right or wrong when it comes to their thinking, which can lead to some incredible creative solutions.”

Dara Huang, architect and founder of DH Liberty, added: “Seeing the brick builds the children created really opened my eyes to the amazing creative solutions they naturally come up with, and how that thinking can be applied to the real world. With my own work, I feel inspired to think differently and with fewer barriers or constraints.

And it’s not too late to be part of the process. Families worldwide can also get involved on the LEGO LIFE app, where they can create their very own school, office or home, to be in with a chance of winning a LEGO prize. For those who need a little bit of extra creative inspiration, families can also head to the LEGO website and check out a digital replica of the giant LEGO-brick globe currently on display at the LEGO House in Billund, Denmark, which features amazing LEGO creative builds submitted by kids from across the world.