Students ‘Build to Give’ with LEGOs

Oyster Bay, N.Y. – Recently, students in grades K-8 at the East Woods School in Oyster Bay gave the gift of play to children in need this holiday season. Students spent a morning building with LEGOs for a greater cause, as part of a program called ‘Build to Give’—a mission by LEGO to donate a million LEGO sets to children in need of play this holiday season. For each holiday decoration built, photographed and submitted to LEGO, the LEGO Corporation donates one LEGO set to a child in need within hospitals, children’s homes, or under-served communities.

“Character education is a key component within our curriculum,” said Laura Kang, Head of School at East Woods. “We think it’s extremely important to teach our students the value of giving back to those in need. Our goal with this project was to give our students the opportunity to expand on their creativity while having fun and experiencing the message of the holiday season – generosity and kindness.”

In total, the East Woods School donated 125 LEGO sets. The students completed this activity with their ‘buddy class’–a program put in place at East Woods that partners classes of different age groups with each other to take part in monthly activities and events in order to strengthen character and to teach them to engage with all age groups. Some activities in the past have included writing letters to soldiers; organizing various drives for food, clothing, and toys; decorating onesies for a women's shelter; using old tee-shirts to braid chew toys for dogs; and using fleece to make scarves for various organizations.

For more information on the East Woods School, please visit www.eastwoods.org or visit the school’s Facebook page www.facebook.com/eastwoodsschool.ews.