I read a post on Make Use Of blog that talks about how the author uses LEGO to organize his time. Love it!
Time management and organization are skills that can be learned.
I really think it is important to share this information with your boys.
We need to show them how important it is to have a plan and how they can help themselves to manage their time.
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Time Management
Time management isn’t something I was ever taught in school, (were you?) but time management can make all the difference for many people.
There are a huge amount of business books devoted to time management because it is so important.
No matter what profession your boy is going into (and if he is young, who knows what he will choose!) there is a need for him to be able to manage his time.
Introduce time management as soon as you can. If they are young, all the better. But if they are older, no matter, you can still introduce the concepts and let them incorporate it into their lives.
LEGO Time Management
Try this LEGO method!
It is a winner in my book, and I think your boys would like it.
The author of the Make Use of post found that this worked great for him.
Reasons it works for him:
- He can “see” his time–how much he has used and how much he has left.
- He can fidget with LEGO while he works. (great for boys who have a bodily-kinesthetic learning style)
He has each brick equal 25 minutes based on an organization technique called Pomodoro.
He is calling his LEGO time management technique Pomolego. Ha ha ha.
Watch his short video to get an idea of what he does.
Pomodoro for Kids
Now let’s see how we can take that idea and apply it to our boys.
Make the bricks equal a smaller amount of time, say, 5 minutes.
Put together a stack of 6 bricks which equals 30 minutes.
Boys would be able to see how much time they have available and how much time they have left in a very visual way.
They could also decide how they want to use the time they have available.
Color Code Time with LEGO
Since LEGO comes in a variety of colors they could color code their brick time.
Lets say they have two hours of free time.
They want to spend 45 minutes on the computer, 15 minutes having a snack, 30 minutes building with LEGO (of course) and 30 minutes reading.
Let them color code the bricks, stack them and set a timer. <<< we love this 4 way timer!
They can make adjustments as they go.
LEGO Time Management for Younger Boys
You could also uses this to help explain the concept of time to younger boys.
For example: Let’s say you have to go somewhere soon. You could say “we are leaving in 15 minutes.”
Each brick is worth 5 minutes.
You could then help with the time and have him remove a brick after 5 minutes and another after the next 5 minutes etc.
This gives boys a visual if they are not yet able to tell time.
It might help them transition more easily as well since they can “see” how much time they have and how much time they have used.
I really like this idea and hope you do as well. Time management is a skill that I really think is really important for boys to master.
If they learn how to do this while they are young, it will certainly help them as they go through life.
Go to Make Use Of to see the article on how Justin uses LEGO to organize his time.
For more posts on LEGO try:
LEGO Organization and Storage Considerations (things to think about when choosing LEGO storage)
Or just pop over to our big LEGO page that has all of our LEGO posts.