Everything is awesome! Lego® Serious Play® (LSP) and the interaction between leisure, education, mental health and wellbeing.

Abstract

This paper explores the use of Lego® Serious Play® (LSP) to support the mental health and wellbeing of children and young people (CYP) in an educational setting. It investigates how best to manage anxiety and facilitate a better understanding of the transition process whereby pupils move either between year groups, or to new schools. The study adopts a creative multi-sensory methodology whereby the focus is upon the Lego® and not the child. Data was collected in a UK junior school from four workshops, comprising sixty-four children, ranging between seven to eleven years old. Using the Lego® Serious Play® (LSP) method, preliminary results highlight four key overarching themes associated with child anxiety surrounding the school transition process. These are (i) places, (ii) pathways, (iii) programming and (iv) people. Wider implications for other age groups and other transition scenarios are explored. A series of remedies and solutions are proposed, and recommendations for further development of the method within an educational context are highlighted. In the leisure context, this study contributes to knowledge through a playful lens by using Lego® Serious Play® (LSP) as a creative methodology to highlight the unique interaction between leisure, education and mental health and wellbeing.