Can I ask an honest question? Who doesn’t love LEGOs? They provide hours of entertainment for little hands, encourage creativity, collaboration, and problem solving, teach the fundamentals of architecture and structural engineering, and they are bonding opportunities that span generations.
When MOHAI announced their Towers of Tomorrow with LEGO Bricks exhibit last spring, my interest was piqued. But with juggling work and summer camps, I have to admit that it fell off my radar. Finally, with summer coming to a close, we made solid plans to visit the exhibit, seeking a fun, engaging outing for my 6-year-old daughter and one of her BFFs—a last hurrah before school was officially in session.
Here’s the bottom line: learn from my mistake and get to MOHAI before this exhibit closes on September 29. Your child (and inner child) will thank you for it.
The exhibit features astonishing skyscrapers from across the world, from the Empire State Building to Tokyo Sky Tree to Marina Bay Sands. Each tower is constructed in breathtaking architectural detail by Ryan McNaught, one of only twenty-one LEGO Certified Professionals in the world.
But the magic of this exhibit is the interactive construction areas featuring 200,000 loose LEGO bricks and endless possibilities. After gawking at the LEGO towers that stood at twice their height, the girls were inspired and eager to dig into the brick bins, pawing through them to collect the requisite number of pink and clear 1 x 2 bricks for the walls of their dream house.
Seeing the two of them fully engaged, my husband and I could take our time exploring the rest of the exhibit. Along with the incredibly detailed towers, there are displays that dive into the history and impact of LEGO over generations. Did you know that one of the first LEGO toys produced by the company in 1935 wasn’t a building toy at all, but rather a wooden duck pull toy? There was also a beautiful replica of MOHAI that deserved admiration, with an opening in the roof so viewers could take in the exhibits inside.
Having worked through the exhibit, my husband and I still had plenty of time to join the girls at the construction table and join in on the building fun. As a mother, can I tell you how enjoyable this was, knowing that I wouldn’t later be finding loose bricks strewn about on the living room floor? Once our masterpieces were created, the girls were invited to add them to the Towers of Tomorrow display, showcasing them among contributions from other inspired visitors. They were so proud to be part of the exhibit!
And yet, our time at the museum had not yet come to an end. Upon entering MOHAI, each girl was handed a scavenger hunt featuring miniature LEGO figures depicting different aspects of Seattle’s history, incorporated into displays throughout the museum. It motivated the girls to explore the rest of the museum, engaging with the many interactive displays and hopefully retaining bits and pieces of Seattle history along the way.
All in all, we spent close to four hours at the museum—which astounded both my husband and I—and the girls would have happily stayed longer. Bonus: youth 14 and under receive free admission—how’s that for value? In terms of finding ways to entertain my active, inquisitive daughter, this felt like a win. You can bet that I will not let MOHAI’s next exhibit fall so easily off my radar.