Māngere Central School student Isobel Latif, aged 6, deeply engaged in her new Lego set provided by the school. Video / Supplied
Fifty children at Māngere Central School have been given free Lego characters as well as their usual schoolwork for the lockdown.
The children in the school's junior classes have been given 10 creative tasks to do with the characters, such as dressing them, building houses for them and hiding them in a kind of "Where's Wally" game.
Principal Jacqualene Maindonald gave every child two characters from a stock donated by Lego last year as a sponsor of the Eat My Lunch programme.
"I wanted a challenge, something that came from the principal, that was different from just receiving a reading and writing book - that would be extra-motivating and engaging for the children," she said.
"Lego is making a big comeback in schools now due to a game show that involves Lego on mainstream TV. They are very into it."
Isobel Latif, aged 6, received two characters - a dog and the Disney character Moana.
"It's been fun," she said. "I liked the curly hair."
Isobel Latif with her Lego characters Moana (left) and Dog (right). Photo / Justin Latif, Supplied
Her dad Justin Latif said the school sent out one pack of learning materials on the day before the lockdown started, and then another one the next week with various "challenges" including the Lego characters.
"She has had to make some pictures and then she had to write a story on what she's made," he said.
"It ended up meaning that she's been pulling out my old Lego and playing with that. She wasn't really interested in that sort of tactile stuff, she was more into her Barbies and things.
"Because they are spending a lot more time at home, and we haven't got the TV on, it's like quite a time-consuming way for her to occupy herself."
Jacqualene Maindonald (left), pictured with student Roanna, believes that learning should be fun. Photo/ Supplied
Maindonald said she wanted to make learning fun, so she and her team developed the 10 "challenges" using the Lego characters.
"They had to come up with a name and a profile for their characters," she said.
"They had to give the character a hobby, say what was its favourite food.
"You had to make up a story about how did your two characters meet, and how did you meet your characters?
"Another one was to create a comic strip and take them out into your garden and see if you can make an adventure story, and take pictures with your phone."
Lisa King and Michael Meredith of Eat My Lunch provide free lunches to children in 77 low-decile schools. Photo / File
Māngere Central is one of 77 low-decile schools that get free lunches from Eat My Lunch, a social enterprise founded by former marketer Lisa King and chef Michael Meredith that gives one free lunch to a child for every lunch that a customer pays for.
King said Lego became a sponsor soon after Eat My Lunch started. It pays for all the lunches for two schools, Wesley Primary in Auckland and Holy Family in Porirua, and donates Lego packets once a year to all the schools in the scheme.
Isobel Latif loved her Lego characters so much that she pulled out her dad's old Lego set too. Photo / Justin Latif, Supplied
During the lockdown, when schools have been closed, Eat My Lunch has been delivering fresh lunch ingredients to the homes of 2500 children who normally attend the schools, with instructions on how to prepare the lunches plus science projects using the ingredients developed by "Nanogirl", Dr Michelle Dickinson.
The extra costs are being covered by a $100,000 grant from Foodstuffs and a Givealittle page which has raised an extra $89,195 so far.
