The history of Lego

• Topic
• Special Education

The history of Lego

Ole Kirk Christiansen

Ole Kirk Christiansen was born in 1881 in the city of Billund in Denmark.

He was a skilled and hard working carpenter. 

Ole only had a small workshop but he had a very good reputation.

Unfortunately, times were hard and he did not have much money. 

He was from Denmark.

Can you see it on the map of Europe? 

Where was he born?

What did he do for a job?

Was he rich or poor?

Ole had to close his company.  

He was very sad about it. 

A few months later things got worse when Ole’s wife died.

But Ole was not the type of person to give up.

Why did things get worse after he closed his workshop?

What kind of person was Ole?

False

True

Bad things happened so he was sad forever.

He gave up quickly.

He did not give up.

He decided he had failed, so stopped trying

He worked hard.

He showed perseverance. 

He started to work hard again and made wooden toys. 

His toys were of very high 

quality and children really 

liked them. Sadly, they did

 not sell that well so Ole 

did not make much 

money.

Did Ole make toys out of Plastic in the beginning?

Yes

No

Right answer: Yes.

Additional information: Explanations can be found on the next slide.

One day a man came to Ole’s shop and asked him to make a lot of wooden toys for the coming Christmas. 

Ole was so happy because now he could make money for his family. Ole and his son Godtfred worked really hard to prepare the toys so they could be sent to the shops before Christmas.

A few weeks before Christmas, Ole received a letter from the salesman. The letter said that the salesman had gone bankrupt and could not pay for the toys.

Ole did not give up and he went

 himself from shop-to-shop to sell

 his toys. But Ole was not a good

 salesperson and he only made a

 small amount of money.

Why could the salesman not pay Ole?

What did Ole do to sell his toys?

1. He went himself from shop-to-shop to sell his toys
2. He gave up.

After a while, Ole realised that his company needed a good name. 

He asked his staff for ideas and then named his company LEGO.

Gradually, the LEGO company got better and better.

One day Ole went to Copenhagen, the capital of Denmark, to look at a new machine. A machine that could make plastic parts, such as little plastic bricks.

Ole bought it and started to make plastic toys.

He designed a tractor : The Ferguson tractor. 

That toy became really popular in Europe.

What was the first toy that Ole made?

One day Ole thought about the little plastic bricks that the machine could make, he re-designed the bricks and invented a new toy - plastic bricks that children could use to make houses, airports, trains and so much more.

LEGO became very popular around the world.

Ole died in 1958.

Now, it is his son Godtfred 

who looks after the 

company.

What was special about the first LEGO set ever made in 1956?

1. It was a garage with an automatic door
2. It was a spaceship
3. It was a castle
4. It was a toy car

What big change happened to LEGO wheels in 1962?

1. They made square wheels
2. They started using real rubber wheels
3. They stopped making wheels
4. They made wooden wheels

What happened to LEGO mini figures' faces in 1989?

1. They removed all faces
2. They only used happy faces
3. They started making different face expressions
4. They made bigger faces

Which TV show did LEGO make that became very popular in 2011?

1. Harry Potter
2. Star Wars
3. The LEGO Movie
4. Ninjago

What was special about the baby minifigure in 2016?

1. It was made of gold
2. It could fly
3. It was the first time LEGO made a special small figure with a blanket
4. It was giant-sized

What happens on LEGO Ideas?

1. Kids can build LEGO for free
2. Fans can create sets that might become real LEGO toys
3. People can win free LEGO sets
4. Teachers use LEGO in class