HealthPopuli.com – Read More
Over one million children around the world have played with an MRI building set from LEGO, which has reduced the young patients’ feelings of anxiety pre-scan along with reducing levels of need for anaesthesia to prep for the MRI procedure, according to the company’s October 13 press release.
The LEGO MRI set is a project of The LEGO Foundation and its commitment to ESG — Environmental, Societal, and Governance goals. “Since 2023, more than 10,000 LEGO MRI Scanner sets have been donated to hospitals and health professionals around the world as part of the LEGO Group’s commitment to unlocking the power of play for children, especially those who may need it most,” the company reported.
Based on a survey of 450 health care practitioners using the set in 2024 and 2025, here are some of the key outcomes testifying to the power of play for children facing MRI procedures — and how the high touch and play value of the set bolstered the young patients’ (and families’) experiences.
One of the practitioners, Traci Anki-Tan of the Kaiser Permanente Roseville Medical Centre, explained the delight she witnessed in the process of a child interacting with the set:
“Usually, when we walk in with the LEGO MRI scanner set, the faces on the kids light up. They can’t wait to touch and play with it. The entire mood in the room gets brighter as soon as we walk in. Even anxious parents — you can see their shoulders drop.”
Here’s a short video on the program.
I have Jay Ong from his base in Australia to thank for the hat-tip on this, as Jay has been my go-to LEGO informant for many years. He first talked about the LEGO MRI in concept in 2022, so this has been in the works for a while. Here is Jay’s latest write-up on the project.
Health Populi’s Hot Points: The company’s name “LEGO” is derived from the Danish words, “leg godt” which translates to “play well.”
As LEGO’s comms folks attest here in this snippet from the project website,
“We already know play boosts resilience….Play is a natural way for children to develop their social and emotional skills. It helps children find moments of calm and control, no matter what’s happening around them.”
That playfulness also translates well for people older than children — which is part of LEGO’s secret in the sauce buoying the company through the pandemic and financially stressful consumer markets. LEGO has discovered an adult market for play, as well, in addition to a business division which helps employers bolster workers “play well” skills together on teams.
As an avid LEGO fan starting when our daughter was very young, we’ve grown into a family of LEGO Maniacs, from Star Wars and Harry Potter sets to the more recent innovations of Botanicals and Architecture. Everyone needs a dose (or more) of play in life right now; so it delights me to share this story with you, and encourage you to find your own flavor of LEGOs to play with in between the trying times we’re all muddling through.
The post Why I Love The LEGO MRI Scanner appeared first on HealthPopuli.com.
