70 Lego Building Challenges with Printable Cards

70 free printable Lego building challenges will make a great addition to any young builder’s workstation!

70 Creative Lego Building Challenges with Printable PDF Cards

A few weeks ago, we watched “Lego Masters“. If you haven’t heard of it before, it’s a TV series that features a bunch of competitions in Lego building. Each episode has one or two building challenges, with contestants trying to outbuild each other. Some of them have to do more with speed; others focus on creativity, and yet others are more about engineering or strategic planning.

Our kids enjoyed the show, and we did too. Another benefit of watching it was that it renewed their interest in building! When we had guests over, my son suggested having a competition, and they all built little animals with a 15-minute timer. They had fun, and it was interesting to see what they came up with.

Come to think of it, it was the first time our kids went to play with their bricks in quite a while…

We have a marvellous Lego collection since both my husband and I have great respect for it as a toy. Unfortunately, it doesn’t get played with as often as it should. Normally, we are all up for open-ended play, but seeing how a show with Lego building challenges inspired my kids to play with it more than usual, I wondered if the open-endedness of it may sometimes be just… too much?

I know it can be the case with drawing; that’s why over the years I’ve created some general lists of drawing ideas for kids, as well as more specific drawing prompts. Sometimes deciding what to create is half the job. A list of creative prompts get the job started!

That’s how the box of printable challenges became a new addition to our Lego table.

Free Printable Lego Challenge Cards in a Box

If you are wondering where the box came from, it is actually an Ikea x Lego BYGGLEK box. I got the smallest one. The kids like decorating them and using them as little treasure chests.

The introduction of Lego challenge cards definitely prompted a resurgence of interest in building with bricks. I finally built a scene from the Wizard of Oz. Ever since we got the cute minifigures of all the main characters, I’ve been itching to build a scene from the book.

My son chose the car that would fit a minifigure as his first Lego building challenge and the spaceship as his second one. He later built a ramp, which was another challenge, and raced cars together with my daughter. He said he liked many of the challenges and wants to build them all! I think we may have to add a challenge-focused afternoon to our weekly homeschooling routine this year.

My husband was not far behind. He would like to build a full-scale vardo one day; for now, he made a vardo.

Lego Building Challenges Feature

Inside the free PDF of Lego building challenges, you will find:

70 individual printable Lego challenge cards (on 7 pages that you can print and cut)
2 pages of challenge lists (that you can stick on a fridge/whiteboard for inspiration)
blank cards to make more challenges

There is an element of surprise with drawing one of the Lego challenge cards, but sometimes it is handy to have a simple list of ideas, which is why I made these pages as well.

Lego Challenge Ideas

There is a great variety of building challenges on these cards.

Some are simple and can be completed within 10 minutes; some can be completed in a short time, but if children work on them for longer, they will create something more impressive; a few of the challenges need a fair bit of time.

Many of the challenges involve straightforward building, but some encourage incorporating Lego into other activities. For instance, there is a challenge to create a photo story about a minifigure, as well as a challenge to make a picture frame from Lego.

Here are examples of some Lego building challenges in the pack.

Build a scene from a book you enjoy.
Build a marble maze.
Create a beast and then create a hero to fight it.
Build a hybrid of two animals.
Build your family out of minifigures.
Build a self-portrait from flat pieces.
Set a timer for 10 minutes—and make as many animals as you can.
Design your coat of arms.
Make a habitat for your favourite animal.
Build a map of your neighbourhood.
Build a scene from a city of the future.
Build a race course for a car. It can be a tiny car.
Build a haunted house.
Build a bridge (if you can, do it over a tub of water).
Make a scene from your favourite season.
Make a scene from life on a different planet.
Build a Lego lantern and add an LED candle.
Make a Lego game—tic-tac-toe or chess would be a good start.
Build a pencil holder.
Make a parade.
Make a memory challenge: arrange a scene, show it to someone, then remove 10 things. Can they name them?