It makes some degree of sense now that I have had a moment to think about it. If you are looking back and forth between the booklet and build, and you are trying to make the build literally look like what you just saw, this is what you would end up with
I tried this once with the Boutique Hotel because it looked nicer on my shelf that way, but sadly it was impossible because of one of the angled plates. Cant imagine its an issue with the minecraft sets though!
yeah we can even see in the image that the top of the taller tree is actually wrong, and backwards, and he didnt actually consistently mirror, he probably actually followed the instructions as written for that bit. a lesson in chirality.
I'm not sure but I cannot think of any structural asymmetrical pieces in Lego sets, so it should be fine as long as there are no stickers right? And everyone hates stickers in Legos anyway
Someone should make a list of all the chiral Lego pieces (if there exist any!). Lots of heads and hair pieces are, but that doesn't prevent you from building anything mirror-imaged.
Reminds me of how left handed people do things accurately but often mirrored, including writing,
my partner struggled with things like karate when they were younger, not because she couldn't do it but because the teacher felt like they needed her to be like the other children to learn properly :/
Should I be concerned that I don't find this weird in the slightest? I can see vector arrows from the box art or final page over to the physical build area. The left side becomes nearest-neighbor to the build area's right side.
There's a set representing the opening scene if A New Hope with Darth Vader breaking into the Rebel ship. Some people have bought 2 of them and built one mirrored. They connect to make an extra long hallway.
Side note when I was a kid I decided to learn how to read both upside down and backwards and it translated to both written works and diagrams. It was a lot more useful than you would think and I can still do it to this day
I'm not sure it's an exact mirror--the orange block is on the same side as the flat orange base in the directions but the opposite side in his construction.
I’m just wincing as I imagine myself treading on that in bare feet. First time I trod on my kids’ Lego the pain was both terrible and wonderfully nostalgic of my own childhood.
If the set looks like it is possible to do so it is pretty fun.
The only major caveats to it are: A) something with a lever or dial causing movement (like a windmill) or B) big-ish builds with the same color pieces (an entire building made out of 2x2 brown)
I’ve only done the massive collectors edition sets for the last couple of years. Freakin R2D2s front leg mechanism with multiple control surfaces took me a few rebuilds *with* instructions.
Oh for sure, but like the <50$ builds can be probably done without instructions. I’ve never tried that way, but I’ve been building legos for like 15 years now
I had vague memories of a Lego designer saying that kids have difficulty telling left/right versions of a piece apart and so they consider that in instructions design
On the contrary I think this is a huge indicator of a creative mind. Instead of simply following directions, he recognised the purpose and changed them to still work but come out different... if that isn't creativity what is?
I didn't say this itself was creative, I said it was an indicator of a creative mind. Presumably the son is very young, so of course they won't be at the level of what we would expect for an adult, but it does imply the willingness and mental plasticity needed to be creative when he's older
It’s also perspective. Mirroring something is recreating from your own perspective in vision. Like coloring your hair in the mirror. That being said, my comment doesn’t indicate that there’s no creativity at all.
I get what you're saying. you're just being literal with what the words mean not trying to limit or make fun of the kid. Sorry everyone is still in their X brains
Maybe by some
I understand what you meant
Another point too
Some of the instructions are daunting!
He isn't as interested anymore, but It seemed my girlfriend's grandson could take one look at the finished picture and build incredibly complicated structures. He added his touches too.
;)
Following a plan, completing a task to a pre-specified end is its own kind of skill and its own kind of pleasure. This task doesn’t involve creativity, but that doesn’t mean the builder HAS none.
Im sure there are blocks that wouldnt work with this. I guess this is possible with lego intented for younger kids. He might be in for a hard awakening building harder sets in a few years;)
I don't recall how old your son is, I think around 7-9? As a 20-year teacher, that def looks like "gifted" thinking to me!! A "gifted" child has lots of emotional quirks, too, if that is something he experiences. It helped me a great deal to do some research to understand my own "gifted" child.
I love this! I find many mirrored images interchangeable so the “finger and thumb form an L shape” trick to remember left and right doesn’t work for me. As a physicist, this can make cross products tricky!
That’s cool. I had a friend in high school who played Guitar Hero left-handed/upside down without turning on left-hand mode and it broke my brain.
The only thing is that not every Lego is symmetrical. He may encounter a set at some point where the mirror model is impossible.
Mirror-imaged Legos? Your son’s basically building in an alternate dimension where symmetry rules and logic cries in the corner. My brain would blue-screen too.
There are pieces with chirality but I don't think there are any in those Minecraft sets. A good number of sets with those pieces would still work as long as they have them in mirrored pairs.
My little brother when he was a kid used to write the second half of every words letters in reverse. Looked cool as hell. Now he writes normal with no issues?
My brother solves the rubix cube with any tile at any spot to achieve the pattern he wants. My brain breaks as soon as a try solving any side but white first. Impossible for me to comprehend how his mind works.
I wondered the same thing. I am left handed and had a tendency to flip things around as a kid. Never could figure out whether it was because of being left-handed or neurodivergent.
Does he do this all the time? If so it's interesting, like how we tend to mirror when imitating dance moves/exercise videos. Maybe it's just the easiest way he found for processing information?
I imagine it won't work on some sets that have any pieces with chirality. Or stuff with stickers.
It's also really cool to see which parts *aren't* mirrored, like the red tree's vine thing or that orange see-through block on the leaves. I want to try this now and see how hard it is haha
Being on the page and mirroring it makes me think it’s easier to build because you are just going in a direction. You build from page left to right and where your starting is therefore closer to the area on the page you’re starting from.
That’s so cool. I love seeing things like this! How peoples brains process information in different ways that we can barely even grasp, even though they’re so simple
It is mirrored (except for one piece on the tree I believe) however you could think of it as being "rotated" through a fourth spacial dimension. Generally you can know if it's rotated by just imagining a rotated version superimposed on the second version.
If he is 8 years old and under it is normal. Left - right differentiation is important to development and is not completed until 8 years old. If 9 or older get him tested for right-left differentiation by a behavioural optometrist. If he has a deficit get him right-left differentiation therapy ASAP.
This could result in a fun lesson about chirality depending on if there are Lego bricks have stereoisomer pairs and one set has an uneven number of them. At least I think so, my brain hurts
This looks like a sign of some level of Dyslexia to me(although I am no doctor so take my words with a grain of salt). As a Dyslexic when I was young I could sit across from someone and read the same book at the same time. Many of my tests were only correct if you held up a mirror to the test.
Comments
In all my young days of Lego obsession I never once attempted such spatial sorcery.
Your kid is going to end up discovering actual working cold fusion or something.
She pointed out the three of four objects that didn't belong, rather than pointing out the one that was different.
I looked at the assessor and said, "well, she's not wrong." 🤷
There are often multiple paths to a solution. Let's embrace those who see different paths.
I'm sure your son is old enough to handle it.
I have dyslexia and I’ve built lego in a similar fashion. Linear and arrays just are: ✨ kinda similar ✨
my partner struggled with things like karate when they were younger, not because she couldn't do it but because the teacher felt like they needed her to be like the other children to learn properly :/
Turn it around.
Has to be one of the two.
.su ot ylarutan sgniht gnirorriM
After that he referred to the other one as my "fix" hand.
The only major caveats to it are: A) something with a lever or dial causing movement (like a windmill) or B) big-ish builds with the same color pieces (an entire building made out of 2x2 brown)
I had vague memories of a Lego designer saying that kids have difficulty telling left/right versions of a piece apart and so they consider that in instructions design
Didn’t find what I was looking for but found this
https://www.reddit.com/r/lego/comments/z24fzw/5yo_built_lego_completely_opposite_to_the/
So there's that
I understand what you meant
Another point too
Some of the instructions are daunting!
He isn't as interested anymore, but It seemed my girlfriend's grandson could take one look at the finished picture and build incredibly complicated structures. He added his touches too.
;)
Kid’s gonna be a chemist!
The only thing is that not every Lego is symmetrical. He may encounter a set at some point where the mirror model is impossible.
I imagine it won't work on some sets that have any pieces with chirality. Or stuff with stickers.
The plural of lego is lego..
Sorry, but I needed to say this
Being on the page and mirroring it makes me think it’s easier to build because you are just going in a direction. You build from page left to right and where your starting is therefore closer to the area on the page you’re starting from.
Also: is he left-handed?
-Master Yoda
@jackfrodo.bsky.social Something you might find interesting?
I've taught leftie/ambi knitters who do this too.
Works, but a total brain breaker somehow from outside.