ACRE donated Lego bricks to the daycares
Aalto University and Aalto University Campus & Real Estate (ACRE) donated the university's old Lego bricks to Touhula daycares. The white Legos were previously used by the university's campus development as part of Aalto and MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) CityScope joint project. In the project, Legos were used as an augmented reality platform to visualize the relationships between various variables on campus and to simulate the effects of different projects, for example, by changing the locations or quantities of different bricks. Otaniemi served as a prototype for the project.
After the project ended, ACRE wanted to give the Legos a new life. Some of the white bricks went to Perkkaa School in Espoo, and the rest to Touhula daycares throughout Southern Finland.
"There were a lot of Legos, and the university couldn't find a new use for this quantity. We thought together about where there would surely be a need for the Legos, and daycares came to mind. We then took action,” says ACRE Head of Property and Campus Services Jukka Salmisto.
At Touhula daycares, the building blocks were received with enthusiasm and joy. At the Espoo Tikasmäki Touhula, the Lego boxes were opened immediately, and the children let their imaginations run wild.
"From the perspective of early childhood education, Legos act as a unifying factor for different children. The language of building blocks is universal, and everyone understands it! Legos allow both communal play and individual ideation, as well as the development of social skills and emotional processing. In addition, they support logical and mathematical thinking.
Such a large number of building blocks also means that after each play session, what has been built doesn't have to be taken apart. Instead, it can be left waiting for further development, and there are still enough Legos left for other children," says Daliah Javne, the Director of Tikasmäki Touhula daycare.
The Lego donation immediately inspired Touhula's regional director, Pirjo Kosonen, to come up with collaborative projects between the daycares:
"The donation wonderfully connects the Touhulas in Southern Finland. Now that several Touhulas have received a batch of the same kind of bricks, we can also think about projects that unite the daycares. For instance, we could create a joint Lego winter world exhibition and photograph it."
Indeed, in the children's hands, a variety of structures began to be made from the white Lego bricks.
Read more news
TiLA! – a new home for creativity in Otaniemi
A community workspace in Espoo for artists and creative professionals.
Submit your nomination for the Campus Sustainability Champion 2026!
Submit your nomination for the Campus Sustainability Champion.
Take a Break: New relaxation room opens at the Undergraduate Centre
New relaxation room for students in room Y420.Webinar Series: Unlocking the Potential of Neurodiversity in Education & Work
The webinar series consists of three webinars during autumn 2026, focusing on the neurodiversity in higher education and work life.This English-language three-part webinar series explores how neurodiversity can be better understood and transformed into a strength for individuals, teams, and organizations.