By number of tyres produced, LEGO is one of the world’s biggest tyre manufacturers. Which tells us something rather brilliant about play: sometimes one small piece can make a whole world move…
There are many ways to answer the question: who makes the most tyres in the world?
A sensible person might say Michelin or Goodyear… but by sheer number of tyres produced, the answer is apparently LEGO.
According to Guinness World Records, LEGO has made around 306 million little rubber tyres each year since 2006. In 2010, it reportedly reached a peak of 381 million, which is a lot of tyres.
True, the little wheels won’t get you far down the M4, but they’re tyres all the same: tiny black circles of possibility, ready to turn a pile of bricks into cars, trucks, diggers, moon buggies, racing machines and strange wheeled inventions that defy physics.
And we reckon that this brilliant pub fact actually tells us something quite wonderful about play.
The LEGO wheel was launched in 1962. Before then, the brick was already a genius invention: simple, colourful, satisfying and endlessly reusable. Children could build houses, towers, walls, castles, garages, cities and objects of profound structural eccentricity.
But the wheel added another dimension again to the system, because it meant that LEGO could move. That sounds obvious, but it is a notable imaginative leap. A house can become a fire station; a fire station can have an engine; the engine can be driven across the carpet, sent to the rescue, crashed into a skirting board and rebuilt as something faster, stranger or more heavily armed.
The wheel expanded what imagination could do.
That is the secret of really good play materials. They do not over-explain themselves, but offer just enough structure to get things started, then leave room for invention.
A LEGO tyre is not, in itself, very exciting. It is a small black ring. But in the hands of a child (or indeed a fully grown adult) it becomes movement, escape, speed, purpose, journey, danger… in other words, a story. A tiny part unlocks a larger world.
One of the clever things about LEGO is that it is both highly constrained and almost infinitely open. The studs have to fit and the bricks obey certain rules, otherwise towers will collapse and vehicles won’t drive. That makes LEGO a system rather than a complete free-for-all, and systems are brilliant for play.
It is also why LEGO works for so many different kinds of minds. Some people love the calm satisfaction of following the instructions and making the thing on the box exactly as intended. Others build the official version first, then start tinkering and customising. Others tip the whole lot onto the floor and go entirely freestyle.
All of these are valid forms of play. The system is strong enough to support accuracy, improvisation and outright invention. That is a rare and rather brilliant thing.
Children understand this instinctively. A game is rarely made better by having no rules at all. The rules create the space in which ingenuity can happen. This is where play and creativity are so closely connected. Play gives us boundaries, but within those boundaries it asks: what else could happen?
That question is useful far beyond the toy box.
In the workplace, we sometimes talk about creativity as if it arrives out of nowhere like a lightning bolt. More often, though, creative thinking comes from playing intelligently within constraints.
A team has limited time, budget, materials, people or information. The question is not “what would we do if anything were possible?” but “what can we make possible with what we have?”
That is very LEGO-ish. The pieces and the system are there, and the challenge is to combine them differently. Some people will find confidence in the structure; others will immediately start experimenting at the edges. Good play makes room for both.
At Sharky + George, we think this is one of the reasons play can be so powerful for teams. A well-designed playful experience creates a separate space where people can experiment without the usual fear of getting it wrong. It gives just enough structure to make people feel safe, and just enough freedom to let them surprise themselves.
Play often turns on small things: a prop, a rule or a puzzle… or a little rubber tyre. These things invite us in and can turn thought into action and action into story.
The Transformational Power of Play framework is built around three conditions: Space, Connection and Flow. When those conditions are present, play can lead to Ingenuity, Belonging and Vitality – the outcomes that matter to individuals, families, teams and organisations.
LEGO’s tiny tyres are a perfect example of how a simple playful ingredient can change the whole field of possibility. Add a wheel, and the brick begins to move. Add the right play, and people often do too.
Read more about these ideas in our free white paper The Transformational Power of Play.
See also The Play Files #1: Bumble Bees Play Ball Games
Images licensed under the Unsplash+ License
