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Brooklyn Woman Makes Miniature Lego Worlds

By Serena Dai | March 30, 2015 1:37pm
 Eleanor Rodgers designs mini-worlds out of Legos for kids classes.
Brooklyn Woman Makes 'Miniature Universes' Out of Lego
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KENSINGTON — The world of pirates, ninjas and even "Star Wars" are within reach for Brooklyn mom Eleanor Rodgers.

Rodgers, 37, has designed nearly two dozen worlds — with pirate ships, castles and more — out of Lego bricks, with some calling her a "master Lego builder."

For Rodgers, who has loved Lego since she was a young, the designs are a way to keep her son and other local kids busy after school with Lego classes.

"I've seen classes that focus on Legos to teach kids engineering. That is not what my class is doing," Rodgers said. "I'm focused on building miniature universes. That's what little kids want."

Rodgers, who moved to Kensington from Ireland, was obsessed with Lego as a kid. When she was a teenager, she'd put off homework every day to build homes and towers out of the plastic bricks.

As she grew older, she stopped.

But when her son started taking an interest in building with Legos, she brought the toys back into the house.

Her son James, 6, kept asking her to create different worlds, like a Western one to mimic film "The Lone Ranger" or a "Star Wars"-themed one.

Instead of buying a kit, which can cost hundreds of dollars, Rodgers worked on creating her own "miniature universes" using standard Lego pieces.

From that, she's created a variety of Lego realms, including an underwater world, a Western world, homes, a pizza restaurant, a castle and a wizard world.

They include little details like a horse-drawn carriage, or a coal-fired oven for pizza, that children can eventually learn to make.

"The bit that I find endlessly entertaining is designing the stuff myself," Rodgers said.

Her son, who didn't want to do group sports or other after-school activities, wanted to learn how to make the universes himself. He brought friends, and soon, Rodgers was making more and more Lego universes and teaching more and more kids.

Now, Rodgers offers two to three classes a week in her Kensington home at about $20 a class, where kids ages 4 to 9 come to learn how to build Lego worlds.

She also hosts Lego-themed birthday parties, where attendees learn how to make a world out of Legos. The cost of the parties starts at $120.

Rodgers mostly teaches classes around Kensington and Park Slope, including after-school classes for students at P.S. 130 and weekend classes at Lark Cafe.

She recently also hosted a class teaching kids how to create the New York City skyline out of Legos at the City Reliquary Museum in Williamsburg.

For Rodgers, whose home is filled with boxes of Legos, it's a way to indulge in a childhood obsession with some people who truly appreciate it — kids.

"I love building these little things," Rodgers said. "Then it comes to an end, and your children like you for it. It’s something they can play with."