LEGO® Serious Play® is a facilitated method that uses LEGO® bricks to support thinking, communication and problem-solving. Participants build models in response to questions, use those models to explain their ideas, and then explore connections, patterns and possibilities together.

The emphasis is not on building skill or creating something that looks impressive. The bricks are simply a tool for helping people think, express ideas and make thinking visible.

LEGO® Serious Play® was developed in the late 1990s through collaboration between the LEGO Group and academics working in strategy and organisational development.

The method emerged from the idea that thinking with your hands and building ideas in three dimensions could help people explore complex questions in a different way. It was initially used in strategy and organisational settings and has since been adapted across education, coaching, leadership, research, team development and many other contexts.

A facilitator poses a carefully designed question or challenge. Participants build a model in response, share the meaning of their model, and reflect on what emerges through the discussion.

Because everyone builds and everyone shares, the process creates a different kind of conversation from a typical meeting or workshop. It can help surface perspectives that might otherwise remain unspoken and gives everyone an opportunity to contribute.

No. LEGO® Serious Play® is a facilitation method, not a therapeutic intervention.

It can support meaningful reflection and sometimes leads to powerful conversations, but facilitators work within the boundaries of their own professional role and expertise. The training focuses on using the method responsibly and appropriately in facilitated settings. However, those who come from a therapeutic background can certainly layer LSP into their own practice.

Very likely. One of the strengths of the method is that it can be adapted to many different contexts.

Facilitators use LEGO® Serious Play® in areas including education and learning, team development, organisational development, strategy, coaching, leadership, community engagement, research, innovation and change.

During the training, you will learn the underlying process rather than simply being given a set of ready-made activities, so you can design applications appropriate to your own context.

Participants come from a wide range of professional backgrounds. Previous participants have included people working in education, learning and development, organisational development, executive coaching, healthcare, NGOs, entrepreneurship, the arts and community settings.

Some people arrive with considerable facilitation experience; others are beginning to incorporate facilitation into their work. That diversity is often one of the strengths of the training.

No specific qualification or professional background is required.

The training is designed for people who want to use LEGO® Serious Play® as part of their professional practice. Experience of working with groups, facilitating, teaching, coaching or supporting learning can be helpful, but you do not need to be an experienced facilitator before attending.

Absolutely not. No previous LEGO® experience is required, and there is no such thing as being “good” or “bad” at LEGO® Serious Play®.

You will learn the building skills you need as part of the training. The focus is always on the meaning of the model rather than how technically sophisticated it looks.

LEGO® Serious Play® can look simple from the outside: ask a question, build something and talk about it. In practice, effective facilitation relies on much more than the bricks.

Good LEGO® Serious Play® sessions depend on how questions are framed, how activities are sequenced, how individual and shared models are used, and how the facilitator manages the conversation without interpreting participants’ models for them.

The training gives you the opportunity to experience the method, understand the principles behind it, practise facilitating it yourself and receive feedback before applying it in your own setting.

On completion of the training, you will receive a Certificate in the LSP Method, issued through University College Cork’s Adult Continuing Education. The certificate carries both the UCC and LSP Method logos.

The programme is an intensive, practical facilitator training experience based on Michael Fearne’s LSP Method. Over two days, you will experience the method as a participant, practise facilitating it yourself, and learn how to design and facilitate LEGO® Serious Play® sessions in your own professional context.

You do not need to purchase a kit before attending the training.

The training includes the materials you need to learn and practise the method, and you will receive a starter kit to support your own facilitation afterwards.

There are different LEGO® Serious Play® kits and combinations of materials that can be used depending on the type of workshop you are designing. The training will help you understand what you actually need, so you do not have to invest in large amounts of LEGO® unnecessarily.

Yes. The training is designed to give you both an understanding of the LEGO® Serious Play® method and practical experience designing and facilitating sessions yourself.

You will leave with methods, resources and a framework you can adapt to your own professional context, as well as ongoing access to mentoring and the facilitator community.

It is particularly powerful in face-to-face settings because participants physically build, share and connect models. However, elements of the method can also be adapted for online and hybrid settings when participants have access to appropriate materials.

The important thing is preserving the core principles of building, meaning-making, sharing and reflection rather than simply adding LEGO® to an existing activity.

You can find upcoming facilitator training dates and book your place through University College Cork’s Adult Continuing Education.

View upcoming LEGO® Serious Play® facilitator training

Places are limited to keep the training practical, interactive and small-group.

If you’d like to explore LEGO® Serious Play® in more depth, check out my [Resources page], where I’ve brought together useful articles, research, interviews and other resources on the method.

Origins and overview

Roos, J., & Victor, B. (2018). How It All Began: The Origins of LEGO® Serious Play®.
A first-hand account from the originators of the idea, tracing how LEGO® Serious Play® developed from early work on strategy and serious play.
https://www.ijmar.org/v5n4/18-025.html

Chew, R. S. Y., et al. (2026). LEGO® Serious Play® Research: A Bibliometric Mapping of Themes, Trajectories and Frontiers (2015–2025).
A useful overview of the development of the research field, mapping publications across areas including education, healthcare and organisational settings.
https://ijlter.org/index.php/ijlter/article/view/14960

LEGO® Serious Play® in higher education

Nerantzi, C., & James, A. (Eds.). LEGO® for University Learning: Online, Offline and Elsewhere.
An open-access collection exploring the use of LEGO® and LEGO® Serious Play® across face-to-face, online and blended higher education settings. I contributed the chapter “Using LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® as Problem Solving,” drawing on my own practice in higher education.
https://zenodo.org/records/7421754

Benesova, N. (2023). LEGO® Serious Play® in Management Education.
An open-access study exploring the use of LEGO® Serious Play® within management education and across an extended learning experience rather than a single workshop.
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/2331186X.2023.2262284

Thomson, C., Johnston, J. L., & Reid, H. (2018). Rich Stories: Embedding LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® into Undergraduate Medical Education.
A useful example of LEGO® Serious Play® being used to support reflection, creativity and engagement in undergraduate medical education.
https://ijmar.org/v5n4/18-024.html

LEGO® Serious Play® and coaching

In 2026, I completed a study exploring creative coaching methods in career transition: Creative coaching methods in career transition: Exploring reflection and meaning-making through LEGO® Serious Play® and collage. The study explores how creative coaching methods may help support reflection and insight in the context of career transition.  https://cora.ucc.ie/items/ed976750-c44d-4549-adfe-363216bbece2 

LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® in 1–1 Coaching
A chapter exploring the use of LEGO® Serious Play® within individual coaching and how the method can support reflection and meaning-making.
https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-79952-6_24

Other resources

The LSP Method
A collection of free resources, tools and material for exploring the method in more depth.
https://www.lspmethod.com/resources/