The summer is coming to an end, rather quickly. We checked most of the things off our summer bucket list, and we had a blast doing so. The kids are slowly, ever so slowly starting to climb the walls. Now even the toddler has learned to say: “what are we going to do today? I am bored!”
I smile and give them all the same answer my mom gave me as a child: “Intelligent people are never bored!” (Ouch – think about that one for a minute…!) It took Jacob a few minutes to realize what I had just said to him – and then he grinned – braces, missing teeth and all.
I start to throw rapid-fire ideas at the kids. They stare at me, shaking their heads in unison after every single one of my creative suggestions. I give up…! – When finally, Jacob comes up with something he would like to do, something that would take a little while – so that alone is a huge win!
“Mom, can we do another LEGO pixel art picture? But this time I want to use all tiles, I think that will look super cool!” I LOVE that he thought of ways to improve the picture I made last month.
I will never get tired of watching the hamsters spin in that boy’s head. He’s analytical and methodical about everything he does. Well, most things – he’s still a boy who forgets to brush his teeth and needs to be reminded 53 times to do the most basic tasks. But for the most part, he impresses me.
It’s up to the kids to pick images to create with LEGO, so I kick back and make myself comfortable on the couch. It usually takes the kids FOREVER to make decisions of any kind, especially important ones that involve LEGO. But not this time… The kids decide to mix their two greatest passions: LEGO and POKEMON!
We had so much fun last year with our perler (melting) beads. The kids quickly locate the POKEMON creatures they made then. They want to use those POKEMON creations as inspiration for their LEGO pixel art.
[bctt tweet=”Over 500 #Pokemon #PixelArt templates for fun with #LEGO. @LEGO_Group” username=”MamaintheNow”]
Step-by-step Instructions:
- Pick an image.
- We found over 500 Pokemon templates here and Pinterest is another great source for patterns and templates.
- Follow my Pinterest board for “Perler Patterns” so you are never at a shortage of ideas.
- Gather your LEGO bricks/ tiles.
- We are currently color-sorting our LEGO. Once we are done, it will be much easier for us to find the necessary bricks.
- In the meantime, we bought our LEGO tiles from several different sellers on BrickLink.
- If you are wondering how the site works, don’t miss the instructions Sarah from Frugal Fun For Boys and Girls, they were a huge help to me.
- Locate your [easyazon_link identifier=”B00NHQF65S” locale=”US” tag=”maminthenow0e-20″]LEGO baseplate[/easyazon_link].
- We have a healthy supply of basic baseplates, the standard size is 32 x 32 studs. I bought ours on [easyazon_link identifier=”B00NHQF65S” locale=”US” tag=”maminthenow0e-20″]Amazon[/easyazon_link].
- Center the image.
- Before you place your first brick, find the center of the image and the center of the base plate. Doing this before you start, ensures that your image is nicely centered with an equal number of studs on all sizes of the image.
- Start… have fun!
- We always keep a [easyazon_link identifier=”B0076VIZBW” locale=”US” tag=”maminthenow0e-20″]brick remover[/easyazon_link] handy, for easy removal of a misplaced tile or to run across a line of bricks to make sure they are lined up and straight.
- Hang/ display your work.
- I found [easyazon_link identifier=”B00004Z4A8″ locale=”US” tag=”maminthenow0e-20″]double-sided tape[/easyazon_link] to hang the baseplates on the wall in the kids’ room.
- The finished product is too heavy to hang if you use bricks, but using tiles reduce the weight tremendously, which is something important to keep in mind.
This project kept the kids busy for quite some time, especially Jacob. He has the patient of a saint when it comes to LEGO. He can build and create for hours without food or water! (Don’t worry, I do make him take breaks to eat and drink. I am not a mean mom!)
The summer was jam-packed with LEGO camps, Jordan’s LEGOLAND Make-a-Wish trip, LEGO reviews on YouTube, and organizing our LEGO, so it’s only fitting to end our summer break on a high LEGO note.
Check out our post about Minecraft and Pokemon bead creations, it’s been one of our most popular craft posts.
Lots of Pixel Art Templates and Patterns:
Cool Minecraft ideas. Simple construction inspiration.
74 Minecraft patterns. I know – that’s a lot!
COUNTLESS Pokemon instructions. No really, COUNTLESS – or 378, either way, it’s A LOT!
We may not always understand their Pokemon obsession, but we can still score cool-mom-points with these awesome Pokemon crafts and activities for kids of all ages!
