Height Chart for Children

Oh boy do they grow up fast!

As a parent of three young children (a three year old daughter and twin boys almost two years old), I'm always amazed when I realize how fast kids grow. Tracking their body height is a fun but also educational activity: The kids get so excited when they find out that they've grown again, and additionally they learn a bit about numbers and dimensions.

I've seen different styles of growth charts for children, either made from wood or paper, and at some point I had the idea: "Hey, I could make something like this with LEGO, but maybe a bit more playful and interesting."

So I decided to go for a vehicle themed height measuring chart, consisting of nine segments that show vehicles in different altitudes: From a submarine deep down in the ocean up to a spaceship traveling the stars. I tried to make the segments colorful without getting them too cluttered. The vehicles should be easily recognisable and are designed in a simple yet playful style. Each segment can be built independently, so building as a group activity is easily possible.

The actual measuring scale is placed on the right side of the build, where technic bricks with pin holes allow to attach tags for the current height and birthday milestones. I first thought about brick-building the measuring scale, but due to the odd dimensions of LEGO bricks and plates, exact measurements wouldn't be possible. So in the end, I went for handcrafted stickers. Since I'm living in Europe, I've used the metric system (centimeter) but obviously it would be possible to also create alternate stickers for imperial measurements.

A minifigure representing the kid being measured (in this case my three year old daughter) can be placed on top of the tracking markers. If this should become a real product, I would suggest adding a little selection of minifigure parts for the kids to choose from.

My daughter was very delighted when I showed my little project to her and now she wants to measure herself every other day.

I believe that this could be a great addition to the LEGO catalogue. It could work as something that friends or family members could buy as a present for new parents, or that parents can build with their kids as a group activity eventually.