Does your child struggle with spatial reasoning and math? Here’s a fun, surprising way to help—enjoy some LEGO time.

University of Surrey led a study involving 409 six- to seven-year-olds that incorporated LEGO building into their school’s daily teaching curriculum. This 6-week, hands-on, structured LEGO building program encouraged the students to visualize and mentally manipulate the blocks while following pictorial instructions. This simple (and fun) intervention improved the students’ spatial and math performance in only 6-weeks. And it proved most effective for children who came from disadvantaged backgrounds, closing the “achievement gap” between them and those from more advantaged backgrounds. Overall, this study suggests that “simple, hands-on spatial activities can have a powerful impact on learning and are an important avenue to improve children’s achievement and enjoyment of mathematics.”

So, if your child struggles with spatial reasoning and math achievement, give LEGOs a try. Sit down with your child and pull out the LEGOs. Look at the pictorial directions provided in the LEGOs kit and build together. Don’t forget to relax and have fun while you’re doing it. Then, when it’s all done, you can do one of two things. Tear it apart and start again (maybe even building something different this time) or put it on display for all to admire. You’ll have so much fun you might forget that you’re also improving your child’s spatial reasoning and math skills at the same time.