LEGO Cost of Goods Sold

Overview

The Why

Reinforced Values
Passion
Sound Judgment
Win-Win

The Lego Cost of Goods Sold Activity provides students the opportunity to calculate the cost of goods sold for a prototype they design. The activity also allows students to understand how those costs effect price and potential profit. As an added bonus, students have an opportunity to demonstrate their design creativity while doing math. Now that doesn’t happen very often!

Intro

• An independent toy company has hired your product design team to create a toy prototype using building blocks. You must keep track of the costs to build your prototype and suggest a price that will generate a profit.

Social and Emotional Skills

1. Relationship Skills – Because students are expected to work together in small teams, they are challenged to identify who has comparative advantages for which roles to ensure they can build a quality prototype and complete the math for the activity in the limited time given. This requires students to practice active communication and listening and cooperation and negotiation skills, as well as humility.
2. Responsible Decision-Making – The next core competency students will engage in is responsible decision making. While it is fun to create a new toy out of Legos, the students must use sound judgment and ask questions of each other to ensure their toy does not cost too much (price per piece). They need to anticipate what the proposed audience/customer will be interested in purchasing as well as how much they might be willing to pay. This type of analysis and evaluation are skills that are needed to think responsibly.

Preparation

• Determine how you will ensure students receive the materials needed to participate in this activity. If you do not want to mail students the materials listed in the guide or if your school does not have a “supplies pickup day,” ask students if they have Legos at home. If some students don’t have Legos, consider assigning teams in which at least one student has them.
  • The number of Lego/building blocks you will need will be based on the size of your class as well as the number of students you want to assign to each team.
• Determine which platform you will use to engage students in the activity.
• Upload all necessary materials, including the Worksheet to your classroom platform before class. 
  • Remember to make the appropriate changes to the Cost of Goods Sold Worksheet based on which Lego pieces students have the ability to choose for their prototype.
• Determine if you will assign teams or if students can self-select themselves.
• Review the activity guide to ensure you understand the instructions and debrief.
• Determine if you will make this activity a classroom competition and if so, how will you determine a winner?
• Determine how you will engage students in the debrief following the activity.

Directions

• You have 20 minutes to create a new product and complete the worksheet. Decide as a team what toy you want to make. 
  • Pro tip – If you purchased and sent the mini Lego kit to each student, tell them they cannot create any of the toys that are shown or included in the kit.
  • Each team will choose roles for team members –
    • Builder
    • Research and Developer
    • Accountant
    • Marketer/ Pitcher
  • Only students chosen by the team to be “builder” will be able to assemble their team’s prototype. 
  • All students in the group are responsible for completing the math related to determining the cost of goods sold.
  • Using the worksheet, determine the cost of goods sold for your team’s prototype using the unit costs listed. 
  • Give the toy a name. 
  • Describe the toy.
  • Determine the selling price. 
  • Given the selling price, how much profit will the toy company make for each of your team’s toys sold? 
• At the end of 20 minutes, each team will pitch their prototype to the owner of the toy company. Each team will have 60 seconds to pitch. 
• Ask for any questions. Send each team to a breakout room. 
• Set a timer for 20 minutes and say, “Begin designing your prototypes!”

Debrief

Students can complete the debrief in many ways. Some options include on paper, in a group setting via any virtual call platform, or by recording their feedback using EdTech tools and sharing with their classmates.

• How did your team decide what to create? (Passion) 
• How did your team decide who would represent each role?
• How did your team use sound judgment when it came to the selection of Legos for the prototype? Did you use sound judgment when you made this decision? 
• Did you pivot while building your prototype? If so, in what way? Why? 
• Was the total cost of goods sold higher than you expected it to be when you were done? Did you change anything as a response? Why or why not? 
• Is your toy idea a win-win opportunity for both you and your customer? 
• Who is your target market? 
• Why did you choose the name for your team’s toy? 
• Where would you sell your toy?