Today’s guest article comes from Bethany Wright, a builder, LEGO educator and Tips&Bricks contributor who makes MOCs move and runs Interactive Bricks. Making MOCs for a LEGO Convention “But could you make it move?” I remember looking skeptically at my friend, who had just challenged me to try something with LEGO movement. I knew nothing about gears. I’m not an engineer. But here he was, daring me to try something new.  I had seen plenty of builds with complex movements. I even found some free instructions that helped me go from zero knowledge to understanding basic movements. But when it came to incorporating that movement into MOCs that I displayed at LEGO shows, I was woefully unprepared for what I was about to encounter. I’ll spare you the details of what went wrong at my first show. Instead, let me share the lessons of everything I learned the hard way… Starting...

Today, we are building a tiny LEGO Snoopy and his flying red doghouse! But before we start the build, here’s a little story that inspired everything. To be honest, I’ve never read, watched, or played with anything Snoopy-related. I know the guy mostly from the web, and that’s it. Of course, I saw that LEGO Ideas 21368 Peanuts: Snoopy’s Doghouse was now available, but I didn’t feel any kind of way towards it. Except maybe for the new grass pieces in green and yellow (definitely delicious-looking). Podcast Inspirations But enough about that—what inspired today’s build? Recently, I’ve been spending a lot less time on social media. If my screen app is not lying, it’s between 3 and 10 minutes a day on Instagram, which is pretty good. So, a few days ago, I picked up my phone and opened Instagram to do a quick look. The first thing I saw was...

The BrickLink Designer Program has produced some impressive buildings over the years, but few are as ambitious as the University of Science. Created by Joshua Kingma, also known as KingCreations, the nearly 4,000-piece model shocases the grandeur of a historic university packed with classrooms, laboratories, hidden details, and architectural character. Joshua Kingma building the University of Science. With pre-orders opening today, we sat down with Joshua to talk about the long road from concept to finished set, designing for the BrickLink Designer Program, and why educational buildings deserve a place in our LEGO cities. The Builder Behind the University of Science Dave: For readers who may not know your work, can you tell us a little about yourself and your history as a LEGO fan? Joshua: Yeah, absolutely. Like a lot of people, I’ve been a LEGO fan my whole life. I was really into it as a kid, then kind...

A new month is upon us which means more competitive and just-for-fun building! Are you ready? Here’s the latest bunch of LEGO contests and challenges from all around the AFOL community for June 2026 to help you find some inspiration and motivation to build! There’s nothing quite like a theme or a prompt to nudge you out of your comfort zone and push you to experiment building in ways you might not otherwise attempt. We’ve listed them in order of deadline so you can plan your building time wisely—especially in a month that always seems to fly by. Be sure to check the LEGO activity calendar for local challenges and events near you. Some of our fondest memories, proudest builds, coolest trophies, and strongest friendships started with a contest entry, so we hope you’ll jump in and give one (or two) a try. Brethren of the Brick Seas: A Knight’s Tale...

Today is the 60th anniversary of the opening of “It’s a Small World” at Disneyland, BrickNerd is featuring a guest post by builder Bill Vollbrecht about his stunning LEGO display of the iconic ride. Bill shares how this impressive build began, the hardest details to replicate, and the risks of carrying a large MOC down a staircase... When I was a child of four or five years old, our family was visiting my Great Aunt and Uncle in Costa Mesa California. While the adults caught up with each other, I looked for something to occupy my time—no easy task in the childless elderly couple’s home! But looking at their bookcase, I came across a Disneyland guidebook from the late sixties. Having never been to the park, I assumed it was all about the same cartoons we would watch during The Wonderful World of Disney on Sunday nights. Instead, it was filled...