Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Coral Reef Photos

Wow, 43 amazing, unique, creative designs solutions to the "create a coral reef" challenge. I will try to be brief with my comments this time due to the number of submissions.


by Abdullah, age 9 1/2 Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Directly on the Red Sea.

We are blessed to actually see some awesome coral reefs in person. Abdullah enjoys snorkeling with his dad and he tried to incorporate many things he knows about coral reefs in his project.
"There is a diver with a spear gun. My dad and his friends often go fishing in the Red Sea and they catch fish such as red sea grouper while they are snorkeling. They don't touch the coral reef because these are living creatures and so important for our environment. In the Red Sea there are also sharks to be found, mostly white tip sharks who like to be close to coral reefs. Hope you enjoy!"

Unbelievable! The fact that you can actually see these amazing ecosystems in person! This is a great scene showing your dad and even the looming shark! I love all the tiny bright little growths here and there.


by Yash, age 6.5, Hong Kong.

"This is my coral reef. There is a diver who dived to see the coral reef. There were lots of coral. You can see his boat far away on the waves. There are sea creatures in my coral reef."

Wonderful use of foreground and background space in this scene! I love all the creatures.


by Emi, age 6 and Bryn, age 8, Figanieres France

"This is a coral reef. Coral reefs can be colourful. Coral reefs are homes to lots of creatures. There are a lot of places for animals to eat and hide. In our coral reef, there is a ship wreck and a surfer who is surfing on the water. In real life it is hard to surf on top of a coral reef because the coral prevents waves!"

Great collaboration work! I love all the different types of little organic configurations you guys built! The surfer is a great addition.


by Luke, age 7, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada.

"These 2 sharks are searching for food in the coral reef. The fish better look out!"

What an amazing underwater space you designed! Very smart of you to place the flat pieces on their edges to create this cool scene! The placement of the sharks make this so intriguing.


by Logan, age 7, Nova Scotia, Canada.

"Here is my coral reef. My mom, brother and I looked at some pictures of reefs and we noticed many people scuba diving to see the reefs, so I added a scuba diver to my lego design. I only had one fish to add, but I made a giant yellow one too. Can you find him?"

I love this bright, twisting underwater world, especially the climbing growths! It's an amazing 3 dimensional space.


by Luke, age 8, Asheville, North Carolina, USA.

"You may ask why he has alligators in his setup. We read an article recently about an alligator that was found 20 miles out to sea. Luke was really fascinated by that and wanted others to know it too!"

Brilliant design, I love how you used the story of the alligator to create this great scene!


by Aaron, age 6, Tucson, Arizona, USA.

"This is a coral reef with a blue fish swimming on top."

Wonderful abstract design! I love how colorful this creation is. I can see that little blue guy swimming on top!


by River, age 8, Tennessee, USA.

"This is my coral reef. The white LEGOs are the white sand at the bottom of the ocean. The blue is the water in the ocean. There is a scuba diver, who is a scientist, studying the coral and getting a sample.

Sophisticated design! Great use of window pieces to create the three dimensional space. I really love how the scientist is attached!


by Jaden, age 10, West Richland, Washington, USA.

"In this scene, there's a sunken ship that settled near a coral reef alive with colors. A diver has found a treasure chest!! It's hiding behind some seaweed just below him! The diver says, "Woohoo! I found the treasure! ... and an anchor?!" I like coral reefs because they have different types of fish.

Detail rich underwater display! I love that you hung the scuba diver by a string, it adds so much sophistication to this design. Great dangled masses of various growth.


by Finn, age 6, Richland, Washington, USA.

"He wanted me to point out the turtle and crab crawling on the ocean floor."

This is such a smart, unique design! I love the way you built the bright coral structures on a flat plane and then erected it to create a backdrop. The diver hanging from a string is brilliant! Creates a great sense of 3 dimensional space.


by Phoenix, age 9, North Carolina, USA.

"The brown pieces are from a ship wreck and treasure chest with jewels and gold."

I really love this scene. The way you placed the bricks at alternating angles makes the bright structures look very organic in nature! Great to have included the remnants of a ship wreck.


by Eli, age 8, Manitoba, Canada.

"The man is a GI Joe and the ray is just a plastic toy, they love exploring the ocean together."

Fabulous brightly designed underwater structures. I love how jaggedly they are growing!


by Day, age 11, Manitoba, Canada.

"The yellow on top of the white and grey coral is a goldfish, and the tall red coral is called flame coral."

This scene is so wonderfully full of reaching, stretching, colorful coral. Very organic design!


by Noa, age 10, Manitoba, Canada.

"This is fun to play with. The Knex pieces are an anemone."

The added creatures make this an active reef! Very smart to use the Knex pieces as anemones!


by Gid, age 6, Manitoba, Canada.

"This is my coral reef, it is very small because someone bombed all the rest of it. The crown-of-thorns eats this coral."

The crown of thorns starfish will surely finish off this little coral! Great that you built it in a tank.


by Rachel, age 9 in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada.

"This is a coral reef with a scuba diver taking a picture of a clownfish."

Fabulous scene! I love the bright clown fish and the cool underwater camera you created!


byZephyr, age 8, Wichita, Kansas, USA.

"Coral Reef Exploration. The diver is looking for a nice piece of coral to take back for studying. It is going to benefit all coral reefs if he can figure out what is killing the coral. If it is a bacteria, we can stop it."

Great underwater display showing a marine biologist studying the coral reef! I love the octopus.


by Nithya, age 7, Atlanta, Georgia, USA.

"My coral reef creation is inspired from the Great Barrier reef near Australia. There are two fish that are called "Grazing fish" that I have shown. These algae eating fish will help clean up my coral reef."

Wonderfully inspired by the Great Barrier reef! Awesome grazing fish, very smart design.


by Josh, age 5, Minnesota, USA.

Wonderful, brightly colored structure. This looks like each color is a different type of coral making up a larger formation.


by Joey, age 9, Richland, Washington, USA.

"If you press a lever near the cave it will show a small lego eel that you can see. The diver is finding a secret treasure that the eel was hiding to control time. "

Very interesting underwater design. The cave and diver show some cool exploration ideas.


by Elijah, age 5, Richland, Washington, USA.

"X Wing Underwater Ship. It's a police ship for Coral Ships."

Very cool! A police vehicle designed specifically to protect the coral reef areas. Brilliant!


by Nate, age 7, Richland, Washington, USA.

"Nate made this coral scene in just a few minutes. He doesn't have much to add but his mom is so impressed with his quick work and creativity."

There is so much going on in this cool scene. Great variety of interesting organisms created.


by Katy, age 4, Richland, Washington, USA.

She wanted me to point out the underwater chair "just in case the diver got tired"!

Lovely bright colors used. The underwater chair for a tired diver is a great idea!


by Julius, age 7, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.

"This is my yellow coral reef. There is a cave and two coral plants. I put a piece of blue clear LEGO to make it look like water."

I love that you used a window piece to show water. The cave is a great little space for creatures to hide.


by Cody, age 7 London, Ontario, Canada.

"This is my coral reef. There is an anchor, a diver, and an octopus hiding in his cave. There are many corals. They come in lots of different colours, sizes and shapes. The octopus is guarding the mossy sign above him. "

I love all your corals of various sizes and shapes. The octopus in it's little cave is perfect.


by Hannah, age 11, London, Ontario, Canada.

"My creation is a coral reef. It is a very crowded part of the coral reef, with all sorts of colourful plants. In my coral reef, all of the plants are about the same size in height, but some are wider then others like a real coral reef."

Great creation. There is a good variety of plants in this interesting coral reef design.


by Nathan, age 10 and Jonathan, age 7, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA.

"There is a treasure chest under the shark, who is eating a fish. There is a zebra eel behind the brown finger coral. The flowers are polyps, and the big groups of polyps make the brain coral. We have staghorn, plate, and cauliflower coral."

Superb scene! I love that you used a book about coral reefs as your backdrop. The finger coral design is amazing, nice collaboration.



by Ella, age 9, Charlottesville, Virginia, USA.

I love all the bright, small pieces you used to show different corals. Neat to see a person inside exploring and studying it. I especially like where you photographed this creation, it looks to be in it's natural habitat!


by Jonah, age 7, Michigan, USA.

"My lego guy diving in the coral reef"

Great organic structure full of life. All the colors make this so beautiful, it would be fun to swim there.


by Jacob, age 9, Michigan, USA.

"This is a picture of my two lego buddies and they are exploring the southern pacific coral reef."

Smart the way you placed your bricks to have overhanging edges and growth patterns in different directions. I love the addition of the explorers.


by Eli, age 8, Oklahoma, USA.

Great shipwreck, a breeding ground for different types to corals to live on. Nice variety of living organisms.


by Austyn , age 7, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

“There is a red octopus, a white anemone, white coral (block in the middle), gray sand, a baby blue whale, yellow eggs with a clown fish, and a gray angel fish (at the back)."

Great octopus design! I also really love the angel fish creation and the clown fish with eggs. So cool!


by Cassandra, age 9, Selah, Washington, USA.

"I used small squares, and bright colors to make it delicate and colorful like coral. We watched Coral Reef Adventure and I learned lots."

Coral Reef Adventure looks like a great film! This does indeed look delicate and colorful, nice work!


by Hannah, age 10, New Jersey, USA.

"I combined several Lego sets to make this underwater scene."

How is that boat being held in place!? Love all the different levels, (the surface of the water, the mid coral growth section and the bottom.) The diver is about to get eaten!


by Sam, age 11, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

"A legendary secret coral reef cove, complete with sunken treasures & skeleton's."

There is so much great plant growth everywhere. How exciting that a treasure is hidden here.


by Jacob, age 6, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

"This coral reef has a pirate's treasure chest & lots of sea snakes."

Tons of different vegetation everywhere, perfect for all the sea snakes to live around. I also spy an octopus.


by Sullivan, age 7, Matthews, North Carolina, USA.

“Swimming fish and octopus in coral reef.”

These are two very cute little creatures. I love how they are camouflaged so perfectly and all anyone can see are their eyes.


by Adrienne, age 13, SW Ontario, Canada.

"The vehicle is a submarine that can also go on land. The diver is on a submersible vehicle, he is looking for treasure. In the brown cave there is an octopus with the remains of a recent diver. The pink and yellow things are coral."

I really love the submersible vehicle design. The corals are nice and bright and the cave with octopus is creepy! Great that you used moon sand to create the ocean floor!


by Elianna, age 4, Guelph, Ontario, Canada.

"Elianna built her own reef."

Wonderful reef I really like how it's reaching and growing upwards. I love all the little creatures you've attached to your design.


by Fin age 6, Elliot age 7, Maya age 6, Ayla age 5, and Sylvan age 2, Guelph, Ontario, Canada.

"Little Lego Reef. Fin says: On Tuesday we get together with some homeschoolers and we do different kinds of activities at different peoples houses. This time we did a coral reef. Everyone came to our house and we read some books about coral reefs and we watched some videos about coral reefs. We passed around shells and coral, like a show and tell. Then after that we got together at the table and we built all sorts of things. And some people brought shells, and crafted undersea animals and we put them together in an under-the-sea coral reef. In the picture there is a big lego fish, a playdough fish. The white coral is dead coral. The blue coral and the red coral and the yellow, are the alive coral. There is some brain coral. There is a sunken, forgotten city with flags too."

Great collaboration! I especially love how many kids of various ages worked together to create and interpret this project. You've represented many kinds of coral in this creation as well as many interesting objects.


by Micah, age 6, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada.

"This is my coral reef. There is an eel. There is a starfish on red soft coral. There is a broken submarine that sank. The red stuff is a broken cave. The blue stuff beside this is blue coral. In the middle is hard coral with the polyps out."

Great underwater scene. I really love how you built the starfish and the pieces you used to show polyps are perfect.


by Eli, age 5, Los Angeles, California, USA.

"The diver was diving in the coral reef and discovered a ship wreck."

How exciting for this diver to come across this ship wreck complete with treasure! There are many cool elements to this design, I really like the white corals reaching upwards.



A, age 6, and G, age 4, Midwest, USA.

"The diver is diving to see all the animals under the sea. His favorite animal is a turtle. The diver's friend is in the submarine. They are helping a mama turtle lay eggs. They want to help keep the eggs safe."

Your mom said you guys are learning about Australia and the Great Barrier Reef, how cool! This is a great underwater scene, I love that you built your scene inside the blue LEGO box, it looks like the ocean!