Information and resources for teams

What is FIRST LEGO League Explore?

FIRST® LEGO® League Explore is an exciting international Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) programme for 6-9 year olds. It is coordinated in the UK by the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET). Education North Tyneside and Northumberland County Council run the North Tyneside and Northumberland event, in partnership with our wonderful sponsors Sage. 

Each year a theme relevant to the world around them is chosen as a focus for the children’s work. The teams work together for 7 - 12 weeks in school researching the topic while learning about the FIRST® LEGO® League Core Values of teamwork. They also construct and program a motorised LEGO® model that demonstrates their learning and their project.

At the end of the season there is a celebration festival at which all the schools taking part come together. Each team presents their work as a ‘Show Me’ poster board and their motorised LEGO® model. 

FIRST® LEGO® League Explore. rapidly develops teamwork, design, programming and communication skills, but the most important thing is that it’s great fun and makes the children really enjoy STEM subjects. It's also really easy for teachers to deliver as all the session resources you need are provided.

 

Key information

• FIRST LEGO League Explore is a non-competitive, hands-on STEM program for children aged 6 to 9 (Year 2 to Year 4)
• Teams can contain up to a maximum of 6 children. 
• Teams explore a real-world theme each year, starting with a LEGO® Education Explore Model. This year’s theme is called UNEARTHED and is all about archaeology. 
• There are 3 parts to the challenge;

• • Research the theme
  • Build a moving LEGO® model to represent an element of their research project
  • Create a Show Me poster to chronicle their work throughout the season and tell us about your team.

• You must make your LEGO® model move using LEGO® WeDo 2.0, or Spike Essential motors and some simple code.  
• Your team will document their work through engineering notebooks and share their journey through a Show Me poster at a FIRST® LEGO® League Explore Expo event.

 

Entry Models

There are three different ways to participate in FIRST LEGO League Explore:

1. The traditional method of entry is where schools run FIRST LEGO League Explore as an extra-curricular club. Each team you enter can be up to six children.
2. Some schools are already participating in the Sage-sponsored, FIRST LEGO League Classpack project. These schools will already have their equipment for the season and will be integrating FIRST LEGO League Explore into their curriculum and running it with all students in their Year 2, Year 3 and Year 4 classes. Schools participating in this way can nominate one or more teams (subject to event capacity) to represent their school at the regional end-of-season festivals.
3. You can independently participate in FIRST LEGO League Explore Classpack. Schools choosing this method can also deliver it to whole classes of students, but they would need to fund the entry costs themselves (£195 for 30 students). You can find out more about that here. Schools participating in this way could also nominate one or more teams from each class (subject to event capacity) to represent their school at the regional end-of-season event

 

This year’s challenge 

Have a look at this video which introduces the season challenge and resources.

 

 

Entry costs 

There is no charge for your school for regular entry to our FIRST® LEGO® League Explore season.

Entry to FIRST® LEGO® League Explore is normally £49 per team, which pays for the Explore set and season resources that you receive to run the project in your school. However, we are very lucky to receive fantastic support and sponsorship from The Sage Foundation, who have supported all our FIRST LEGO League programmes for a number of years now. 

Sage have been outstanding partners and are really passionate about promoting STEM to young people, in an effort to get them interested in pursuing STEM subjects in their education and future career paths. Their sponsorship allows us to remove as many barriers to participation as we can, so every school has the opportunity to engage in these fantastic programmes for FREE! 

 

Making it move - LEGO Education kits

An essential part of your team’s project model is making it move! This must be done by using  LEGO® Education SPIKE Essential kits.  These are not included in the registration for the season. 

 

LEGO WeDo v1.0 and WeDo 2.0 kits can also be used, however, all the materials in the club kits are now geared towards using the SPIKE Essential kits. We have Lego WeDo 2.0 kits available to loan for the season.

 

WeDo 2.0	SPIKE Essential

If you prefer to buy your own kit, the SPIKE Prime Essential is the way to go.  These cost approximately £266.00  ex VAT per kit. You would only need one kit for your team to compete. We’d recommend Raising Robots and Getech Education for purchasing your LEGO Education kits. 

 

The software for both sets is free to download on any device (PC, Mac, iOS, Android and Chromebook) and can be found here:

• WeDo 2.0 
• SPIKE Essential 

 

Your commitment to the event

Occasionally exceptional circumstances beyond anyone’s control mean that a team is not able to attend the end-of-season event, but if you sign up for a place and accept the funding from Sage we expect your full commitment to running the club in your school and attending the festival. It would be unfair to waste funding and a place that could have been taken by another school, so please make sure you deliver the programme and attend the event once you are committed to the season. 

 

Signing up

Whichever entry method you choose, please request your place in this year’s FIRST® LEGO® League Explore Superpowered season by completing THIS FORM. This includes schools taking part in the Sage Class pack project.

Places will be allocated on a first-come first served basis. Schools can also request more than one team if you think it will be popular in your school, However, every school that requests a place will be entered before any extra places are allocated. 

 

What do you get when you sign up?

When you enter your team will receive (and keep):

• The Explore Set with hundreds of LEGO pieces for your team to use for their model. 

 

Each year the Explore set is linked to the annual theme. This year it contains a radar model and an excavation site model as well as mini figures and lots of extra LEGO for your students to use in their creative builds. 

The Explore models always have a moving mechanism of some sort and can be operated by hand or connected to a motor. This should be the starting point of your team’s project and should be included in your final model somehow. They can also add to it or build other models to help demonstrate the things they have been finding out about in their project. You can add extra motors (if you have them) and sensors to control the model to make it even more impressive if you desire. You are also welcome to add to what’s provided with any official LEGO you already have in school.

Take a look at this video which gives a little taste of the Explore Set.

 

 

Digital Engineering Notebooks (one for each team member).  The Engineering Notebooks contain tasks, helpful information and a place for your team to record what they find out through the project.

 

 

Digital Team Meeting Guide is for whoever leads the club and contains a weekly schedule, ideas for your project, and activities to tackle with your team. It is, however, just for guidance and you can use it as little or as much as you like.

 

Online Resources

You can find lots more information about FIRST® LEGO® League Explore on the IET’s website HERE and on the FIRST website HERE

• The Team Meeting Guide
• Engineering notebooks
• The Explore Model build instructions
  • Book 1
  • Book 2
• A quick route way to deliver a condensed version of the programme over 7 weeks instead of 12. 
• Powerpoint presentations to accompany the sessions in the Team Meeting Guide and Engineering Notebooks 
  • Intro Slide
  • Session 1
  • Session 2
  • Session 3
  • Session 4
  • Session 5
  • Session 6
  • Session 7
  • Session 8
  • Session 9
  • Session 10
• Multimedia Resources - Lots of useful links to websites, videos, and other online tools related to the content of each club session.
• Unofficial building guide to adapt the Explore model for using a WeDo 2.0 kit.

 

The end of season festival events

Our end-of-season festival events will take place on Tuesday 7th July 2026 at the Village Hotel

• Festival 1 - 9:30 - 11:40
• Festival 2 - 13:00 - 15:00