As far back as I can remember, we always had Legos. When I was young, there was only 4 sizes of bricks but we still managed to build architectural marvels one after another. The Legos of the current generation are even cooler and I'm always game to camp out on the living room floor with the kids and create whatever I feel like from the tubs of colorful interlocking raw materials we possess.

We always shared although if someone was holding a piece it was theirs unless they put it back into the bucket. (If they added it to their pile or creation, it was out of play for the duration.) More than once we would barter to get a needed piece that someone else found first. We built (and destroyed) Lego compositions of every shape, size and possible function...but one thing we never tried to build was Social Justice:

So they first explored with the children the issue of ownership. Not all of the students shared the teachers' anathema to private property ownership. "If I buy it, I own it," one child is quoted saying. The teachers then explored with the students concepts of fairness, equity, power, and other issues over a period of several months.

At the end of that time, Legos returned to the classroom after the children agreed to several guiding principles framed by the teachers, including that "All structures are public structures" and "All structures will be standard sizes." The teachers quote the children:

"A house is good because it is a community house."

"We should have equal houses. They should be standard sizes."

"It's important to have the same amount of power as other people over your building."

Perhaps their next project should be a shrugging giant with the earth on his back.