i was a lego kid and i’ve never even played with meccano. this article says:

the falling popularity of meccano and the rise of lego has been decried as a “disaster of modern life” that is inextricably linked to “the demise of british engineering” by one of the country’s most prestigious scientists.

“with meccano, you learn how structures stay together. you make shapes and some are rigid and some aren’t. meccano gives you a feel for materials. you have to tighten a screw enough to stop things falling apart but not so tightly you destroy the thread. lego is much more forgiving.”

the idea that the toys we play with shape our future careers is not a bad one. if you didn’t play with any construction toys as a child then you would have less chance to learn how much fun it was to build things. you learn what you do and don’t like by experimenting with different things. if you’re introduced to any random thing is a way that makes it fun then i think that fun aspect is more likely to stick with you through the boring bits. but i think laying the downfall of engineering in britain at the door of lego is a bit of a stretch all the same.

for myself, years of happy following of all the instructions for lego kits (how did i always manage to lose them all?) has left me with an undeniable sense of joy when faced with similar tasks as an adult. i once contemplated whether there was the seed of a business plan in putting together other people’s flat pack furniture. i’m as happy as larry with those boxes from ikea.