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Editor’s note: The Brickit app is still free, but they also offer a paid pro version with extra features. To opt out of the pro version, click the “skip” option in the top right of the screen.
Lego is a funny thing — if you loved it as a kid, you might not love it as much as a parent. For one, there are just so many fiddly little pieces these days, and it’s not just because my hands have gotten clumsier or my patience thinner. As a parent, I have wasted countless hours of my life searching for some tiny speck of a Lego brick that my kid needs to complete some elaborate boat or train — and he of course cannot find it. All I know is that after a frantic, fruitless search, we’re left questioning reality itself. Did this piece ever exist? Or did the dog swallow it as an act of mercy?

On occasion, we have lost the book that explains how to make said elaborate boat or train, and my kids are distraught. They love having a plan or a manual to work from. Whatever happened to just “making stuff up” and building odd-shaped houses with whatever pieces you have? Thankfully, some hardcore Lego fans created an app that addresses a lot of my Lego woes.
The app is called Brickit, and the concept is simple. Once you download the app, you spread all your Lego bricks on a table and scan them. The app then counts all the bricks and offers suggestions for what you can build with your stockpile. Once you select an item to build, it offers you all the instructions (bye, bye Lego books!) and even shows you where the bricks are from the scan.
I thought I’d give it a try, so I dumped out some Lego bricks from our red/yellow/orange bin. (Yes, I sort our Lego bricks by color, don’t judge me.)

The app walked me through a few steps, and then had me hold my phone over the bricks while it gave them a quick scan. In just a few seconds I had a list of 43 ideas for things to build! I decided to try and make a tiny helicopter and a penguin.

It worked ... pretty well. While I could make a version of these things with my pile, the app does not take the color of the Lego bricks into consideration, just the shape. The scan was fairly accurate, but it did see a few bricks that were not there. For example, there was not a brick with three bumps in my pile, which was needed for the helicopter. But, playing with Lego bricks is all about creativity, so I improvised!
The instructions are clear and look just like a classic Lego instruction manual that comes with a set. There is even a cool feature that lets you click on the brick you are supposed to use and it will highlight it in the pile that was scanned, which was really helpful. So, since the colors didn’t match, my projects ended up looking like this:

In addition to ideas, the app will also give you a puzzle, which would be fun for more advanced Lego builders. The puzzle tells you which bricks to select (and again will highlight them in the pile). After you find the pieces and click “done” you get to try and figure out what you are supposed to build. After 30 seconds you can see the silhouette, and in another 30 seconds you get a hint as to what you are building. When you’re done, take a picture and click “submit” to see if you got it right!
The app works best with collections of 150 bricks or more, and it’s really important to spread out your Lego bricks so it can get an accurate scan. It is currently free for Apple and Android devices. You can see how it works on the website and you can follow along on Instagram to see some Brickit creations.
Now I just need an app or some kind of robotic Lego vacuum to tidy up all the errant pieces on the floor!

More creative fun: |
Editor’s note: This article was first published several years ago and was most recently updated in February 2025 by ParentMap’s associate editor, Kari Hanson. Kari added new images, tried the app and contributed to the article.