How a Lego MRI Scanner Set Reduces Anxiety in Children

In September 2023, just two months after her mother won her battle with breast cancer, Sam Lane started falling ill.

Sam underwent several tests and the now 14-year-old was finally diagnosed with a rare brain and spinal tumor.

“They said, ‘Cancer,’ and before I started crying, I said, ‘Oh no, I was going to guess, but I didn’t want it to be that bad,'” Sam said.

But while Sam was intubated and unable to walk, a nurse offered him a silver lining. She said she needed his help to build a Lego MRI scanner set that her fellow patients at Boston Children’s Hospital could play and learn with.

Sam’s mother said she was “amazed” by the level of detail in the playset, which was made from special Lego bricks.

“I remember sitting there and saying to him, ‘Sammy, why don’t you take a break? You’ve been working that straight line for a while,'” Christina Lane said. “And he didn’t look at me and said, ‘No, this is important…we have to help other kids.'”

The Lego MRI Scanner set features a scanner, patient bed, waiting room, staff figures and medical equipment and is specifically designed to help children learn about the procedure through hands-on play. The table in a small MRI machine moves back and forth, mimicking a real-life procedure.

The toy company announced Monday that more than 1 million children around the world have used the set to prepare for medical procedures. A new Lego survey found that 96% of medical professionals said the model helped reduce anxiety in children, and 46% reported that their child needed less sedation after playing with the set.

MRI, which does not use radiation, is commonly used in pediatric treatments, but the bright lights, loud noises and the need to remain still make the machine often frighten children, leading to the need for sedation, according to Laura Vogler and Alyssa Sacks, SAM’s child life specialists.

They focused on ways to support the psychosocial and emotional health of Boston Children’s Hospital patients and families, and said opportunities to play are key.

“We often say that play is the universal language, so a play-based approach that allows you to touch and ask questions can really help alleviate some of the fears and misconceptions that any child may have,” Sachs said.

Bogler said that by letting her children play with a Lego set before her MRI scan, it reduced her anxiety and helped her get used to the test.

The set Sam has built is used to ease other patients’ anxiety in a way that feels authentic to them.

“MRI machines are not something kids see in school, it’s not something kids talk about at home, so it’s like the new scary thing,” Bogler said. “With the MRI Lego set, we can show it in a way that is comfortable for kids.”

Lego stopped selling the sets and instead donated more than 10,000 kits to hospitals around the world.

Over the past few years, Lego has worked to expand its customer base and deepened its strategy to achieve continuous positive annual growth. The company is starting to cater more to adults as well as kids with more sophisticated bespoke kits, including a wide range of pop culture-focused sets from Harry Potter to Wicked.

The company’s plant sets and F1 racing sets have particularly attracted new customers.

Christina Lane said her son’s MRI play set helped her feel connected to other children battling cancer.

“It’s just incredible to have a little Lego pal that you can relate to who is going through the same thing as you,” she said. “As mothers, nurses and human beings, being able to support children through play during such a challenging and difficult time is truly essential.”

And this set has also helped Sam in his own journey. Now, more than a year after being cancer-free, he reflects on how his relationship with machines has changed.

When Sam underwent his first MRI test, he said he felt claustrophobic and frightened and felt the noise was too loud to understand.

But now he has a simple, reliable strategy for every MRI session: “Go to sleep.”