20 Unreal Details About LEGO That Most Parents Don't Even Realize

Lego products have been around since the 1950s, and the bricks just keep getting more inventive, including tie-ins to movie franchises and serving as canvases for professional artists. It's easy to miss aspects of their ingenious design. Did you know, for instance, that any two Lego bricks will connect, even if they were made decades apart? That's only scratching the surface.

1. Name Origins

The LEGO name was crafted by combining the beginning two letters of Danish words, "Leg Godt." Together the words translate to "play well." Simple and to the point. The unlikely inventors behind the best-selling construction toy agreed.

2. Stuck Together

It was Danish carpenter Ole Kirk Christiansen (right) who founded The Lego Group in 1932. But it wasn't until the '40s that English-born toy designer Hilary Page invented the first self-locking brick. The rest was history, though the company never shied away from taking risks.

3. One of the Same

The Lego designers based their signature yellow figurines on a race-free world. In the mid-1970s, the heads of the company wanted the builder's own imagination to influence the characters, without any preconceived cultural ideas sneaking in.

4. Founder Crafts

A Lego factory looks just as miraculous as you can imagine. Through all the machinery noise and whirl of conveyor belts, the mini-figures are carefully assembled. Thanks to the work of a single Lego machine, 23,000 heads and 8,000 bodies can be made per hour.