The whir of an MRI machine can sound like something from another planet. Add in the tight space and the need to stay perfectly still, and it’s no wonder kids often get scared before a scan. But what if a little play could change that?
That’s the idea behind the LEGO MRI Scanner set, dreamed up by LEGO employee Erik Ullerlund Staehr to help young patients feel calm before their scans. Since the company rolled out the kits in 2022, more than one million children have used them in hospitals around the world. Each set includes a tiny scanner, patient bed, waiting room, procedure room, staff minifigures, and medical accessories, all built from the same colorful bricks kids already know and love.
New research from the LEGO Group shows just how much it’s helping. Ninety-six percent of healthcare professionals who’ve used the set said it eases children’s anxiety, and nearly half reported fewer kids needing sedation or anesthesia during their MRIs. “Usually, when we walk in with the LEGO MRI Scanner set, the faces on the kids light up,” said Traci Aoki-Tan, a child life specialist at Kaiser Permanente Roseville Medical Center. “They can’t wait to touch and play with it. The entire mood in the room gets brighter as soon as we walk in. Even anxious parents, you can see their shoulders drop.”
At Boston Children’s Hospital, the toy became part of one teenager’s journey through treatment. Fourteen-year-old Sam, who was diagnosed with brain and spine cancer, spent a year enduring surgeries, chemotherapy, and countless scans. During one hospital stay, a child play specialist invited him to help build the unit’s first LEGO MRI model. “Sam had already had countless MRI scans by then, but he liked the thought of being able to help other children who would go on to use it,” said his mom, Christina. “I watched his confidence grow with this sense of purpose as he plugged away building.”
Sam, now one year cancer-free, said the set helped him focus on something other than his condition. “I found my first few MRI scans quite scary. I didn’t like the noise and it felt claustrophobic,” he said. “Playing with something like this before my scan would definitely have helped me understand more about what was going to happen. It’s cool to think that so many children have been helped by the MRI model I built.”
Experts say the set works because it brings a sense of familiarity to an unfamiliar situation. “The LEGO MRI machine is especially unique because it immediately feels familiar to patients,” explained Alyssa Sachs and Laura Boegler, child life specialists at Boston Children’s Hospital. “When they see a large medical machine represented through something they enjoy, a layer of anxiety is instantly reduced.”
Over the past two years, LEGO has donated 10,000 units of the custom toy to hospitals through nonprofit partners like Fairy Bricks, Starlight Children’s Foundation, and the United Way. The sets aren’t available for purchase, they’re part of LEGO’s global social responsibility program, ensuring that every brick of comfort reaches those who need it most.
As Christina put it, “Play is so powerful and real for children. For them, that little LEGO minifigure in the MRI model is their buddy. That’s a friend that’s also going through the same thing they are going through. I would love to see this set in every hospital.”
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