A few hundred children and their families passed through the Sammamish City Hall Saturday for an open play LEGO event.

This marked the fifth year the Sammamish Arts Commission has brought Dan Parker, a professional LEGO artist based in Tacoma, to share his large LEGO collection with the public.

“My whole life I’ve been involved with building, building, building,” Parker said.

Parker “left the normal world in 1999” when he became a master builder, specializing in custom LEGO displays and creations.

The Sammamish City Hall was littered with thousands of LEGO pieces, separated by table. Children and their parents hunkered in for an afternoon building castles, robots and space ships — really only limited by their imaginations.

“I love to see their wheels turning,” Parker said, overlooking the dozens of children crafting various LEGO creations. “It’s awesome family time.”

Building with LEGOs stimulates the brain and helps with language skills and social situations, Parker said.

Click here to view more photos from the event.

The next Sammamish Arts Commission event is “Make it a Clay Day” at the Redmond/Sammamish Boys and Girls Club, 825 228th Ave. NE, on March 19 from 1-3 p.m. The event is free and open to the public. For more information and to register, visit www.sammamish.us/events/Default.aspx?ID=3693.

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