1
Read the field
Unpack the mat, build the mission models, work out what is worth attempting and what is a trap.
Team programme · Grades 2 to 8
FIRST
LEGO League
A team, a robot that has to work without anybody touching it, and a deadline set by somebody other than us. This is the closest an elementary student gets to how engineering actually feels.
LEGO Education SPIKE
Autonomous missions
Judged season
What it actually is
Two competitions running at once, and the robot is only half of it.
Parents usually arrive thinking FIRST LEGO League is a robot contest. It is, but the robot is one of two things being judged, and plenty of teams win on the other one.
On the table, your child's team programs a robot to leave a launch area, cross a printed mat, complete missions and come back, entirely on its own. Nobody drives it. Every run lasts two and a half minutes and the team gets a small number of attempts. That constraint does something useful to children: it forces them to plan, to test the same manoeuvre forty times, and to accept that a solution which works nine times out of ten is not finished.
Away from the table there is an innovation project. The team researches a real problem connected to the season's theme, talks to people who deal with it, designs a solution and presents it to judges. This half rewards a completely different set of children. The student who is not the fastest builder is often the one who can explain why the idea matters.
The current season
FIRST released the 2026 to 2027 challenge, BIOGLOW, on 4 August 2026 as part of the FIRST CANOPY season. The theme is biodiversity and the balance between people and the natural world. It comes in two editions: a Founders Edition built on LEGO Education SPIKE technology, and a Future Edition built on LEGO Education Computer Science and AI kits.
FIRST has also said this is the final season of FIRST LEGO League as it currently stands, with changes to their K-8 programmes coming from 2027. If your child has been circling this for a while, this is a season worth catching.
- Ages
- Broadly 5 to 16, with grade bands by edition. Most of our students are in grades 3 to 6.
- Format
- Teams. Students share one robot and split the work between building, coding and the project.
- Kit
- LEGO Education SPIKE Prime for Challenge teams, SPIKE Essential for younger Explore teams.
- Match length
- Two and a half minutes, fully autonomous.
- Judged on
- Robot performance, robot design, the innovation project, and how the team works together.
- Season shape
- Challenge released in August, tournaments through autumn and winter.
- Competing
- Optional. Some of our teams build for the experience alone.
Why we cap team size hard
A FIRST LEGO League team can technically be ten students. Ten students and one robot means most of them are watching. We run smaller so that every child gets time at the laptop and time at the table.
Across a season
What your child will actually be doing.
2
Design the robot
Drive base first, then attachments. Students learn quickly that a robot that turns accurately beats a robot that looks impressive.
3
Code and calibrate
Blocks, sensors, and a great deal of measuring. This is where most of the season goes and where most of the learning happens.
4
Research the project
Pick a real problem in the theme, find out who it affects, and design something that would help.
5
Face the judges
Run the matches, then talk a panel through the robot, the project and the arguments the team had along the way.
Is this the right fit
It suits some children brilliantly and others badly.
We would rather tell you now than in November.
A strong fit if
- They light up around other children
- They like a target and a scoreboard
- They can stay with one project for months
- They want to try coding properly
Look elsewhere if
- They need to own the whole thing themselves
- Sharing a build would frustrate them
- A months-long commitment is not realistic
- They want to take the build home at the end
If the right-hand column describes your child, look at Magic Pets or Invention Convention instead.
From the studio floor
Sorting bricks is not a waste of an hour.
New teams always want to build immediately. The ones who spend the first session getting organised finish the season calmer, faster and with far fewer arguments about who lost the axle.
It is a small thing that turns out to be a large thing, and it is the sort of habit that only gets taught when somebody in the room has actually shipped engineering work.
Questions
What parents ask about LEGO League.
What is FIRST LEGO League actually?
It is a global robotics programme run by FIRST in partnership with LEGO Education. Teams get a themed challenge each season, build and program a robot to complete missions on a mat autonomously, and separately research a real problem connected to the theme and propose a solution. Both halves are judged.
Does my child need to know how to code?
No. Most arrive with none. Programming happens in a block-based environment where students drag instructions together, and the feedback loop is immediate because the robot either does the thing or it does not. Children who have never coded are usually running their own sequences within a couple of sessions.
How long is a season?
FIRST releases the challenge in early August and tournament season runs through the autumn and winter, so a full season is a serious commitment measured in months rather than weeks. We are straight with families about that before anyone signs up.
What happens at a tournament?
Teams run their robot in matches lasting two and a half minutes, scoring points for missions the robot completes on its own. Away from the table, judging panels talk to the team about their robot design, their innovation project and how they worked together. Many teams find the judging rooms more nerve-racking than the matches.
Is it true this is the last season?
FIRST has announced that the 2026 to 2027 season, BIOGLOW, is the final season of FIRST LEGO League in its current form, and has said more about K-8 programmes from 2027 onward. It does not change what your child gets out of this season, but if you have been meaning to try it, this is the one to try it in. Check the FIRST website for the current position.
Team places
Teams are small and the season starts in August.
Tell us your child's grade and whether they have built or coded before. Coach Tia will tell you honestly whether a team place makes sense this season or whether another pathway fits better.