Six-year-old Zoey Hixon, of Lawrence, looks out from a wall she built during Lawrence Parks and Recreation's Star

School may be out, but the folks at Lawrence’s Parks and Recreation Department aren’t letting students off the hook this winter break.

At Parks and Rec’s Lego camp, slated for Monday through Friday next week at Sports Pavilion Lawrence, local kids are encouraged to dream big and get creative. It’s fun messing around with the colorful toy bricks, sure, but there’s also a hidden (at least to a child’s eye) element of learning that keeps young minds active while on break from the classroom, says Jo Ellis, Parks and Rec’s recreation programs supervisor.

“The big thing is parents, of course, are working, and kids need something to do,” Ellis says. “We feel this is educational, although they’re still playing. They don’t think they’re really learning.”

The camps, which have proved popular with local families in their summer and spring iterations over the past few years, offer a “fun outlet” for kids, she says. This season’s offering is intended for children ages 5 to 12 and will focus on Lego pre-engineering fundamentals. That means introducing concepts such as bridges, boats, mazes and other structures, integrating basics of physics, engineering and architecture in the process, while also letting kids be kids.

Imagination and whimsy are a big part of the camp, too, says Ellis. Instructors (Parks and Rec contracts with Play-Well TEKnologies for the job) try to “mix it up” each time with themes, she says, whether Batman or Minecraft or, notably, “Star Wars.”

Every so often, Ellis will stop by the workstations to catch a glimpse of campers’ Lego creations. And she’s consistently “amazed,” she says, by what she sees.

“Their brains all think differently about what they want to do and how they want to build it,” Ellis says. “All the kids love putting Legos together — it’s the hand-eye coordination, too, that helps them.”

And, she says, it’s not just the campers having fun.

“When we had the ‘Star Wars’ Lego camp, the instructor dressed up as a Wookiee,” she adds. “So, they get into it as well.”

Next week’s Lego camp will be held Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to noon, at Sports Pavilion Lawrence, 100 Rock Chalk Lane. The cost is $185 per child. To register, visit lprd.org or stop by any Lawrence Parks and Recreation facility.