As of November 2026, the best-known maker of toy bricks is the LEGO company. The company started in 1932 as a small carpenter's shop in the village of Billund, Denmark.

Before plastic bricks, the shop made stepladders, ironing boards and wooden toys. The name LEGO comes from two Danish words, leg godt. These words mean play well.

LEGO's first plastic bricks, from 1949, were called Automatic Binding Bricks. They had no tubes inside. So they did not hold together as well as later ones. In 1958 the tubes were finally added. They make the bricks grip each other. LEGO calls this clutch power.

The man who thought of the tubes was Godtfred Kirk Christiansen, the founder's son. Ole Kirk Christiansen, who started the company, died in 1958. That was the same year the brick got its tubes.

The earliest LEGO bricks were made of a wood-based plastic called cellulose acetate. The company switched to ABS in 1963. ABS stands for acrylonitrile butadiene styrene. Plastic was chosen for toys partly because it is easy to clean. It also comes in many colors and shapes.

ABS is a thermoplastic. It softens when heated. So it can be melted, shaped in a mold and cooled hard again. ABS is also tough and strong plastic. It can survive being dropped, which suits a toy. It can take any color. It can have a glossy finish.

Toy bricks are made from tiny plastic grains called granules. The grains are stored in giant tanks called silos. They are sent to the machines through tubes. In a factory, machines melt plastic. They squeeze the melted plastic into a mold shaped like the brick. Hot plastic is injected into one side of the mold. It spreads through little channels. It fills the brick-shaped space.

Cold water flows through the mold to cool the plastic. Then the mold opens and the bricks drop onto a belt. Leftover plastic from the mold is ground up and used again almost right away.

Bricks that have faces or patterns get them printed or stamped on by machines. Machines weigh each box. Any that are too light or too heavy are flagged so that a person can check them. Pieces for sets are put into small bags, and the bags go into boxes that machines close.

Bricks stick together because the studs on top fit tightly between the tubes inside another brick. Old bricks can fit new bricks, even bricks made long ago. The brick has kept its design since 1958.

Words to know

• ABS: tough plastic
• thermoplastic: melts, then sets
• granules: tiny grains
• silos: big tanks

The short version

Toy bricks are made of ABS, a tough thermoplastic. Plastic grains are melted and injected into a brick-shaped mold, cooled with cold water, and dropped onto a belt. The best-known maker is the LEGO company in Billund, Denmark (as of November 2026).

Quick facts

• Toy bricks are made of ABS plastic.
• ABS is a thermoplastic, so it can be melted, shaped in a mold and cooled hard again.
• LEGO added tubes inside its bricks in 1958.
• Cold water cools the plastic in the mold.
• Leftover plastic from the mold is ground up and used again.