Made with 3D printing, these DIY LEGO LED bricks are simply perfect for adding lighting effects to your favorite LEGO kits and scenes.

The world and its dog is intimately familiar with the range of LEGO toys. And what makes them so enduring is the spirit of creativity they inspire in the people who use them.

Case in point is the genius crew at Adafruit. They’ve shared a detailed guide to building your very own DIY LEGO LED bricks. For this innovation and more, may the engineering gods shower them with good fortune.

So how do they work, exactly? Each brick is 3D printed with translucent filament. Inside, there is space for a tiny LED plus batteries to provide the power.

There’s a little button on the side to activate the LED, and several color options are available. They’re compatible with most standard sizes of LEGO brick, and will provide some dramatic lighting effects to any desktop diorama.

Check them out in action in the video below:

Light Up Your Life with DIY LEGO LED Bricks

Officially, LEGO already offers light bricks in their playsets. The key difference, however, is that the official bricks function as spotlights, whereas the DIY LEGO LED bricks are diffused with light. Master builders will rejoice in having the option to combine both.

The complete bill of materials and parts is available in the guide. Some basic wiring and soldering will be necessary. 3D printing is perhaps the simplest part of the process, where each block requires only 8 minutes to fabricate. The STL files for the DIY LEGO LED bricks are free to download on Thingiverse.

Does the LEGO playset in the video and pictures seem familiar? This is the LEGO Cuusoo Research Institute 21110, a.k.a. the “female minifigure set”. It’s an extremely limited edition set featuring a female paleontologist, astronomer and chemist. The noble goal is to overcome gender stereotyping in construction play toys.

It’s fitting, then, that the Research Institute should be the basis for further illumination with the DIY LEGO LED bricks.