Lego is best known for colorful building blocks that can be pieced into anything from toy airplanes to miniature villages, such as the ones at its amusement parks.

``Lego stimulates children's development and creativity and has done so for generations through building blocks,'' spokeswoman Eva Lykkegaard said. ``It's only natural that we enter the (motion picture) medium too.''

The company said it plans to release its first children's programs by the end of 2001, on television and via the Internet. It declined to say whether it had teamed up with any existing production companies.

The family-owned toymaker has recently stepped up its involvement in technology linked products and earlier this month acquired U.S. interactive toy maker Zowie Entertainment. New computer-related products helped Lego post a profit in 1999 after a loss in 1998.

Lego is based in Billund, Denmark. Apart from making toys, clothing, watches and educational products, it also operates amusement parks, including one recently opened in Carlsbad, Calif.

[Updated 4/13/2000]