Can you explain LEGO to me?

[mommahhh]

I had LEGOs as a child....a box of various shapes in various colors. I looked at a few websites recently for LEGO, and now I see so many smaller boxes that seem to have themes (farms, StarWars, hospital). Are these "add ons" that you get after you purchase a big box of plain LEGOs? Or are they stand-alones? I didn't really even see any plain LEGOs. I feel so old school!!

[4evermom]

You can by bins of bricks at any toy store (Target, Toys R Us). They tend not to have many cool pieces. You can also go to lego.com's "pick a brick" section and buy individual cool pieces if your dc wants hinged pieces, sloped pieces, accessories (like a bow and arrow for a minifig or an apple), etc. Here's the link for plain bricks in buckets and "pick a brick." http://shop.lego.com/ByCategory/Department.aspx?d=304

So if your dc is just starting out and you want stuff for free building, you can get those. Some kids love the themed sets. They build them, keep them assembled, and role play with them. Other kids build the sets, take them apart, and redesign them.

It's all good. The free building develops one set of skills and building the sets develops another set of skills.

[marybethorama]

You can still buy plain legos.

The themed sets are fun too. The best part may be the people but there are also lots of unusual bricks which are nice to have. What often happens here is that the themed sets get taken apart and rebuilt in different ways.

[GuildJenn]

Yup, it's all just more options. The chunky traditional bricks are great (and there are sets with wider ranges of colours), but the kits allow for really different kinds of construction. My son tends to get a kit, assemble it as per the official instructions, keep it together for a while, and then it gets assimilated into the big Lego bin. We've had some discussions about anally trying to keep pieces separated by kit but...I realized that was my baggage and not his.

I have to admit I love the minifigs.

A wild element of the 'new Lego' are the YouTube videos older kids make - entire Lego movies. So creative! I love it. Watch out viewing them though 'cause some get into bad language or potty humour pretty quickly. LEGO makes some themselves that are neat.

[mommahhh]

Originally Posted by 4evermom

You can also go to lego.com's "pick a brick" section and buy individual cool pieces if your dc wants hinged pieces, sloped pieces, accessories (like a bow and arrow for a minifig or an apple)

FUN!!! Thanks!

[4evermom]

Originally Posted by mommahhh

FUN!!! Thanks!

Yeah, TOO much fun. Be careful .

[CanBoo]

I used the sets with caution, only after you have a good stock of basic bricks.

This experience comes after one of my friends son had no idea what to build with legos if he had no instructions beacuse all he always had was the setsm, and he was only building whatever thing was supposed to be built with that set.

So they are cool, but to be used sparginly.

[sleet76]

Wr got started by buying bulk LEGOs off of eBay. We got a great selection of perfect condition used mixed pieces for a fraction of the cost of the sets. I highly recommend looking into that option.

[One_Girl]

The big box of legos can be hard to find in the middle of all the other legos, but they should have them in red, blue, and pink boxes. If you can't find any on the shelf you should try asking someone who works there because they are probably there hiding or in stock in the back room. My dd has loved having legos since she was one. We started with the big ones and transitioned to the little ones when she was ready for them. The other boxes of themed legos tend to be more stand alone types of things and I think they can be stifling if you are focused on having your child actually complete the project. I agree with the pp about using the sets with caution because they are very complex and more close ended unless you are truly just getting them to have the legos not the theme. Boxed sets are also much more expensive.

[tsfairy]

Originally Posted by CanBoo

I used the sets with caution, only after you have a good stock of basic bricks.

This experience comes after one of my friends son had no idea what to build with legos if he had no instructions beacuse all he always had was the setsm, and he was only building whatever thing was supposed to be built with that set.

So they are cool, but to be used sparginly.

Depends on the kid. DS only had sets for a while. Like GuildJenn's DS, he'd put them together using the instructions (which made him so proud of himself!) and then start using the pieces to build other creations (which made him equally proud of himself!) Now we have a ridiculously huge bin of Lego bricks, including several sets and several big bins of basic bricks (which also come with some basic building instructions) and he uses everything interchangeably.

[JayGee]

Originally Posted by tsfairy

Depends on the kid. DS only had sets for a while. Like GuildJenn's DS, he'd put them together using the instructions (which made him so proud of himself!) and then start using the pieces to build other creations (which made him equally proud of himself!) Now we have a ridiculously huge bin of Lego bricks, including several sets and several big bins of basic bricks (which also come with some basic building instructions) and he uses everything interchangeably.

We started out with two huge bins of basic bricks (gifts from grandparents around age 4 or 5), and have added on a lot of sets. Personally, I LOVE building sets. I love having a finished product and following step by step instructions. But that's me (yes, I build Lego sets after my children are in bed ). We do a lot of both ~ for example, DS got a bunch of different car sets recently so we all built those, and then used our regular bricks to make a giant garage for them all. Fun!

My kids LOVE some of the Lego YouTube videos too.

[mamadelbosque]

The sets give you all sorts of different unique pieces that you can't otherwise get. And they're fun to build once or twice before being assimilated into all the rest. I remember asking for/buying specific sets more for the neat pieces in them than anything else. You can *never* have too many legos

[ewe+lamb]

We have quite a selection of lego, at the moment ds is into bionicles and the ben 10 lego; i always said we wouldn't get trapped into that but after getting some at his birthday he's gone way into the whole thing - I think it's great as it really just augments their construction skills no matter what sort of lego they are playing with.

[emilysmama]

This artist had an exhibit traveled to our city last summer that caused a huge stir.  It was fantastic.  Nathan Sawaya is purported to have the world's largest private collection of Legos.

 Here are some truly amazing videos about him.

[phathui5]

We went to the Museum of Play to see the Nathan Sawaya exhibit. My 10yo ds was in heaven!

His big dream is to go to Legoland.

[staceychev]

Originally Posted by JayGee 

I can't rationalize the cost of the Lego sets for just me, but I would totally do this too. I love putting together Ikea furniture as well, if that tells you anything about my personality... 

[beebalmmama]

Ds got the Large brick box for Christmas last year, I think it has 400 pieces. They were his first legos and it was a good introduction to legos. It has car parts to build a few different versions, a person, and enough bricks to build a house, a repair shop, and whatever else he came up with. I'm now trying to figure out what I can add to it and stay in a budget....probably lego bricks and another vehicle. Of course ds wants the $70+ sets. I said he could save up and buy one when he's 8! Too expensive for me. 

[PatienceAndLove]

Toys R Us and Walmart are now carrying the boxes of plain bricks now- the ones not in the plastic bins, but the plain cardboard box.  It's about $30 for 400 bricks.

Of course, there is always lego furniture for the grown ups :-)

Luna blocks table

Luna blocks sofa

Lego couch