Does anyone else have a Lego obsessed child?

[Iceballoon]

Good Evening,

DS6 will not play with anyone else, he finds the sets suited for his age too easy and now wants the 13+ & 18+ sets which we have been buying for him.

Lego is the only toy that he is interested in, and as we know Lego is pretty damn expensive.

What do I do?

Not quite the same but DH is obsessed with Lego, he invents things using Lego technic, can you encourage him to create his own models with the Lego he's already got? Once he gets into technic the motors and cogs and things mean it's pretty unlimited what you can create. You can print instructions off the internet or watch on YouTube. The Lego books are also really good for encouraging imaginative other uses for the pieces.

@Chinnegan

Great idea, I didn’t even think that was possible.

Thanks 🍷💐

One Lego obsessed child? Try having THREE!

Just goi with it. Your child will have a great time with it, it's a timeless thing and it has a great resale value. I used to say we had more Lego than Legoland, and even as older teens/young adults they still love it.

Encourage him to get creative, not just build sets. If he struggles with taking it apart (as my autistic DC did) try photographing it and creating an album of his Lego.

There are loads of online resources suggesting alternate models to make with the Lego he probably already has.

Yes! DS13 had the Lego Titanic for Xmas and it was fully built by end of Boxing Day...last year it was the Colosseum which took sight my longer as we were out on Boxing Day 🤣.
I seriously don't want to think how many £thousands we've spent on Lego since he got into age 3 🫣 but he enjoys it 👍🏻

We've got this book www.wob.com/en-gb/books/dk/lego-r-awesome-ideas/9780241182987?gclid=CjwKCAiAkrWdBhBkEiwAZ9cdcFyAVNMkOHEY-LiA1jQS-81C_aYUUCFYt208eC9hxAYPmLGIPcEubBoCLRoQAvD_BwE#GOR007168884 which helped my girls get started building creatively with DH's Lego. He's still got all his Lego from when he was a kid so I'd say it's a great investment.

No advice from me I'm afraid, DS20 is sat building Lego Camp Nou as we speak !

No, just some colleagues at work!!

DH is the same. He's currently in the kitchen building his Harley Quinn portrait, then has The Mandalorian's Razor Crest to do. It makes Christmas & birthday presents easy!

If your DS isn't a build / keep / display builder yet then I agree with PP about books & the internet for ideas.

There was a Celebrity Lego Masters tv programme on this week that was a lot of fun to watch - family friendly too.

I understand you can rent/borrow Lego sets if it’s the building of the thing they enjoy. DS5 likes displaying them for a bit then breaking them down and making them in to something else so it wouldn’t work for him. He’s already built all the Lego he got for Christmas.

DS17 has recently completed a

Get him to start designing his own stuff. It's known as 'Doing a Moc' (My Own Creation). Or set him a project of building a massive display.
Take him to Lego shows. There's dozens planned for 2023 already. That'll will give him ideas. There's 100s of books with tips and ideas (many of which can be bought secondhand).
The secondhand market for Lego is huge. You can get secondhand sets easily and sell on sets he has built. As mentioned by someone already you can rent sets.
Find a Lego club he could join.
Get him to learn Danish - the HQ is there so if he grows up to be a designer for them it will be useful to know.
Where do you live? There are several LUGS (Lego User Groups) in the UK. Some are adults only, some for all so he might be able to join or participate in their activities.

Fortunately my Lego obsessed DC has taken the opportunity to work both at Legoland and a Lego store, which gives a useful discount!

I'll start again; DS17 has recently completed a full size M82 sniper rifle that can fire Lego bullets about 9m through Christmas cards. He shot a puppy card straight between the eyes which made us all feel a bit weird. Start saving all your elastic bands.

Oh and remote control technic is awesome, we used to build models and race them round the house.

NXT and Functions in a few years time.

Good luck and enjoy!

Bricklink is awesome btw.

You can buy lego 2nd hand by the kilo off ebay www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_nkw=lego+kg to bulk up your available parts, if your kid hasn't broken out of the 'follow the instructions' into creative modelling yet.

Rebrickable rebrickable.com/ will let you add the kits you have to its list, and it'll show you other things you can build from those parts. Relies on your kid taking stuff apart after building it.

All of the Lego official sets have their instructions on the web www.lego.com/en-gb/service/buildinginstructions so you may be able to find other things to build that way too.

@Needmorelego

Hahaha I love your name 😂😂

We are in the U.K London, he has already showed me three new sets that he “would enjoy” which are releasing on the 1st of January.

@HerNameIsIncontinentiaButtocks
@HiccupHorrendousHaddock LOL yes judging by this thread I do think it’s best to just go with it, on a few occasions I have tried to get involved with the building but I just can’t focus as much as the males in my house.
@iklboo He & OH watched it a few days ago.

DS21 loves Lego still he got the Lego Star Wars Luke Skywalker’s landspeeder for Christmas.

I sympathise. I have a Lego obsessed son and husband. We have an entire room in my house devoted to built sets of Lego which they set up and display. *She says not bitter about losing an entire room in my house 😑

@Iceballoon there is a show in London in February.
The London based LUG is adults only unfortunately so I can't invite him to join for a few years yet 😂
I too am waiting for January 1st releases. Sometimes shops sneak them out a few days early so I am constantly checking online to see if they are available yet.

For anyone who buys mixed lego each brick has a tiny number underneath so you can look up the set it comes from. Pick the most unusual pieces, look up the most likely set they come from and get the building instructions from the Lego website. Also if you have most parts for a set with only a few missing you can contact Lego and they will send on the missing parts for free.

My son is 7 and is obsessed. He does sets for 16+ years and it's the only thing he will sit and concentrate on. He's amazing. We buy it second hand from ebay or Facebook marketplace. Definitely look at technics there's so much they can create.

Also lego do a free kids magazine, you just sign up on website

I can't recommend FIRST Lego League enough to anyone whose children are this way inclined. It's quite expensive and requires a lot of commitment so the best way to get involved is probably to persuade your children's school to enter, but I do know of Home Ed and community groups who've done it. When mine did it it was only open to 9-16 year olds but there are now simpler versions for younger children too.
I think it's probably the best extracurricular activity my children ever did and they developed so many new skills as a result - it involves a lot more than creating things with Lego, though obviously there is a fair bit of that! Both my boys were fortunate enough to go to the national finals several times and international finals once which was an absolutely amazing experience, but even if you don't progress beyond the local round there is still a lot to be gained from it. This year's competition is probably well underway now, but if you have budding engineers in your family it's well worth looking into for the next one.
www.firstlegoleague.org/

Vinted have loads of Lego. Some new in boxes, some used once. I’d start buying that and also get them to build their own stuff from mixed bundles.

Yes, my son is exactly the same.

He got a few expensive sets for Xmas, he and OH have already completed them.

I don’t think he has any technics sets yet.

LOL I was actually hoping someone would tell me to limit buying him, but it seems like I have no choice.