Don't enjoy Lego sets

[Quiteenjoyable]

My child is nearly 4 and madly in love with Lego. Does anyone else just love a big jumble of Lego rather than all the sets? When I was a child it was rare that anyone had the sets. I remember being very envious of a friend who had a Lego castle set with knights on horses. I had a tub of mixed bricks and absolutely loved it anyway.

At the moment we have a smallish box of just jumbled bricks, pieces, wheels, and little mini figures. It seems like the sets absolutely dominate the market now though and he'll eventually start asking for them. We got him one Lego digger and he's heartbroken if bits come off and go missing, but with the mixed box he just gets on with building things and taking them apart to build new things. It's much freer and more enjoyable.

Any older kids still enjoy just playing with a jumble of Lego pieces or is it all about the sets now?

I love LEGO, but I only buy the ones I really love! I have the new Botanical Garden, Jazz Quartet, the blue Vespa, the Bird of Paradise lots of other botanical sets in a terrarium on my shelf!

We have bought and been given hundreds of sets over 10 years (three boys, they all love the stuff). The sets get made once, a treat when the pieces are all shiny.

The majority of sets then get broken up and added to the huge mixed boxes. These are then used again and again for imaginative building.

So mine enjoy both types of play I guess.

My own three personal sets stay built and on display!

It's not either or, OP, it's both! I think the creativity from a classic mixed box is great but it's also fun to build something you you like - be it something from a movie or game you like, an Eiffel tower or a steam engine.

DC loved making kits and disassembling the whole thing and making a whole new thing. They were happy for hours.

We’ve got both op, sets that are not to be taken apart and then some big boxes of classic for general play.
I have to say I find the modern classic disappointing as it’s full of tiny pieces. I created my own by buying bags of retro Lego/trees/windows/doors from eBay.

I found this too. A small selection and very tiny pieces. Charity shops and vinted seem to be yielding better results. I like the tiny bits but need some decent bigger sized bricks as well.

Which sets are yours for display?

I have just spent £20 getting some lovely little odds and ends for him to make vehicles with, thank you!

The sheer amount of fiddly little doo dads is mind boggling !

You’re right OP in that I think the sets are a bigger deal than they used to be. But as you’re finding, there’s still plenty of options to get the mixed stuff - eBay / charity shop / facebook type bundles are brilliant for this. One year we bought my eldest a whole set of loads of different wheels just for making diff vehicles. Was brilliant.

What we ended up doing was having a v large see through box for each “type” of Lego. So one big tub where all the ninjago stuff went. One big tub for all the Lego city (this is the most generic Lego stuff, and the best value as it’s non franchise - buying a few Lego city sets will sort you out for mixed boxes). One big tub for all the Star Wars. One for the technic. Etc. So then they could do random creations, but still have a good chance of being able to rebuild sets from the pieces. And the random creations would be silly superhero cars from the Marvel/dc stuff, or spaceships from the Star Wars box. Etc.

That's a good idea, I think the digger we had was Lego city and like I say it became stressful because he would be upset if bits broke off and it had to look like it did on the box. Drive me nuts. But the mixed bits he plays happily with building and rebuilding his own creations. I might buy some Lego city but decant it all in with the rest without him seeing the boxes and instruction manuals!

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/5187101-to-show-me-your-lego-collection?page=22&reply=142155767

We do tend to like the sets!

I love the bus in the OP! That's very cute

At least. Every Xmas and birthday. Any treat or reward. He is ASD and literally chose lego for absolutely everything since aged 4.

I think for a child the creativity of a jumbled box is lovely but personally as an adult I build the sets .

I find girls like the sets and boys tend to like the jumble. I think it’s just a difference in how they play.

I think Lego actually did research on this and found girls really prefer the sort of role-play you can do with sets.

Lego is a business at the end of the day. They make and market what sells. If they stick a Marvel/ Disney/ Harry Potter label on something, it's a sure fire win.

Lego do make more creative sets and sell individual pieces, but that is always going to be a harder sell to the masses, so you'll see them less in high street shops.

@Quiteenjoyable
I have two big Harry Potter sets in the dining room and Botanicals succulents on a shelf in the bathroom!
I'd love the Stranger Things one.

I love the sets, but they do get broken up eventually.

DD had a friend over yesterday (11) and I got out my boxes of Lego, and it kept them quiet for hours. I find the base plates really help them create.

You used to be able to buy bags of extra bits, e.g. trees. I also love the pick and mix wall!

As with many things, there's room for both. Progression doesn't have to be a bad thing. If the newer ideas or understandings are not something that is a part of your sphere, then just leave it alone for those who embrace it. There's no need for comparisons. 😊

@Ilovelowry

That's incredible. How do you store/display it?

There was a programme on quite a few years ago called Lego masters that captured the fun of big jumbles of Lego and creating from your imagination. The drawers and drawers of every Lego piece imaginable were amazing 🤩

This thread has really made me miss Lego. My kids are teens/young adults now. Maybe I'll treat myself to some on payday ..

What an oddly pompous response to a thread about a 3 year old discovering Lego. Enjoy your Lego sets all you like, I'm just asking if anyone's children still enjoy playing with random Lego.

There's a poster who does playmobil storylines on Mumsnet and I always think she must have to most fun setting up those little scenes. I've definitely been enjoying that feeling when playing Lego with my son. I think her name is somuchtobits

There’s plenty of mixed boxes available now. And in a much wider range of colours than there used to be. There’s a lovely pastel mixed box for instance.
Many of the shops mainly carry the sets though. Online is your friends including the Lego site itself (I’ve just bought a load of clear blue bricks to fill out a vase for my Lego flowers).
We’re a Lego house.

Yes and no. We had a huge mixed box growing up, all I ever remember doing was building houses, same old, over and over. I’m not overly blessed in the imagination department (can’t make up stories either). Now as an adult I LOVE being given a set, I will work on it for hours, pure mindfulness, proper focus on all the colours, parts, really good for working on concentration (I’m a bit lacking in that department too).

As for my DCs, they inherited my mixed box, it hardly got used, DS also got given dozens and dozens of smaller kits as presents, but he’s dyspraxic and couldn’t make head nor tail of the diagrams so they all ended up jumbled into my box, he is also lacking in imagination and only used them in a limited fashion, he has weak fingers and I hoped it would help but he just didn’t like it. DD never used the mixed box but we bought her a few bigger ones and like me she LOVED them and could do fairly complex ones from a young age, again great for concentration and coordination. So overall I’m very much in favour of the kits. It’s just keeping the parts together that’s hard.

My sons have been building lego sets since they were small. (Now 19 and 16). They still build the sets but it ends up " cannablilised" into other things 🤣🤣 myself I build the sets then put on display (I'm 56) 🤣🤣 currently building the botanical range