To be really annoyed that Lego seems to all be for boys?

[rogersmellyonthetelly]

DD (5) has just discovered Lego. I would like to get her some for Christmas, however all the play sets seem to be aimed at boys. I don't particularly want pink stuff, but a play set that doesn't involve a) star wars b) cars/trucks or c) scary dragon looking things would be nice. Is it just me or is it a bit sexist this Lego lark?

My DD has loads of lego - she's 12 and still plays with a lot (that and k'nex).
A lot of it is just basic bricks, but she has had some sets - Bellville I think they were, which are a bit 'pink' but she mixes the fun bits out of that with the other stuff. Don't know if its still available but there was a good stable and horses one which wasn't pink.

'girls' lego

camper van
house
farm
marina
loads of bits

Unwound be good if the Lego makers could make more of the characters women though.... They're all men fire-fighters, astronauts, sheriffs, whatever...

It would be good...!

Link didn't work but google 'Lego Belville'

Looks like that barbie crap to me.

YABU, glad you agree - I loved Lego as a girl and my DB and I would play together for hours. Yes, my creations were mainly houses and his were mainly vehicles, but there was a lot of cross over.

BTW, Ds1 has the Camper (of course!), and it's brilliant. The big aeroplane is also quite impressive.

Maybe if you order a load of lady farmers, you can then send them off into space and out on horses to lassoo cows.

I do think it is a bit shit that the women charachters are restricted to the rather dull camping and farming sets...

Don't buy the kits. Buy the boxes (usually near the front of the store) of loads of different bits. Then these can be added to with gift vouchers (£11) from rellys and friends for her birthday. Much more creative, and endlessly variable unlike the kits.

BTW I'm a girl and I LOVE Star Wars

DD just assumes all the characters are women even if they have beards.

IME kits just fall apart quickly, we have the camper van and it looked good with its flippy open bits but they fell off pretty fast. It has since been cannibalised with some Star Wars lego into some sort of Millenium Falcon/Death Star hybrid for her Amy Pond minifigure to travel around in. When she isn't being ferried around by Stormtroopers on her flying boat .

Big box of bricks is the way to go I think, or one of those special kits of doors/windows/people. DD rarely builds kits, she just uses her vivid and slightly scary imagination.

I'd better not show that marina to DD else she'll want it - windsurfer lego, not sure if girl or long-haired dude but who cares

The one thing kits never seem to have is big baseboards - go to the lego site and get (at least) one of those, and a lot of basic bricks/roof bricks.

I hated Legos as a little girl, because the characters on the boxes were cars, monsters and soldiers. No farm animals or anything like that. Some girls like to play with cars, monsters and soldiers, others don't. Both ways are acceptable and should be catered to.

I walked into Asda at the weekend and came out with a one blue box of lego and one pink box. Wasn't on my shopping list but DD2 and Ds should enjoy them.

Only difference is one seems to have more pink blocks and one more green and black.

Lego all for boys?!!!!?

Don't tell my girls that - they are Lego mad! We have box of lego (blue as I recall), lego city advent calender, houses, toyshop, bakery, knight bus (harry potter), cars, artic. lorry, police cars, minifigures - wizard, surfer girl, dino man, witches, ninja to name but a few and this year they want the post office (eek!), lego city corner, marina, boat, helicopter, Pirates of the Caribbean, Hogwarts, the list goes on! Think there was a mention of Star Wars in there somewhere too!

So YABU!
There are many different sets to get and you can play with them as you will - so we can have hp doing a delivery to bakery and being raided by burglars looking for a croissant fix!
The limit is your imagination!

Some of the toy sets are what I would call "macho" rather than "for boys". Of course girls can play with them too. But I'm not sure why it has to be either scary/dangerous-looking things or pink stuff - why can't they think of something less stereotyped?

i just bought my three year old tonnes of lego and we all love it. lego city and some plain boards and bricks

Dd likes the Lego creator houses where you can make three different designs out of one set. She also has the hogwarts castle and the motor home. I'm really hoping dh gets me the VW camper van for Xmas!

But I do think that Lego are missing a trick by not making more sets aimed towards girls. Some cool White castles with turrets, etc. Farm type stuff maybe.

YABU a bit, but you've said so . I think that Lego is a bit overcomplicated now actually, what with all the different brands within it. There must be a market for it though.

I think by definition there can only be two or three basic boxes of generic Lego, by comparison with the hundreds of specific racing cars and spaceships, so at first glance it does look very boy-oriented. But a big box of bricks, (pink or multi-coloured) a couple of base plates, and a handful of mini figures is really all you need. DD will play for hours making elaborate Lego cities. She plays differently from DS, but they both get just as much fun out of it (and she loves Star Wars and Harry Potter story telling).

The houses are very good, but too difficult for a 5 year old I'd expect. Big box of miscellaneous and some of the mini figures in bags is the way to go.

plenty of castles - there's the medieval sets, the pirates of caribbean sets, hogwarts. Girls don't like pink exclusively!
What's with all this gender stereotyping? I don't buy stuff cos its pink! Girls like all sorts of stuff - fantasy, sci-fi action stuff and boys like farms and animals and houses. Why does stuff have to be 'for' boys OR girls? Why not just for children? (or young at heart adults)
Why do girls have to have pink?!!

Lego do make farm stuff.

fairytale

Lego kingdoms has villages and here

and loads of houses like this.

As others have said you should look on the Lego website - there's loads that isn't gender specific!

I loved space and castle Lego when I was younger and dreamed of Star Wars Lego! Although it's a good thing it didn't exist back then as I wouldn't have been able to afford the sets (according to DH we can't afford my Lego habit now either...)

Anyway it's not sexist - it's amazing!

A lot of the farm stuff is duplo. The normal lego farm stuff is all tractors and combines.

That fairytale stuff looks nice but is shockingly expensive for a few figures and some bricks?!