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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

Lego - should be lovingly assembled and displayed, but never played with...

70 replies

StayAwayFromDeliriumDive · 26/12/2013 20:28

Hours I spent yesterday, hours and hours, creating an entire city. One badly timed step during a puppet performance and the fire station is in bits.

Tempted to buy a display case so the children can look from a safe distance.

OP posts:

girliefriend · 26/12/2013 22:18

I once spent two days I repeat two days building dd a lego pirate ship. It was beautiful

When I build lego I am in the zone and dd knows not to come anywhere near me

However once it is done, I hand it to her and pray try not to look allow her to play with it.

My Dds pirate ship is now in many bits in the lego box but its fine

carrotcakeandwine · 26/12/2013 22:26

the number of times legos have been stepped on, lost, broken, swallowed, or clogged the vacuum, you'd think I'd not allow them in the house. but no, new lego things seem to appear with scary regularity. I blame family and friends who are obviously plotting to send me to an early grave.

carrotcakeandwine · 26/12/2013 22:27

and they never never look like the picture on the box when we're done. never

Rubybrazilianwax · 26/12/2013 22:29

I will NEVER forgive dc for taking Diagon alley apart. Fgs have you seen the size of it!! Little feckers

unlucky83 · 26/12/2013 22:40

AHHH - new Lego has just been an education to me...and I'm disappointed!
DD1 never showed an interest - DD2 (6) mentioned it a few times and so I got a set from Tescos (used clubcard vouchers) for christmas it is a creator - makes three models and it is a beach hut thing....
Opened it yesterday and nearly ran a mile - bags of tiny bits...sat down with DD2 this evening - there were 3 types of build - thought we were doing the easy one but it was the most difficult one...it took hours...DD2 kept getting bored and leaving - so I have done most of it and it is now finished ...
It was so complicated - in the whole box of hundreds and hundreds of pieces there were only about 6 typical lego bricks (6 dot ones- if you know what I mean) ...lot of tiny little disc things etc. The building itself is one row thick...my plan was to build the three houses once and then let her loose with just the bricks to use for whatever she wanted - but actually I think what you could do with it is really limited... eg there isn't a big base - lots of small ones joined together ....
I remember having lots of bricks as a child and then one christmas getting a set - a kitchen...it was sooooo exciting. It had a big base and you could build a fridge, cooker, table etc ...but they were mainly standard bricks with the odd 'special' one - like the burners on the oven top...and you could put all the appliances etc where ever you liked on the base - and then used the base and bricks to to makes lots of other things, probably only made the 'proper' model once or twice...and if I lost a bit could easily just substitute with another
With this new one if you lost one piece you couldn't build it again!
I think if I get anymore it will be the mixed stuff and a big base ...I always thought Lego was creative and imaginative - this was just an exercise in rigidly following instructions ...

FredFredGeorge · 26/12/2013 22:46

All the big expensive sets are aimed at adult collectors - don't buy those - well actually maybe do as they're a reasonably cheap way to get lots of pieces. But if you do buy them, hide the instructions and leave them to make stuff!

nostress · 26/12/2013 23:41

Minifigs.me :)

ilovesmurfs · 26/12/2013 23:57

The whole point of lego is that it comes apart again and can be rebuilt or made into other models or whatever you want.

We have thousands of pounds worth of lego, the lego monsyer fighters range from last year with the vampyre castle and hearse and star wars and technic and bionicle and lego city and lego creator stuff etc. This year we got the airport, the coastguard sets, lots of lego chima including the big lion castle and a creator aviator? Set. My boys love lego,they got a samsung tab3 and a laptop for xmas, both have been ignored in favour of the lego!

All the new sets are built apart from the lego mining set, they will stay together for a while but will gradually come aoart/be transformed into other things.

We keep the instructions so they can remake stuff but meh I cant get sentimental over the models.

I need to buy more storage, we have ten under bed storage boxes full to overflowing and various other boxes all full, the new stuff is all over my dining room table, I am going to get some trofast units I think.

HOMEQCRICH · 27/12/2013 00:12

Dcs had hogwarts castle for Christmas 4 years ago .. we built it and put it on display on a shelf in their bedroom... my goodness it is worth a fortune now according to ebay and amazon!

MeMySonAndI · 27/12/2013 00:43

Really? Time to get it out of the loft and flog it then (off to check)

RedToothBrush · 27/12/2013 01:44

lego for the kids.
nanoblocks for the grown ups who just want to build and display.

littlewhitechristmasbag · 27/12/2013 07:53

In the olden days when my kids were young you just bought 'Lego' and the children made their own things, using their imagination. I really hate the new Lego sets. That is not what Lego was meant for. I recently gave a big box of Lego and two boards to my niece and she loves creating her own fantasy worlds.

Original poster

StayAwayFromDeliriumDive · 27/12/2013 07:57

Unlukcy83 - But rules instructions are there to be followed.

Yesterday we I built a tree house - I've hidden it!

We do a big box of bits from days gone by before the lego anxiety kicked in, but having looked at the rest of you, maybe I do need to be a little more chilled.

I'm off to work this morning leaving DH in charge - He will not supervise to my standards. Should I let the boys play or not?

And if I do which one of you is going come round with the gin and help me re-build!?

OP posts:

carrotcakeandwine · 27/12/2013 08:04

In the olden days when my kids were young you just bought 'Lego' and the children made their own things, using their imagination. I really hate the new Lego sets. That is not what Lego was meant for.

This is what I think. I've bought some lego for the DCs and it's not nearly as nice as it used to be.

thegreylady · 27/12/2013 08:11

My dgc love lego so I bought some on ebay to keep here. They never play with it! It is just bricks whereas they want the branded kits like Chima or Ninjago. The oldest builds the various kits alone (he is 7) carefully and accurately then he keeps them in his room. His little brother likes the idea rather than the actuality of lego and needs lots of help, he soon loses interest and leaves the adults to finish yet he insists that lego is all he wants for presents (he is 4).

moonbells · 27/12/2013 08:32

I am desperately trying to keep the Star Wars stuff away from the rest of the Lego boxes. So far, DS (6) seems to think this is a good idea. He took half a day to build his main present, the X-wing. Made for a peaceful Christmas afternoon! And it's a really clever design. I stole it and zoooomed it round the lounge for a while.

For those of you who are missing bits, go and visit
www.bricklink.com

If you are missing instructions, try
www.brickset.com/

If you don't know the designation of a missing brick, use the instructions PDF to get the brick number and feed that to Bricklink's search.

(You can also make up discontinued brick sets if you buy the pieces. Last year, DS wanted a Saturn V rocket. Original sets were hundreds. Bits cost me about £6)

Retropear · 27/12/2013 09:00

My dc has loads.

I try to keep the sets complete for a while,then we move to themed boxes of bits and then I give up.

My DS makes amazing models and loves cannibalising different sets.I found a fab castle he made from bits of his Vampyre castle and other themes to house some of his Hobbit people.

Not letting him do the above means you're not getting value for the ££££££ spent on said sets. Bil insists each set is kept complete on a shelf to play with,you may as well buy Playmobil. Lego is for building,designing etc.The sets give you ideas and nifty pieces. Waaaaay better than the boring box of rectangle pieces I had in the 70s.

The only set I will insist is kept whole is his Hobbit Hole as it's gorgeous and we both love it.

Retropear · 27/12/2013 09:06

I do think some kids are better skilled at following the complex instructions and designing.

Dtwin1(10) has been able to follow and make very complex instructions from a very young age.We refused to do it for him and he will spend hours following instructions and making up sets and then hours designing his own.

Twin2 who is a piano and computer whizz and finds coding,building up his Raspberry Pi easy errrr not so much.Said instructions would very likely be thrown across the room.

Blueandwhitelover · 27/12/2013 10:40

We have a four feet high Lego/Duplo dragon that lives in the garden. Everyone who visits loves it and I think of it as a feature now. It is superglued together and came from a now closed down play centre. Not sure what will happen when I pass on as all three DS will want it!

unlucky83 · 28/12/2013 00:31

Stay _ my dad always said rules are for the guidance of wise men and obedience of fools ...
Anyway I feel your pain ...
DD2 was left to play with her beach house today ...this evening tidying up the palm tree was in pieces, the flag and one of the torches off the front and the glass the little man was holding were all missing ....most parts were found quickly but not the torch...and some juice was knocked over in the hunt which got the instructions and box - guess the pages might stick together and we will never be able to make the other models...anyway looked through the playmobil people box, pen and pencil box, cleaned under the sofa, under the christmas tree etc put more Christmas presents away - no torch - was actually thinking about going through broken glass in the bin (DP broke a glass earlier - thought he might have swept up the torch with the glass by accident) when it turned up in trapped in the foot rest bit of the recliner ...
Had to stop myself from telling DD2- DO NOT TOUCH IT WITHOUT ME PRESENT EVERY AGAIN ....it is her toy and if bits go missing it isn't the end of the world ....is it?
(But I will be checking the hoover bag when emptying - where over the years I have found countless Sylvanian families bits...thought this was progress - nice big chunks of lego would be easier to keep track of - obviously I was wrong )

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