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Original poster

To ask for some Lego advice

75 replies

GoodAfternoonSeattle · 31/05/2018 21:15

My three year old daughter loves Lego. She has a small box of classic Lego and has exhausted the ideas booklet. We have tried building other stuff but the pieces are such that you can’t build massive amounts other than the stuff in the ideas book.

Payday today so fancied buying her some more Lego but I’ve trawled amazon and I just can’t decide what to buy.

Lego Friends? Another classic box? Which one?

It’s a minefield! What has happened to Lego?!

OP posts:
nauticant · 31/05/2018 21:58

LEGO is hideously expensive and it's good to find ways of getting it at a discount:

brickset.com/buy/country-uk/vendor-Amazon

At the top of the list you can filter with "Choose a theme".

FASH84 · 31/05/2018 22:17

@WatchoutDSisdriving you can wash Lego! Put it in a pillow case knot the top put in the wash on a cool cycle with plenty of detergent and a splash of dettol. My mum used to do this periodically when she ran a nursery, otherwise it becomes a germ breeding ground especially around cold/flu season.

Curious2468 · 31/05/2018 22:20

We have our Lego colour sorted in rainbow draws 🙈. I can really recommend the Lego elves sets - my daughter is obsessed! We keep the large dragons and animals built and then most Lego is in the draws and as she makes things they go on her shelves :)

JoyceDivision · 31/05/2018 22:21

Batman Lego is ace Grin

thelastredwinegum · 31/05/2018 22:23

The minifigures in Lego Friends look "wrong" imho.

barleyfive · 31/05/2018 22:34

Lego Elves?

leghoul · 31/05/2018 22:36

Lego city and Lego creator sets have gone down the best here along with regular lego bricks and base plates.
Don't get Lego Friends unless there's something specific - far less interchangeable with other sets and fewer building opportunities. Steer clear of massively themed sets for as long as you can because of eye watering expense potential
We have outrageous amount of Lego but what is not built is mostly mixed together, except aircraft, simpsons and minecraft. We store it by colour.

leghoul · 31/05/2018 22:37

Oh I do like Lego elves but prefer lego creator

Rainshowers · 01/06/2018 00:02

DD4 is just getting into Lego and really likes the city stuff at the moment. She’s got a Disney set, and a friends one too but it’s the Lego City that gets played with the most at the moment. Although I’m not sure if it’s her or DH who enjoys it more!

stayathomer · 01/06/2018 00:20

We have a giant box of lego (90l). We got a lot from sets then got dumped in the box but they live for it all so it's okay. We went on eBay one year and got loads of pieces but had to scrub them all individually as they were filthy! The lego classic might be best for her age (if she's moved on from mega blocs which all my kids still play with!) Lego is the one area I feel bad for girl in for toys, lego friends, while gorgeous, is so restrictive compared to other lego!

doomRaider · 01/06/2018 03:03

I'd be on Gumtree etc looking for assorted sets ie. people can't be arsed to sort it before selling it.

We have boxes and boxes of the stuff bought for pittance.

DH also has his big Technics setc. They're on a high shelf in the office Hmm

Somtamthai · 01/06/2018 03:29

Inlive abroad and Lego is insanely expensive. But DD loves it. She has a few random sets. Only creator stuff gets kept separately the rest goes into a huge bucket. And she builds huge structures.

I’d get a huge joblot from eBay and maybe a Lego maker Book? Then she has freedom.

Luckily we get the mini figures fairy cheap (unofficial).

bookmum08 · 01/06/2018 08:57

leghoul I am curious to which Friends sets you have bought that aren't 'interchangable with other sets' because it's all the same bricks. There are a few pieces that are unique but you get that with most of the themes. I find it amusing that you say you like the Elves range - which has more unusual and specific pieces than Friends.
To OP - you are probably more confused than ever now. Just remember this - ALL Lego is interchangable and fits with each other. It doesn't matter what range you go for. The only difference is there are two different styles of figures - Minifigs (the traditional ones) and Minidolls (the ones that come in Friends, Elves and some Disney ones). But they can all live together in one giant brick built world - all Lego ranges are 100% compatible with each other.

Mol1628 · 01/06/2018 08:59

My three year old loves Lego. I bought a big mixed set from eBay for about £20 and a storage box. He loves it and plays with it every day.
Make sure you get some base plates too!

bookmum08 · 01/06/2018 09:01

and stayathomer same message to you - which Friends sets have you got that are 'restricted' to not building anything else? It's all the same as any other Lego ranges. Baffled by these anti-Friends comments.

JellySlice · 01/06/2018 09:11

Ebay. Mixed boxes, rather than specific sets, and let your imaginations run wild. If you need inspiration or guidance there are beautiful hardback books from places like Costco and The Book People, or YouTube and Google, too. You can also get bags of minifigures for peanuts (compared with the cost new). Ask for sets for birthday presents etc.

We keep most of our lego mixed up, sometimes graded by size into different tubs. One ds keeps almost all of the sets he's received over the years neatly sorted in clear plastic tubs, with the instructions in each tub. Those stay in his room - far away from the communal tubs. (Don't worry, they're the only neat things in his room. The rest looks like a normal bombshell.)

JellySlice · 01/06/2018 09:13

BTW don't worry about second hand from a smoker's household. Just bag it up loosely in a lingerie net and run it through the dishwasher.

ProjectInsanity · 01/06/2018 09:15

She's 3.

I'd advise you to go for the junior sets.

They are easier to build because they have some larger pieces, so it's easier for her to put together. My DD loved it at that age and although she had good motor skills she often got frustrated because she couldn't build fast enough or didn't have quite enough strength to put the smaller bits together.

lanbury · 01/06/2018 09:19

I bought DS 10kgs on eBay! Cheap as chips at the time, came in a massive bin liner with enough to build a city and a million vehicles. It was a while ago now and I'm planning on selling it the same way. Buying brand new is very expensive. I just chucked what I got in the bath with a jug of Milton to make sure it was clean and good as new Grin

reek · 01/06/2018 09:21

Lego Juniors is a good option for a 3yr old. Will she find Duplo too "babyish" as she's already been using Classic? They have lots of sets and they're aimed at age 1-5. DS loved it when he was little.
He's 7 now and seems to have lost his interest in Lego, but when he did play it non-stop, he would follow the instructions once then break it apart and all the sets would end up mixed up in a box. So the last few times he's asked for Lego I've stuck to Classic or the smaller themed packs. Spending £50 on a Minecraft pack seemed a waste after it was built once! But he loved having the theme and characters and making his own thing with it, so following instructions isn't compulsory. It can just get very expensive!

werideatdawn · 01/06/2018 09:38

I don't like Lego Friends, I don't understand why the minifig aesthetic has to be different for that range? They don't even look like Lego figures. We have quite a lot of the City sets and then the Classic boxes. We also got the big red celebration box that had a rocket and other bits in, that was a lot of fun and after we made all the bits in the book we just mixed it all up with the Classic stuff.

CaitlynsCat · 01/06/2018 09:42

you can get Lego-type sets on AliExpress. Some of them are dodgy copies of Lego, some of them are original designs, but all MUCH cheaper

SluttyButty · 01/06/2018 09:42

It's besides the point that your daughter is probably too young but get the millennium falcon or the vw camper, they're GREAT Grin

And my son has thousands of pounds worth of Lego it's all he had fo birthday and Christmas for years and the little shit has mixed all the sets up. I have the boxes and one day intend to put everything back correctly. Especially the rarer ones [ onfused]

User467 · 01/06/2018 09:44

It's not the Lego friends sets I have a particular with as such. As far as I can see Lego have just launched it as another range much like all their others and haven't specifically targeted it at girls but toy shops have. Lego used to be completely unisex, but the introduction of the friend's range has lead to a this stuff is for boys and this is for girls feel. Don't get me wrong, we do have friends stuff and it goes down just as well as all the rest, I just hate seeing it pushed as the Lego girls should play with

ProjectInsanity · 01/06/2018 10:15

The only annoying thing I've found so far is the friends people don't fit on the classic horses. But apart from that, my DD loves it. Her favourite set at the moment is the friends robot workshop.
The kids do see it as being for girls/boys and despite my saying she would never have pink clothes etc she likes friends sets because the colours are more in line with her preferences and the buildings are "pretty" 🙄