To ask for some Lego advice

[GoodAfternoonSeattle]

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?!

The 3 in 1 creator sets are great, maybe when she is a little bit older, as the builds are usually something they can play, and switching between the 3 different models means they don't get bored.

Also I'd highly recommend getting a set with minifigures that she likes (my boys are all about the superheroes!) - or from the blind bags - there are some really cute ones in the new 40th party series. The classics sets are great for building, but having the mini-figs means they also spend loads of time playing with the things once they have built them. Or as she is only 3, there are some lovely duplo sets with people and animals that are simple to build and really playable - my 6 year old still plays with his duplo. If you manage to get a job lot on ebay (we were really lucky) it is also quite satisfying for them as the larger blocks mean you can build quite large structures quite quickly.

Lego Friends is not the first range Lego have done 'aimed at girls'. The Homemaker range exsisted in the 70s, Belville and Scala were around in the 90s/00s. Belville was around for about 15 years.

I think DH and I played with the Duplo more than DS did, but for the last year he's been massively into Lego and is a huge Ninjago fan (tbh DH and I are as well now. The series is actually well done and quite funny in parts, and we both like Lego anyway...)

Before DS discovered Ninjago we bought bags of used Lego on eBay, people sell it by the kilo and we just kept an eye until we saw bags that we liked the look of and that were the right price. I spent whole evenings sorting it which I loved.

I've also discovered Bricklink. It's getting expensive

For a 3 year old id stick with Classics and leave the specific sets for when she is a bit older.

I would buy a bulk pack from eBay. Usually come with windows and doors, car frames so you can build all sorts with it.

There is nothing wrong with lego friends.
The fairgound sets were lovely, as is the newer (blue/green/orange/white) campervan.

Lego friends and the fabulous elves sets have brought in so many new bricks, parts and new bright colours.

Wouldn't bother with Duplo at 3 if already playing with normal lego.

The small 3in1 creator buildings are nice.

If she wants baseplates it is worth going to Wilko to get her some.
Wilko 'Blox' is completely interchangeable with Lego & much cheaper.

Also check out the kids part of the Lego website.
It's a bit confusing to navigate around, but this is the link to the Classics section.
There are many other builds/games/suggestions etc... for other themes too.

www.lego.com/en-gb/themes/classic/inspirational-builds

I haven't RTFT, just skimmed.
Get to Wilkos and buy their lego knockoff. Only thing I don't like about it are the figures but a young child might prefer them.
I bought a bakery, a fire engine and a playground. All great quality and the kids have enjoyed them.

I also mix the lego together once the model is broken beyond repair.

If you do stick to lego there are websites that you can track which models you have and it suggests things you can build. I think one of them is brickset or similar but there are others.

I personally don't like the lego friends, for the same reason I don't like the wilko ones, don't like the figures. But at lego prices and you seem to get even less and more bigger pieces so less creative anyway. Rip off.

Lego Friends is irritatingly pink and purple, and the characters annoy me because they are not "proper" mini figures! However, DD3 (10yo) loves the stuff - she has some standard Lego basic bricks from her older sisters but since she has been old enough to ask for Lego for Christmas/Birthdays she has wanted the Friends stuff. I can hear her in her room now building something. We have the instruction booklets in a couple of box files, and the bricks not in use are sorted by colour into an Ikea Trofast set of plastic drawers. The earlier sets were all fashion/pop stars etc but the newer ones are less girlie stereotyped - hospital, racing cars, ski resort.

Can you let your DD look at a website/catalogue/shop shelves and pick out what she likes? (Provided she's not going to have a tantrum when you tell her you can't afford an enormous set).

Another Classic box would be good, it's nice that they now come with some build instructions and they tend to have good bricks for doing your own thing.

City tends to have fairly simple builds and would also be a good choice I reckon. Good if you want vehicles and the exploration subthemes are great fun. The Creator sets tend to be a bit more complex to build.

Juniors sets are promoted as "easy to build" but I'm not convinced by them. They tend to use some large pieces that end up having limited use, like a single block that all four wheels for a car go onto.

For all Lego sets you can also look on the Lego website and on Rebrickable for some different things to build with them.

Oh, and IMHO Lego's meant to be all dumped into one box when models get taken apart. (Of course favourite models might never be taken apart). Until you get so much that you need to think about sorting it.

I'm another saying get a big load on EBay, one with lots of wheels and minifigs. If you're lucky it might come in a good storage box too, e.g. one with dividers and baseboards for lids.

We did that then stored big sets separately, but cheaper sets might just end up in with the EBay stuff.

Something fun to play with legos when they have built the sets and mixed it up is lego challenge. Can you build me something with 2 wheels and a seat. Can you build me something that can fly. Make it more challenging as they get older. Build me something that can fly, dive underwater, fit 2 people and has a toilet (my ds found that particularly inspiring!)
They then have to build it and come back and explain it to you before you set them the next challenge. My older DS now sets challenges for his younger siblings

Brickowl is also really good if you just want certain bricks or minifigures.

Bookmum08 I have a fair few of them despite my apparent dislike of them, and while some are ok (except the sickly colours and the weird minifigures) they are 'much less detailed' according to DC, and have lots of large pieces - really large curved sides of things for example. I just think in terms of integrating them with other lego they're not as good.

Having seen OP's child is 3, I'd suggest Lego Juniors as 3 still quite little for Lego. Or Lego city/creator..

Bookmum08 Sorry, maybe I used the wrong word! I Have 4 boys and no lego friends but my sister and some of my friends (where Des's would very regularly go to play lego)has practically every iteration of it because one of her girls is addicted to it, the other plays with creative as she's told us there isn't the range and size of bricks to build what they (the girls and my dad's) want to if you know what I mean? It's like there's more small pieces suited to that particular set but not enough to let go and build something bigger?

Phone went a bit crazy and decided it couldn't write 'ds 'there, sorry!!!!

I always let mine choose.

When DS1 was 5, he was in isolation in hospital, the playleader brought him a few Lego sets and asked him to please keep them separate. Ha! He tipped them all in a big pile. XP had to sort them all!

I also have to say DS1 is 27 and has recently made the Friends diner. I think it's the only Friends set he's got. I don't think he likes that it's not compatible with other ranges.

PerfectlySymmetrical lol to when they just tip them all together and in your head you're thin 'noooooo'

I went into Home Bargains yesterday and they had versions of base plates really cheap if you don't mind fake lego. At 3 I would go with some lego juniors or creator sets. I've found asda to be the cheapest place to buy new lego as they often have really good discounted sets. My 4 year old is obsessed. It feels like we buy lego daily!

That's good to know about washing it in machine/dishwasher. We bought some from eBay and I didn't think to check if it was from a smoke free home and it smelt awful. Has been sitting in our garage while we take a bit out and wash it in the sink every now and then!

Also, my son is 3 and plays amazingly well with lego ( normal one) if we go out we take a little box with minifigures in and if he's in the right mood he will play for ages with them. He does like lego Star Wars which seems more expensive though! What would people say a good deal for 1kg of lego is and are people usually happy with what they get?

Yes stay, the playleader's face was a picture! 😂

I had a Lego-mad 3 year old, who is now a Lego-mad 4 year old. If you DD has been using "big girl Lego" from the Classic sets successfully for a while, I would give the Lego Juniors sets a miss personally. They can be a good introduction to Lego because they have lots of large shaped pieces, so less fiddly for small fingers, easier instructions and faster results. But the flip side of that is that the pieces are less interchangeable and they're more of a one-trick pony. We bought DS one Juniors set and rather regretted it.

DS started with Classics tubs and some charity shop mixed bags. If you Google you can find lots of other ideas and inspiration online for things to build from the pieces eg frugalfun4boys.com/2015/01/30/simple-projects-beginning-lego-builders/

DS has also had lots of fun with sets, mostly Lego City and Star Wars at 3 (at 4 it's all about Ninjago). I like the 3 in 1 Creator houses (probably because Lego houses were my thing when I was little!); DS is more about vehicles but he liked the 3-in-1 beach house (now discontinued I think). At 3, we found the best sets for him were the smaller ones, or the ones which comprised several smaller models (like the Airport Airshow set) because he could do each build independently within his concentration span.

Lego sets in this house are built once from the instructions, then customised, then eventually broken up into the general box (which is sorted by size and colour). Periodically DH goes through and extracts the bits to make up a particular set, and puts them together as a kit to rebuild when DS fancies making up a set from instructions. But it's also nice to have all the bits from various sets, to make individual creations from.

If you've got Duplo, I'd say hang onto it even though DD is moving on to "big girl Lego". DS has recently returned to his Duplo for playing in the bath or garden, where normal Lego isn't allowed!