Lego ages?

[Mittensonkittens]

My ds is only 4 but I've seen a Lone Ranger set I think he'd like but it says 7+.

Is this due to difficulty of build or because the set features little guns? If it is really complicated I will have to get an easier set!

It could be because of both. But if your ds is anything like mine, someone else will end up building the thing and then it will be broken up and made into something different . Dcs are just 6 and 3 and they both play with Lego.

Lego does keep them occupied but it gets bloody everywhere!

I would say difficulty. DS aged 5 is just getting into lego but it's very fiddly and he needs help/gets frustrated. I'm going to get him a basic box of bricks rather than the kit things.

Maybe I could build it and he can find the pieces. It's a set I think he'd really like and I can't find anything else like it in a lower age group...

Its difficulty. My ds is 6 and loves Lego, but sets for age 8 are too hard and he needs alot of help that dh is more than willing to give but ds gets really frustrated with it and doesn't really enjoy it.

agree, difficulty. DS is pretty switched on with lego now at 5yrs but he finds the 7/8yrs sets quite tricky --howlingly frustrating-- which takes the fun out them really!! admittedly I still get stuff I see on offer but expect that an adult will have to help, he tries really hard but struggles with the length and detail of the build instructions.

at that age a big box of bricks is the best idea and maybe a little set as an extra.

MY Ds and I do these sets together - have done for a few years. We do play that one of us does the odd numbers in the book one the even then I help when it gets fiddly. I think he enjoys this as much as the lego. He's 7 now and is starting to say I can do a bit of yours etc but at 4 he enjoyed playing together. His was cars lego.

I'd agree on difficulty. DS (5) can manage the Lego City stuff for his age, but needs help with 7+ (we have a few Star Wars sets because he's really into Star Wars)

Basic brick box sets are good and you can also get young builder sets for 4+ which are a great introduction to following instructions etc.

It's a Lone Ranger set. Ds won't know it's a Lone Ranger, he will use it as a highway man and likely not take it apart once built.

I could build the carriage part and he could just put the people together I guess.
I'm not sure I will manage it thought tbh, I find the age 5+ complicated enough!

DD is 4.3. She happily plays with Lego by herself and builds basic structures. I bought her a 3-in-one age 7-12 set (windmill/helicopter/building) and we spent about 90 mins together on Saturday building one of the structures. I'd say that it's partly the difficulty (lots of fiddly little bits like the one-square flat shiny pieces - DD still doesn't have quite the fine motor co-ordination/strength to stick those bits on), partly the level and duration of attention required (DD was definitely starting to lose interest around step 27!), and partly the overwhelming number of pieces. My heart sank!

However, she was definitely interested, capable of working out each step, finding the pieces, working out where they went and having a sense of achievement. No way could she have done it by herself though. And no way could we have done it without a large tray to put all the pieces on and another tray to build the model on!

HTH.

DS is 4.7 and has been doing 7+ sets since about 6 months ago, and he now does them pretty much by himself. He has been playing with first Duplo and then Lego intensely, with a lot of encouragement from DH and me (we love it too).

I think it depends on their attention span.

If this is going to be his first major lego set, then I would say not. If you just want a stagecoach type thing for him to play with, Playmobil have a load of western stuff at the moment.