Tips on Buying Lego For Your Child

~ Posted on Wednesday, December 18, 2013 at 7:47 AM ~

Ever since I created an album on my Facebook fan page to share the pictures of Lego creations made by our kiddos, I have received some questions from fans and friends asking which Lego products that they should get for their kiddos as they were showing interests in the Lego bricks. Just in case you want to have a look at some of the creations by our 4.5 years old boy, feel free to hop over and check them out in my FB album.

Anyway, I think it is high time I blogged about this - also kinda tiring to keep on googling for the product models we got for our kiddos (we don't keep the boxes and I don't remember unless I googled it) Before I begin, do note that majority decision-making in buying the Lego sets came from hubby. He is the one with the brains and all in Lego-sy stuff. Me? I only started TOUCHING a Lego brick the same time our 1st child got his first Lego set just before he turned 3 years old. True story!

So here it goes, according to the order we bought it:

5932 My First LEGO® Set

5932 My First LEGO Set

Some info on this set: "Includes 1 minifigure, 4 wheels, 1 propeller, 2 windows, 1 door, decorated bricks and 1 building plate"

Why we got it?  This is a basic starter set, suitable for your child if you are just venturing into the world of Lego bricks. You may ask what's the difference with the gazillions other Lego sets and why single this out? Well, there are other basic starter sets as well but this particular model 5932 got our attention as it also came with a building plate. You see the picture above? The green color cover for the Lego packaging box? That is the building plate I'm talking about. It doubles up as the packaging box cover as well as to be used as a platform to build on.

This 1st model set lasted for quite a long while before our 1st child gets more and more interested in Lego and started building and keeping his creations. Soon, we ran out of bricks to use as our boy refused to dismantle his creations... gaaaa... and so, we went and bought the following model:

 

5623 LEGO ® Basic Bricks – Large

5623 LEGO Basic Bricks – Large

Some info on this set: "The perfect supplement to any LEGO collection features 450 basic bricks in eight different colours – providing even more creative building possibilities."

Why we got it? This model set perfectly is just plain Lego bricks in more quantity and different colors. We get this because our boy needed more bricks to build on. And when more things are being built and we needed platforms to place the creations on, we got the following:

 

628 LEGO® X-Large Grey Baseplate

628 LEGO X-Large Grey Baseplate

Some info on this set: "This grey baseplate measures 15" x 15", so it's a great place to start building castles, skyscrapers, or what ever your imagination comes up with."

Why we got it? This is basically just a plain grey colored baseplate (a bit flimsy though I feel) that you can use to continue building your Lego creations on. If I'm not mistaken, we bought it for RM50

 

And when our boy gets more creative and independent, hubby suggested getting Benjamin his very first Lego themed set for his 4th birthday, which is this case would be from the Lego City sets. Hubby took the time to search for the right set which we both decided on (over the phone since I can't go out along as that would mean bringing the kiddos as well) And the model we got for our boy's 4th birthday is:

60004 Lego City Fire Station

60004 Lego City Fire Station

Some info on this set: "Includes 5 minifigures: fire chief, pilot, and 3 firefighters with assorted accessories, you can build fire van, fire truck, helicopter, fire stations and has all the related firefighting accessories."

Why we got it? Our boy is crazy with fire engine stuff at that point of his life. He goes on and on and on with his fire engine creations, etc etc which is why we decided on this model. Hubby said compared to the other Lego City Fire range, this is the nicest one which you can build fire van, fire truck, helicopter, fire stations and etc. Being a perfectionist (our boy noticed even the slightest difference on the alignment or colors of the bricks!) and one who refused to dismantle his Lego creations, it took almost 4 months when our boy finally decided to dismantle this Lego set and since then, we went on to build more awesome stuff with all the Lego bricks!

 

The above Lego models we got are just guidelines to show you what we have and our reasons for getting them. General advise from me to you if you are planning to get Lego for your child:

  • Get the age appropriate Lego sets for your child. If you want to get one which is not within their age range, you must be really really sure and confident that they can handle and take care of the Lego bricks.

  • Start with the basic easy no-theme Lego sets. (Just like what we did)

  • Try to get the starter set that has the baseplate so you can put your creations on it.
  • Do not go for those fancy-smancy Lego themed sets for starters as that will limit your child's imagination and creativity, not to mention frustrates you as well as you will need to build the Lego bricks according to the pictures shown on the packaging (imagine how dead I would be if we get the Lego City set as the first starter set?!!!)

  • Again, age appropriate, I would advise you to keep the smaller parts until your child is old enough to know not to put it into their mouth and not to simply misplaced them. By small parts I meant those bricks as small as few milimeters in sizes and those smaller accessories like cups, walkie-talkies, etc

  • If your child is too young to be handling Lego bricks, you might want to consider getting them Duplo which can be integrated with Lego bricks or Mega Bloks instead.


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