[Closed] Lego - what do you do with it?

Freaks (not your kids, the whingers!)..

That's what Lego's for...
build the kit.. play with it... rebuild it as a jet ski/house/car... repeat etc...

DrP

They’re kids let them play.

It's definitely what Lego is for, but some of the kits become collectable and worth a Bob, so it depends what you want, to encourage your kids play and imagination, or to line your pockets!! 😜

Mine are 8 & 6 and do exactly the same. I'm pretty sure it's exactly what I did too 😀

Let their imagination run wild, that is what Lego is all about.

Adults telling kids how to play 🙄

So, some adults want to stifle your children's creativity & imagination, impacting upon their enjoyment of their toys. Hmmm.

Your children are doing exactly what I did as a child.

Carry on.

You must know some easily upsettable Lego fans then, if they are being wound up by this they are chumps. Its your Lego. Keep the boxes and books, try not to lose bits, you can always rebuild later. I will own up to the fact that some of my kids sets are kept "sets", for a short while, so that they actually do the instruction builds, cause the book builds have stuff the kids can learn, techniques to make shapes and whatnot. A couple of sets the kids have decided not to mix up yet, for their own reasons. But most go straight into the free for all box after being made up and pulled apart.

Is this not the premise for 'The Lego Movie'?

As it’s nearly bonfire night can you tell your kids that by using a banger and Lego I was able to build a reusable rocket and rocket launcher that was good for two storey roof height, you’d probably better get them some bangers as well

My daughter used to build it according to the instructions and never anything else! No end of persuasion from me could persuade her otherwise. 🙁

Your kids are doing it right. Never had kits in my day, just a massive box of mainly yellow bricks from which I would construct battleships, spaceports, rockets (with lasers), garages with various vehicles and entire towns. Probably looked rubbish but I loved it. You could probably make a really cool truck out of the death star.

You must know some easily upsettable Lego fans then

That's quite possible 😀

Just to be clear I don't mind them doing this at all. They enjoy the initial build and play and then it's quite nice to see them run up and say "Look, look! I've built a plane with a water cannon!" 🙂

Everything has to have moar guns! Oh and lasers!

That’s what Lego’s for…

..children.
Collectors and adults who play with it are weird (or employed by Lego) and not to be listened to under any circumstances.

My son did the same, although we have some (dusty) fully built things dotted around the house, most of it sits in boxes of bits/bricks.

Is this not the premise for ‘The Lego Movie’?

close enough

Probably what will happen as they get older is they will start to leave some of their favourite sets built up & the others will be added into the box bits after they're finished with. This is what I did anyway. At the end of the day if they're gonna build their own stuff they need a big box of bits which have got to come from somewhere!! Just make sure one doesn't smash up the other's favourite set which they wanted to keep, that will end badly 😃

My two kids (nearly 6 and nearly 4) seem to wind up some Lego fans by not doing what they’re supposed to.

Mine have the kits, which generally stay together plus loads of “free range” stuff for building vast cityscapes which stay up for a month or two then get demolished and rebuilt. Currently we have Tudor Mansion with ornamental gardens on 9 large bases boards, several cafes and a Tilt Yard for jousting.
The kits are primarily Lego Friends and live completed on shelves, but are frequently brought down and arranged and rearranged into towns where my daughter plays with the figures like dolls. All the figures have their own names and their own houses, cars and jobs!
My lad likes the Knights series, so he has a few castles but has built more buildings from the odds and sods boxes.
All of the sets were from eBay with any missing parts ordered directly from Lego or sourced from our spares, the “free range” is bought second hand by the kilo then sorted by colour and type. We couldn’t afford to do it with new bricks, and from memory the only full prices kit we have is my Saturn V.
We have a lot of Lego!

I still like Technic Lego and treat myself to a set now and again. My daughter isn't old enough to build the more complicated sets but she likes playing with the finished results. She has her own Lego, mainly Lego Friends but she still prefer playing with it then building it, but she is only 5. Some models are properly impressive and I tend to keep them built up especially if she likes playing with them. I've got a huge Lego jeep with a winch that we use to rescue dolls! I do keep the Technic stuff separate from the Lego System stuff.

But sets get mixed together, big sets get modified with motors from little sets, remote control bits get ripped off the original models and used to make weird contraptions.

I keep the instructions but not the boxes. There are only a few unique parts (especially if you aren't too fussy about colour) so its easy to build the original models back up even if the sets are mixed.

Eldest now 22 had all manner of lego as a child, he would build up as instructions, play with then after a while bits would get robbed to build other things then remaining blocks would be placed in the lego crate(s). He/we made all sort of weird lego worlds and modes of transport over the years, he/we had great fun. That noise tho of rummaging in a box looking for the ideal brick

Fast forward to when starting uni he declared that he wanted to sell as he would never use again ( are you sure? both we both questioned him) he spent days/weeks sorting out all the pieces built up the items took pics and placed the pieces into bags and sold the sets on ebay for hard cash. Luckily I kept the original boxes and instructions in the loft he got quite a few ££ for some star wars sets

Now that he is working, he's now buying sets of ebay and he must have more lego than before. Keep any boxes and instructions for future use.

Collectors and adults who play with it are weird

I resemble this comment, and so does my wife.

Couldn’t care less what other folk do with Lego...

77mini loves Lego and star wars, he has a few star wars kits, that may last a while as complete kits but I doubt it will be for very long. On the other hand from a load of mixed kits and second hand Lego bought by the kilo, we have built together a droidekka which has lasted about 5 months so far and an AT-ST chicken walker that is fast approaching 4 months now. Do they look like the Lego kit versions? Do they heck, but it has inspired him and teaches him how to think through various problems and that is surely the true purpose of Lego.

Keeping kits as a full built unit never to be played with is a perversion!

That said I’d love the big millennium falcon, but not till he has moved out, but as he is only five I will need to be very patient.

Collectors and adults who play with it are weird (or employed by Lego) and not to be listened to under any circumstances.

😡

Anyway, kids are supposed to build the model then break it and build something else. That's what it's for. Unless they want to keep it intact and play with it, it's for that too.

I've made a pair of Lego slippers for wallking around the house.

That way, if I stand on a rogue piece of Lego*, i'll only get taller.

*the second most painful thing you can ever step on after a 3 pin plug.

Those must be the most painful shoes ever.

I am not a Collectors and adults who play with it are weird

FTFY

All of the sets were from eBay with any missing parts ordered directly from Lego or sourced from our spares, the “free range” is bought second hand by the kilo then sorted by colour and type.

Very much this.

Will post up some pictures of the Tudor Mansion that my wife built. It is spectacular.

I mostly chuck it as far as I can after I have trodden on it.

Lego – what do you do with it?

*the second most painful thing you can ever step on after a 3 pin plug.

When you leave the house empty and go on holiday, liberally scatter lots of Lego bricks around the floor as a booby trap in case of intruders.
Make a memo to self to not stand on them on returning home... 😬

We have adult lego and kids lego.

Adult stuff is about 20 of the bigger technic sets, mainly construction, aviation or cars, from the last 10 years. Built once and displayed, as it is really an investment, all boxes and instructions (and stickers) kept.

Kids stuff is in large lego brick storage boxes. Buy a set, open packet, pour into box. Sorted. Kids build, break,build, break etc. It is what its for.

Probably what will happen as they get older is they will start to leave some of their favourite sets built up & the others will be added into the box bits after they’re finished with.

Pretty much what I did. The bigger sets / favourites stayed intact, the smaller stuff got pooled.

Lego used to publish books of new model builds which combined sets, like if you had #853 and #8860 you could build [this]. Do they not do that any more? I don't recall seeing such a thing in years (though I've not been particularly looking for them).

*the second most painful thing you can ever step on after a 3 pin plug.

Thus speaks a man who has never had D4 dice.

the “free range” is bought second hand by the kilo then sorted by colour and type.

You're doing it wrong. Sort by type first, it's a lot easier to find a yellow brick in amongst a load of blue ones than it is to find a flat 1x1 in a pile of 1x2s.

I swear that my son's friend at his old school got the pirate mech for Christmas and the parents glued it together as it was built... Someone *really* didn't watch the Lego Movie.

My two kids (nearly 6 and nearly 4) seem to wind up some Lego fans

How often has this happened?

OP's kids are definitely doing it right.
We have boxes full of mixed sets. It's fun to find a bit you recognise and then add it to something else that is being built.
Eldest is now 9 and has a couple of Star Wars sets up on a shelf that don't get mixed up - his choice.

Except I have MY Yellow Submarine set up on a shelf out of reach - the children know that they don't ever touch that without me being around. Does that make me one of the wierdos?

I also know one of my sons friends whose Mum used to glue sets together so they didn't get broken up! This was before the Lego Movie came out.

Fond memories of wet sunday afternoons spent with my brother and all the lego poured out on the bedroom carpet and you're rummaging through it with a 'looking for a 2er bit' Lego is ace.

Lego used to publish books of new model builds which combined sets, like if you had #853 and #8860 you could build [this]. Do they not do that any more?

That's what Lego's for. Buy it, build it, break it up and build something else.

How often has this happened?

Exactly twice.

My eldest is a kit freak, the youngest is a free styler. This causes friction.

I am not a Collectors and adults who play with it are weird

FTFY

Oh yeah, thanks. Makes perfect sense now 😕

My eldest is a kit freak, the youngest is a free styler. This causes friction.

Oh blimey. That's what I'd want to avoid at all costs :O

I use to do the same as the OP's kids when I was their age. Rarely re built the original models but now I have a little more space i really enjoyed re building them. Some parts were missing and were available to buy. But, some of the more unique parts from the 80's and 90's are very collectable and valuable now. So its worth keeping the boxes and instructions somewhere safe if they don't use them.

which bits from the 80s and 90s ,,,, we need specifics please. 😀

the lego treadmill challenge