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MarilynW
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Please don't laugh at me! We are not huge on Legos in our house - we have the younger kids ones and a heap of wooden building stuff and other building toys. But we have never invested in Legos - I think partly because of having little ones and worrying about the little pieces being a choking hazard.
Anyway - we have boy birthdays coming up - and I am trying to figure out whether to start Lego collecting. Where do I start?
(Remember - you promised not to laugh at my ignorance  )
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Marilyn
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Michaela
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If you don't laugh at my answer, I wont giggle at the question. 
My boys are "into" Legos.
A couple of years ago, a friend purchased a tiny set for under $5 as a birthday gift for my oldest. Out of all the gifts he received, Nicholas focused all his attention on assembling the car and he played with it constantly.
Later, we decided to buy one of the less expensive Mars Mission sets (under $20) for Nicholas because he loves anything to do with space, and it has continued from there. His brother couldn't miss out on all the fun.
The Star Wars are big hits with my boys.
I suggest walking into a store and deciding which set would be interesting to your boys. I wouldn't buy the expensive sets to start in case your boys aren't interested.
I would establish rules for the Legos in the beginning.
We've never had a problem with Teresa putting Legos into her mouth, HOWEVER the greatest frustation around here is she will go into their room and destroy sets. Her favorite thing to do is grab a set Nicholas' has built, then drop it from the banister to watch the destruction ...followed by boys screaming and crying.
There was a thread about Lego rules (a community box of Legos).
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Michaela
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Matilda
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I won't laugh as long as you don't laugh at the fact that I had to ask my 10 year old son to answer your question!
The first set he built was a hot air balloon before he moved on to Star Wars vehicles. He usually prefers the sets that build a specific item from a character or story that he knows. But very quickly, he takes the pieces from those sets and creates new things. We no longer have anything built from a set, just from his imagination and that seems to be OK with him. You might want to find out whether or not your boys would like to be creative and build their own creations or would they prefer to follow the instructions for a certain piece and then keep it together.
I am not sure if that helps or not. No laughing!
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Charlotte (Matilda)
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Lori
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| Posted: Dec 29 2008 at 1:26pm | IP Logged
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Marilyn, I have 4 boys who have all LOVED Legos for as long as I can remember. With little ones in the house, just set some guidelines for the older boys, like only build in your room/on your bed/etc...keeps the tiny pieces out of the carpet that way, too.
As for starting out, you can go either with kits (they build a specific thing, like a spaceship or a building, or a race car, etc) or you can get the random pieces and go online to find some ideas of things they can build.
We have a combination of both, but once the kits have been built and played with, the pieces usually get mixed in with the random ones, allowing for even more creativity and combinations!
They have Star Wars Legos, pirate legos, race car legos, etc...just go to Toys R Us or WalMart or Target or something online and do a search for "legos".
There are also "off brands" that say they work with legos...sometimes they do, sometimes they don't, but most often they are much less expensive!
Hope that helps!
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Michaela
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| Posted: Dec 29 2008 at 1:27pm | IP Logged
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Matilda wrote:
| I won't laugh as long as you don't laugh at the fact that I had to ask my 10 year old son to answer your question! |
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I did the same thing, Matilda! I asked my boys for their thoughts, too.
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Michaela
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MarilynW
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| Posted: Dec 29 2008 at 1:29pm | IP Logged
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Thanks Michaela and Charlotte. Please don't laugh even more if I tell you that we have not watched Star Wars - I know, I sound like we are isolated and culture-ignorant - I promise this is not the case maybe just alternative culture. Good idea to take them to a store and have them choose something small. They love building things with their electronics sets and other models. They got some Bionicles are gifts that they enjoyed last year too. The older ones have been invited to join a Robotics team with some public schoolers - it is a big commitment and I want to see how interested they are with Lego first.
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Matilda
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Marilyn,
I understand! My oldest is a big science fiction lover so my kids have seen a couple of the Star Wars movies (the older ones though, not the newer ones). I was however thoroughly amazed that he was interested in one of the Indiana Jones sets for his birthday because he hasn't ever seen any Indiana Jones. I guess it just appeals to the general boy "adventure" gene. He was also thrilled to get a Secret Agent set for Christmas from my mom even though he has never really been into the spy genre other than reading Secret Agents Four by Donald Sobol.
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Charlotte (Matilda)
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Michaela
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| Posted: Dec 29 2008 at 1:36pm | IP Logged
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MarilynW wrote:
| Please don't laugh even more if I tell you that we have not watched Star Wars - |
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Not laughing at all!
We didn't buy Star Wars because they were familiar with the movies. It started because I didn't know what to buy, and my simple mind saw the space crafts in the Star Wars sets.
Now they've seen Star Wars (and I've learned that the movies aren't just about people flying and fighting in space.)
You'll find the perfect set or the pieces to build whatever their imaginations come up with.
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Mary Chris
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Gee whiz someone should have let me know there was a Lego thread going on. I've been busy today reading The Ruins of Gorlan, hat tip to Charlotte, loved it!
We have all sorts of Legos around here, Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Hogwarts, Knights Castle, and probably a few others thrown in there too. I think starting with a small set is a good idea. Most of the sets around $20.00 have more than one thing to build, so that will keep them busy for a bit.
My boys go in spurts with their Lego building, sometimes it is all they do then other times not so much. Most Targets have a pretty good selection of sets. There is a Lego store at Tyson's, talk about overwhelming, but they have a frequent buyer club, and an amazing selection. I have also seen listings on Craig's List.
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Mary G
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My personal preference is for the plain old bricks ... Lego classic -- these are the same we played with as kids. These are great and so encourage creativity!
My boys love all the Star Wars sets -- which are quite pricy -- but I still like the classic as you can mix and match...but then you can mix and match any of them.
BTW, Santa did bring me a set this year and it's been a BIG hit, even with the Star Wars lovers!
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Matilda
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Mary Chris wrote:
| Gee whiz someone should have let me know there was a Lego thread going on. I've been busy today reading The Ruins of Gorlan, hat tip to Charlotte, loved it! |
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OT: I am ashamed to admit that I finished the third one before my son even started it (He was sick with a stomach bug.) 
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Charlotte (Matilda)
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MarilynW
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| Posted: Dec 29 2008 at 6:31pm | IP Logged
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Thanks everyone. Actually Ihave a smallish classic set like the one Mary linked to - biggish pieces - I will have to take it out and have them experiment. I had a classic set like Mary's when I was little - and remember making so many creations.
I just want to be careful with toys - we do not have a very large house and we buy few good things - I hate to spend my life tidying up or falling over things - and we try to invest wisely in our toys. We did great with our Christmas presents - virtually no "twaddle" and no dealing with clutter.
Thanks again
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MaryM
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Mary G wrote:
| BTW, Santa did bring me a set this year and it's been a BIG hit, even with the Star Wars lovers! |
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That's a really cool retro set - when I clicked on the link I was wondering if there was some new knitting LEGO .
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Mary G
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MaryM wrote:
That's a really cool retro set - when I clicked on the link I was wondering if there was some new knitting LEGO . |
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Hmmmm... maybe I need to work on that ... after all there are Eggo Waffles that are "lego blocks"! [I know as my MIL is a sucker for things like that when the grandkids are around! ]
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MaryG
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Topic: Lego Question
