IF your DC likes to build LEGO, Do they play it afterwards?

[jennynd]

DS7 loves lego, But he only builds, never play. Once it is done. He doesn't even care where it goes. So, it usually just sit there and collecting dust. He go some very expensive legos and build it in few hours to half day. THEY ARE SOOOO EXPENSIVE and I don't know if I want to buy more if he just get few hours with it.

Is this normal? His birthday is in few months and he is asking for it.. but oh boy... I just find it hard to buy something over 100 bucks for him play for few hours

 

Also DS doesn't play toys... just in general. Even when he was a little toddler, he does not play toys. he does puzzles, that's about it and we have a playroom with all the toys you can imaging. But he does not play

He does have a bucket of legos that was from the sets that his sister wrecked and once in the blue moon he will go and build something amazing. But that doesn't happen often.

There are only 2 things indoor can keep him occupied. Video game and lego and I am a bit scare what happen if I take lego away...

Edited January 6, 2012 by jennynd

[Amber in AUS]

My DS almost 6 LOVES Lego! He builds it and puts it on display and also plays imaginative games with it. He certainly gets hours and hours of pleasure from it. Would your DS do better with a creator set or just a free play tub of Lego which encourages building, dismantling and building something new?

[TheReader]

My DS almost 6 LOVES Lego! He builds it and puts it on display and also plays imaginative games with it. He certainly gets hours and hours of pleasure from it. Would your DS do better with a creator set or just a free play tub of Lego which encourages building, dismantling and building something new?

 

Agreeing with this. My boys -- 14, 11, and almost 7 -- all love Lego and all play differently with it. My oldest likes to build and display, and left on his own might not play as much (these days) but does play with his brothers. My middle son builds and plays, but usually needs prompting. He doesn't like for his big sets to get broken, so often the bigger sets end up display only and he plays with the mini figures. My youngest, though, plays and plays and plays, but we get him creator sets or loose bricks or sets heavy on mini figures, light on build able stuff. He creates whole worlds and plays for hours.

 

All that to say, maybe less structured items to pair with things your son already owns, so he can begin to use his legos in a more creative fashion.

[Mom-ninja.]

Mine do.

[jenn-]

Right now they are barreling through the post Christmas building period. They are focused solely on getting the next kit built, but when they are done, they will play with them. That goes for 11 dd down to the 5 yo ds.

[Khselee]

My son LOVES his Lego-he will build the item, and then play with it for days, or break it back down to build other things. Right now he has several of the Harry Potter items arranged in his bedroom, and those have been keeping his attention for weeks now.

[Heather in Neverland]

DS7 loves lego, But he only builds, never play. Once it is done. He doesn't even care where it goes. So, it usually just sit there and collecting dust. He go some very expensive legos and build it in few hours to half day. THEY ARE SOOOO EXPENSIVE and I don't know if I want to buy more if he just get few hours with it.

Is this normal? His birthday is in few months and he is asking for it.. but oh boy... I just find it hard to buy something over 100 bucks for him play for few hours

 

This is my boys exactly. I am done buying those sets!!!

[Serenade]

I have one who builds for display, and one who builds to play with it. I'm starting to cut back on the one who builds for display, because there is only so much room, you know...Luckily, he is going to be 12, and he's starting to get more older kid stuff than toys. It is hard, though, because his eyes want the Legos, and he sees his brother getting them, but he doesn't really have a lot of interest in playing with them himself. So I got him a few sets for Christmas, but not as much as his brother.

[jujsky]

DS does usually play with them after he builds them, and tends to keep them for as long as a year before taking them apart.

[Serenade]

but we get him creator sets or loose bricks or sets heavy on mini figures, light on build able stuff.

 

I love the creator sets -- they are great for the kids who love to build and change things.

[annlaura]

Mine do too.

[AngieC]

My dd builds and displays and my son builds and plays. I take my dd's sets down a while after she builds them and then she can rebuild them (or more likely ds will rebuild them) some time later. My dd's sets are all put away neatly in plastic bags with the directions so they can be rebuilt. My sons are all spread out and mixed together, so who knows if we could ever put them together exactly how they're supposed to be be. They get so much use as it is that it really doesn't matter.

[Night Elf]

My son is a Lego architect. He builds to display but doesn't play with the sets like he would with action figures or a doll house. He was about 7 years old when he started a Lego city. Over the years it has grown, and it survives even today, and he's 15 years old. That city is laid out on a 6 ft. table in his bedroom. In those years, he has modified it, adding in new buildings, modifying exisiting ones, removing some, always with some grand design in mind I guess. I got him some Lego vehicles for Christmas because he didn't have enough of them on his streets.

 

I've tried to get him to take the city down. He would have so much more space in his room! But he said that while he does not play with them, he enjoys them daily because he likes to look at them.

[atozmom]

My DS (8) builds the set when he first gets it and it stays together for a few weeks while he plays with it. Then he takes it completely apart and creates something else with it. He does the same thing with the minifigs. He takes apart arms, legs, hands, etc. and builds something completely different. He will spend hours creating, building and playing with his LEGOs. We definitely get our moneys worth around here. :lol:

[Lady Florida.]

Mine didn't play with what he built, but he did set up displays. If he had a kit, he would usually build following instructions, display it for a few weeks, then take it apart. He often made his own creations using parts from various sets as well as generic bricks.

[mom2scouts]

My 9 year old builds the set one time and then spends hours and hours changing it, using parts for other things and playing with it. :001_smile:

[jennynd]

added to op

Edited January 6, 2012 by jennynd

[Little Nyssa]

My DS builds the models, then takes them apart, modifies them, deconstructs them, and rebuilds them or other things out of the parts.

 

If your DS likes to build according to a plan, I have seen big Lego books out there which are full of pictures of things you can build. That is, the plans minus the actual Lego. (But my DS would be really disappointed to get a book for a present instead of actual lego!;) I was thinking of having this book magically appear one day...)

[Running the race]

My 15yo has never played with them after he builds them. I think it is a personality thing.

[myfunnybunch]

My boys love to combine and recombine Legos. They play with them constantly. They build the sets, then break them down for parts. It's one of the main atttractions of Legos for them

 

BUT

 

Once built, some sets just sit on display. Some for a really long time. Eventually, they get broken down. The boys like to look at their handiwork before they break it up. Ds11 has quite a collection going right now.

 

If you're still on the fence about Legos, I'd recommend getting some sets of random bricks and a Lego book like The Lego Ideas Book or The Unofficial Lego Builder's Guide. It might give him a new way to view Legos. :) Santa brought The Lego Ideas Book for Christmas, and there's a mini-medieval village under construction in the middle of our bedroom floor right now.

 

Cat

[jar7709]

I don't think every child does "imaginary play" as much as others...everyone is different.

 

But with that said, your post doesn't say, do you have other kids? I've heard of kids that didn't know how to do imaginary play until they saw it modeled for them. My DS is the lego builder in this house and loves taking apart the models and rebuilding them in a million different ways, but I didn't see him playing with them in an imaginary world way until DD became old enough to play with...now they incorporate his Lego with her Playmobil and play very elaborate imaginary worlds I can't keep track of, all the time.

[jennynd]

 

If you're still on the fence about Legos, I'd recommend getting some sets of random bricks and a Lego book like The Lego Ideas Book or The Unofficial Lego Builder's Guide. It might give him a new way to view Legos. :) Santa brought The Lego Ideas Book for Christmas, and there's a mini-medieval village under construction in the middle of our bedroom floor right now.

 

Cat

 

 

This ideal book is interesting.. I think I will try that

[ThelmaLou]

My kids race through the kits at lightning speed and then display them for months (or years) in their rooms. Sometimes they'll break down an old set and put it in one of our *many* large rubbermaid totes full of legos. These bins used to see daily use by several of our boys, but not so much any more. Youngest ds, age 5, is finally loving legos. He doesn't have any of his own sets, but he has a ball with all the buckets of legos, especially the ones with the special pieces like Star Wars, Harry Potter, and and Indiana Jones.

 

Right now, most of our huge lego bins are in the attic. I'll take down one at a time for youngest ds, dump them on a big blanket and it'll keep him occupied for hours. I'll occasionally rotate buckets. Every once in a while one of the older boys with get down on the floor and start building something from scratch, but that was mostly in the "good ol' days". They don't do this as much any more.

[Myeightkiddies]

Mine do, or did. My little man is almost ready for Legos but not there yet. With the really elaborate ones, such as the Star Wars Death Star II, they tend not to play with something like that.

[jennynd]

My kids race through the kits at lightning speed and then display them for months (or years) in their rooms. Sometimes they'll break down an old set and put it in one of our *many* large rubbermaid totes full of legos. These bins used to see daily use by several of our boys, but not so much any more. Youngest ds, age 5, is finally loving legos. He doesn't have any of his own sets, but he has a ball with all the buckets of legos, especially the ones with the special pieces like Star Wars, Harry Potter, and and Indiana Jones.

 

Right now, most of our huge lego bins are in the attic. I'll take down one at a time for youngest ds, dump them on a big blanket and it'll keep him occupied for hours. I'll occasionally rotate buckets. Every once in a while one of the older boys with get down on the floor and start building something from scratch, but that was mostly in the "good ol' days". They don't do this as much any more.

My younger one is just start to play lego. Maybe I can just hope that she will play with it

[Splinter]

My boys build, have a 5 minute war, then take it apart and build it again. My daughter forces her brothers to build things for her, then she plays with them for hours.

[mom31257]

Ds builds the sets and then loves to keep them together and play with them for weeks. I want to buy some that are not part of a set so that he'll get more creative with it. He does have a few extras and will build some on his own. He really wanted sets for Christmas, but for his birthday I'll be looking for pieces.

[swellmomma]

Yes but in different ways. My oldest builds things to use with math manips, risk pieces etc to enact the wars he always plays. My 8 yr old builds houses and cars and used them with his playmobile people. The girls don't play with it often though if they do, my 12 yr old usually build farms or homes for her playmobile animals or her little pet shops. dd4 is happy to building anything but doesn't really play with it afterwards. Whether they build to play or for display I dismantle after 1 week. There is only so much room in our tiny house. Plus with 4 sharing the bricks it makes it more fair for all concerned that they are dismantled at the end of the week to be ready for new construction the following week.

[Grover]

DS builds and displays (after a while I break it down and dump it in a communal bin). DD plays and plays and plays, and creates random things.