> the replay value is in taking down the set and doing it again next year
There is no end to the “replay value” in taking whatever miscellaneous collection of legos you have and making whatever you want out of them. This is what most kids do. Each new set gets added to the mixed-up pile. (This works because all of the pieces consistently follow a common geometric design, and connect together using a small handful of common interfaces. Note: sorting the collection can be helpful for finding pieces.)
Making the set following the instructions and then displaying the finished model on a shelf, packing the pieces back in its box, or reselling the kit is something more common among adults.
The “follow 3d-puzzle instructions” way of playing is pretty shallow. Even the hardest lego sets aren’t really that hard, and with a couple years experience even very young children can do them. (A 5 or 6 year-old can easily make the sets that claim on the box to be for age 11+ or whatever, with a couple years’ occasional experience.)
But if you like 3d puzzles, legos are pretty good for inventing new ones, and there are a wide variety of ways to make puzzles that are harder than the instructions shipped with the pieces.
> There is no end to the “replay value” in taking whatever miscellaneous collection of legos you have and making whatever you want out of them. This is what most kids do.
It’s interesting watching my sister’s kids interact with lego. Her daughter (the oldest) loves rules, and loves following the instructions on the set. Her (younger) son loves destroying her sets and mixing things up. He loves all the “boy” lego sets - flames, dragons, motorbikes, you name it.
I’ve been trying to get them to relax into building whatever they want with their bricks. “Oh there’s the eyes for a face. Which piece is a mouth?” “Wow cool motorbike. I wonder if this brick would look good as a helmet?”. I try to make bad suggestions and get them to find something better.
I struggle to break free from the instructions a lot of the time too. I think my problem with modern lego is how many individual elements there are. It doesn’t feel like fun creative constraints when you have so many different pieces to choose from. More like, whatever element I use, I feel like there was something better out there I didn’t think of. The huge variety of pieces makes the sets look great - so great that it overshadows anything I make myself. I love lego; but I wish they embraced the constraints of the medium more and let their sets be more blocky. Minecraft’s 1x1x1 block shape constraint makes the game better, not worse.
I feel like people completely unnecessary put moral value on not following manual. There is nothing wrong with following it. There is nothing wrong if that girl wants to keep some building and play with them. She may or may not build own later, most kids move between the two kinds of play.
If younger brother dostroyed her own creation, in my experience, the anger is even higher. And loss harder to fix - you can help to fix it if done based on manual. You just can't if it was own.
The play is whatever kids do with it. When we demand that they play in certain way, so that they become more artistic ones, it is nit a play anymore. It is educational activity.
One game I have enjoyed with my 5-year-old is to give two (or more) people an identical collection of 20–50 miscellaneous pieces (just pull pairs of identical pieces randomly and dump into 2 piles) and then each make something and compare.
Or have one person make something and see if the other person can copy it, then switch.
The “follow 3d-puzzle instructions” way of playing is pretty shallow.
>> I don't disagree that its shallow but its similar to a jigsaw puzzle, sometimes you want to just do something to keep your mind active and have a sense of accomplishment.
>> As mentioned in the other posts, there are just a lot of custom parts in the new "licensed" sets to have a proper return on investment - particularly once Harry Potter, Marvel, Architecture, Star Wars all get jumbled together. The suggestion for creative play is to buy the City Legos or 1000 random piece sets which seems to scratch this itch really well.
Nearly all of the parts in a “Harry Potter” or “Star Wars” set are generic. And there’s nothing stopping you from making up a game/story mixing robots with your wizards.
Also, even the "non-generic" parts see plenty of reuse. For example, the wand pieces originally created for the Harry Potter sets have regularly popped up in unrelated sets as a decorative part of builds.
There is no end to the “replay value” in taking whatever miscellaneous collection of legos you have and making whatever you want out of them. This is what most kids do. Each new set gets added to the mixed-up pile. (This works because all of the pieces consistently follow a common geometric design, and connect together using a small handful of common interfaces. Note: sorting the collection can be helpful for finding pieces.)
Making the set following the instructions and then displaying the finished model on a shelf, packing the pieces back in its box, or reselling the kit is something more common among adults.
The “follow 3d-puzzle instructions” way of playing is pretty shallow. Even the hardest lego sets aren’t really that hard, and with a couple years experience even very young children can do them. (A 5 or 6 year-old can easily make the sets that claim on the box to be for age 11+ or whatever, with a couple years’ occasional experience.)
But if you like 3d puzzles, legos are pretty good for inventing new ones, and there are a wide variety of ways to make puzzles that are harder than the instructions shipped with the pieces.