11–20 of 22 posts
My son loves to build complex sets, but I hate investing in the one time use, specialized sets, and the fancy specialized sets always gets him (and my wife) more excited than just opening a box of generic legos and building.
Crap. Now I need to go buy some legos and relive my childhood.
Why are creative Lego sets a minority? I think you can draw an analogy with wikipedia. Most people just read, and don't contribute. But what makes wikipedia what it is, is the ability of others to put their ideas into it. So we have the _potential_ to create and customize, and a minority of people taking full advantage of that, but the end result is interesting to many more people than contributors. Similarly, I'm gu…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Do you have some examples of Lego boxes that show adults on the box? I tried a quick search on Google images, but only found some jubilee sets (like http://www.flickr.com/photos/sackerman519/3687795718/ ) featuring an adult.
The one that I saw in the local Lego Store in Natick, Mass., was a midsized set (typically sell for $50-$80) that shows the finished set and a smiling, 40ish man with glasses looking at it at eye level. I don't remember what the set was (and it may no longer be produced, as the turnover seems to be very rapid), but Lego.com has more than 400 sets aimed at people over the age of 12 (the boxes aren't shown online). One…
Crap. Now I need to go buy some legos and relive my childhood.
Kids are a great excuse! We are even going to Legoland in CA. Its for the kids, honey!
That said, I hope they have cloned all the lego buildings and structures too.
LEGO used to make kits like this called Creator, but they got lamer over the years. Now they seem to be pushing more and more the sets that are just 30 pieces, playmobile style.
Then build what you want.
Why are creative Lego sets a minority? I think you can draw an analogy with wikipedia. Most people just read, and don't contribute. But what makes wikipedia what it is, is the ability of others to put their ideas into it. So we have the _potential_ to create and customize, and a minority of people taking full advantage of that, but the end result is interesting to many more people than contributors. Similarly, I'm gu…
I did both, myself. Following the instructions, you could build really cool things you couldn't design yourself with a 10 year old brain. Not following the instructions, you got to endeavor in trial and error, and critical thinking, etc. Both had their merits.
A couple of our creative projects were even put on display at some local libraries. That was a really satisfying experience as an 8-12 year old.
I would love to find a book that has plans to buiid various things/designs using plain lego sets. Any suggestions? My son loves to build complex sets, but I hate investing in the one time use, specialized sets, and the fancy specialized sets always gets him (and my wife) more excited than just opening a box of generic legos and building.
http://nostarch.com/technic_set.htm
Lego Technic Idea Book Set
My son (4 year old) and I have an absolute blast with these books, our box full of Technics parts, and a quiet afternoon in the sunshine .. we've built all kinds of crazy things that started off as a simple "lets build this thing from the book and see what it does" project and rapidly evolved into devices that threaten to consume all our joy! :)
I can't recommend these books highly enough - they are a joy to use, to have, and to apply to a box of parts. Note that there are no words in these books - just pictures of the different things you can build - and it really, really inspires creativity to do some of the most basic things. I absolutely love them and can't wait for more projects from the author, who also has a fascinating youtube channel here:
http://www.youtube.com/user/ISOGAWAYoshihito
Have fun, let us know if you build anything monstrous!
LEGO used to make kits like this called Creator, but they got lamer over the years. Now they seem to be pushing more and more the sets that are just 30 pieces, playmobile style.
This is why I get mad when I see all those super custom pieces in the new sets!