Easy LEGO art

Create LEGO art for your child's walls in 3 easy steps!


1.  Sneak LEGO Club magazine from your child's room after they have finished reading it.  (Or if your child will freak out upon discovery, buy extra LEGO Club magazine from Ebay for small fee).

2. Carefully cut out cool 1 page 'ad' for Lego Creator 3-in-1 robot set.

 

3.  Insert page into spare frame from your basement and hang on wall.

LEGO Friends Series 1

Yesterday, I went to WalMart looking for mini bag sets I saw in their Sunday weekly ad.  I never did find any of those mini bag sets, but I did discover these great Friends Series 1 mini sets.  I really wanted to buy all 3, but in the end decided to only bring home Turtle's Little Oasis.  The turqoise base plate and the little turtle both caught my eye, as I've been coveting the  cute colored bricks in the Friends sets before they were even released.

These would be great addition to an Easter basket or birthday party treat bag.  I wonder what LegoSon would say if the Easter Bunny brought him one?

Thanks, LEGO, for another affordable set (only $4.99).  Sadly, I discovered these Series 1 sets are going to be retired soon. But that really just means all new Series 2 sets will be released soon, right? 

Free LEGOLAND tickets

I'm guessing that most Lego fans already know this tidbit of information, but just in case you don't...

There are coupons for one FREE one-day child ticket (with the purchase of an adult ticket) to LEGOLAND California or LEGOLAND Florida in the current LEGO Club Magazine.  Coupons may not be used with the lower online prices, but still can be worth up to $68!  Coupons expire 5/31/12, but it seems like they have been appearing in the last few magazines we've received, so maybe the next issue will have coupons for the summer season.  Also, I've seen these coupons on the back of some of the recent Lego bag sets.

If you are not yet receiving LEGO Club Magazine, click here to subscribe (it's FREE, too).  If your child is under 7, he/she will be sent LEGO Club Jr Magazine, which does not include the coupons.  I signed up both LegoSon and MyGirl (ages 6 and 10), so the mail man brings us both magazines. 

And even if you're not headed to LEGOLAND anytime soon, these magazines are a great source of entertainment.  Happy readings:)

LEGO Organization

In the infancy of our Lego days, all Lego pieces were just dumped into one plastic tub, which was sorted through and dumped onto the floor as needed.  This worked fine when our collection was just miscellaneous pieces that OldestSon and MyGirl used to build any old creation that they could imagine.  Soon enough, LegoSon grew tired of his own tub of Duplo bricks and joined in the fun.  And then it was birthday time and LegoSon became the proud owner of a few boxed Lego sets, which I promptly built (he was 4) and LegoSon promptly took apart! That mixed collection of bricks quickly included all the pieces that I needed to rebuild the tow truck LegoSon took apart yesterday.  My eyes started blur and my back began to ache as I sat on the floor looking for the tiny pieces I needed to put LegoSon's truck back together.  And so I decided to sort our bricks by color.

Using containers I found around the house, LegoSon and I painstakingly sorted our bricks by color.  This was a fairly easy task and a great lesson in colors for my preschooler.  But when it came time to rebuild sets, I found it difficult to find that very specific piece I was looking for and ended up dumping out each container of bricks as I was searching.  It was just too difficult for my eye to discern the different shaped pieces when in a tub full of like-colored bricks.

So I invested the time to re-sort all the bricks into shape/form/function.  This was a much more detailed sort, but in the end it is worth the effort.  I bought several snap lock bins from Target, lined them up in a row, dumped out our collection, and started sorting.  Now, we have lots of bins, but it is (usually) soo much easier to pick out the particular color of brick whose tub you are looking in (ex. a red 2x4 is easier to find in a bin of mixed color 2x bricks than in a bin of all red pieces). 

Here's how we've sorted our bricks:

Small bins

Flat Tiles
Technic-type pieces

Medium bins

Small pieces (1x1s, flat rounds, etc)
All 1x bricks except 1x1s (1x2, 1x3, 1x4, 1x6, 1x8, etc)
All 2x bricks (2x2, 2x3, 2x4, etc)
All slope bricks
All round pieces
Wheels and axles
Windows, doors, castle walls, trees
Windshields, large wings

Large bins

All plates (from 1x2 to 32x32 baseplate)
Minifigures
Pieces waiting to be sorted (usually get put in here for quick cleanup)

It may not be a perfect system, but its the best one we've tried yet:)  What methods have you used for sorting and organizing your Lego collection?

LEGO Movie Maker

LegoSon loves to watch Lego stop action videos on YouTube.  If I let him, he would spend hours upon hours watching videos online.   While LEGO itself has created a superb collection of their own videos, LegoSon enjoys watching kid-made videos too.  I've always wanted to make one of our own, but never really put forth the energy into figuring out how to do it.  Until today.  After a quick google search, I discoverd that LEGO has created a super, FREE, app called Super Heroes Movie Maker.  After a quick download to my iPhone, I was able to make a video in just a matter of minutes. Unfortunately, I'm experiencing technical difficulties and can't upload the video from my phone to YouTube:( `There is a tutorial on the app and its so simple that LegoSon will be able to figure it out on his own (he's 6.5). I'm going to show it to LegoSon as soon as he gets home from school and I'm sure he's going to love it!

 

Everyday Lego

A typical scene I find around the house: Arctic Batman and Aquaman standing guard amongst the tomato sauce and Biscoff Spread.

Lego - On the Go

LegoSon is the youngest of my 3 children, and therefore gets dragged along to lots of soccer and gymnastics practices where he is left to entertain himself. Inspired by this pin on Pinterest, I used an Altoids tin to hold a Lego Legends of Chima bag set, complete with instructions. It is easily stored in my purse and ready to entertain LegoSon at moments notice.

 

Lego Work Station

Inspired by a Family Fun magazine article, I set to build a work station for LegoSon's bedroom.  It was very simple and only took minutes to assemble after my trip to Target and Menard's to buy these supplies:

2 Sterlite drawer carts
1 24" x 48" pre-finished shelf
non-slip shelf liner

We already owned this Stokke chair, but it seems a bit bulky for the workstation.  I'd really like to get one of these IKEA stools instead, it definitely would be better sized for the work station. It will be in my cart next time!

I cut two squares of shelf liner to fit the tops of the drawer carts, then set the shelf on top of the carts. Simple, huh?  Not too bad compared to the inspiration.  I chose not to decorate the drawers or tabletop with colored tape, I figured LegoSon wouldn't notice the difference.  I also didn't glue any base plates to the top because LegoSon doesn't like to build on them and they would have easily doubled the cost of the project.  I didn't add a third drawer cart because I wanted a permanent desk set up without any moving pieces.

 

LegoDad had the more difficult task of mounting 2 IKEA Lack shelves on the wall above the desk. (We had bought these shelves long before this project became an idea).   I was hoping that with a place for displaying sets, LegoSon wouldn't play with and disassemble his sets within hours of completing them. And for the most part, this has been a success.  You can see that the Atlantis sets I built recently are sitting on them right now.   I must tell you that by no means does this set up hold all of our Lego bricks, but LegoSon loves it and so do I!

 

$25 drawer cart (we already owned 1 of these)

$10 pre-finished shelf

$30 Lack shelves

Total Cost $75

 

LEGOLAND Discovery Center

We made our first trip to LEGOLAND Discovery Center (Schaumburg) more than two years ago, and I'm planning to take the kids back next month during Spring Break.  Here's a recap of that visit in 2010:

The kids had Monday off of school for Fall Break, so I decided to head up to Schaumburg to check out LEGOLAND Discovery Center. I'd heard mixed reviews of the place, but knew that my LEGO loving kids would probably love it. And we weren't disappointed!

While the official opening time was 12:00, we arrived early to shop in the Lego store. But I was pleasantly surprised to find that they had opened early for a school group and we were able to enter at 11:30. We explored the whole downstairs without encountering another person. Miniland Chicago was very cool - the kids favorite part was finding 3 porta-potties, but mine was reading the signs that told how many bricks the buildings used and how long it took to build them!

Next up was JungleExpedition -a short path through the jungle with several amazing statues, but it only took a couple of minutes to see. At the end of JungleExpedition was a room with Darth Vader and R2D2 and Batman, but was otherwise empty (I think this was supposed to be the Hall of Fame). The Dragon Quest ride was slow moving, through some castle models that really didn't catch anyone's interest.  [Note:  I think this ride has been revamped since our visit]

We headed upstairs to check out the 4D theater.  Becasue it wasn't crowded, we watched all 3 movies in a row.  Bob the Builder was obviously more appropriate for the younger crowd, but all enjoyed.  Lego Castle was fun but our favorite was Clutch Powers, probably because we've seen the full-length film.  Each movie lasted about 10 minutes and really made you feel as if you were in the movie.

Also upstairs was the Lego Factory, where they (sort of) show you how Lego bricks are manufactured.  The 'factory' tour is just a room with small stations for each step of the process.  The tour guide quickly describes the process and at the end each person receives a souvenir brick.  Nothing too exciting here.

We took a Model Builder Workshop where we each built a model of the Willis Tower.  We were given a bag of bricks and the teacher walked us through the steps, which were shown on the overhead screen. We had the option of buying these models for $5.00, but I knew my kids would rather have something different to take home.

In the Build and Test area there were several tables with bowls of bricks for free building, with lots of wheels and ramps for building and testing vehicles.  We spent a looong time here.  While we were here the kids each built a dinosaur model that was displayed as part of a building contest.  They received paper crowns for their participation.  This area is quite open, adjacent to the cafe and playarea, neither of which we utilized. 

On the Technicycle ride, the kids pedaled and made their pod fly up and down as the ride went around and around.  This was a favorite for the two older kids as they kept riding while LegoSon kept building in the Build and Test area (I could easily see them while they rode).

Overall, we were quite thilled and spent the entire afternoon at the Discovery Center.  After being empty at the beginning, the crowd really picked up after 3pm when schools let out.  But it still was not too crowded for us to enjoy.  I have no idea how it would be on the weekend, but I intend to only come during the week.  I highly recommend LEGOLAND Discovery Center to any family whose kids are Lego fans, even if they are not as obsessed as LegoSon.  OldestSon and MyGirl enjoyed the day without being Lego fanatics.  And, of course, we didn't leave without a trip to the retail shop where the kids each brought home a new Lego set.  Definitely worth the 1.25 hour trip!

Lego bag sets

Lego bag sets are small models, usually 30-50 pieces, that come in a sealed, clear plastic bag and typically cost $3.99.  Recent bag sets have been from DC Universe Super Heroes, The Hobbit, Star Wars, Friends, and Legends of Chima themes.  I love these Lego bag sets for several reasons:

1.  They are great to give to LegoSon when he is desparate for/deserving of a new Lego set but I don't want to endure taking him to the store and standing in the Lego aisle for an hour.
2.  They make great stocking stuffers and Easter basket fillers.
3.  They made easy take-home gifts at LegoSon's Lego birthday party.
4.  They are cheap! (At least compared to all other Lego sets)
5.  LegoSon can build them easily with no help from me.

So where do you buy these bag sets?

Target, of course!  But you won't find bag sets in the Lego aisle of the toy department.  First, head to the seasonal/holiday aisles (in my store, it's in the far back corner).  Amongst the Easter (or Valentine's or Halloween or Christmas) candy and baskets, there is a shelf of holiday themed small toys and trinkets.  And, almost always, you will find a bin of Lego bag sets.  Another place in the store to find bag sets is at the checkout line.  Usually Target stocks a Lego City bag set alongside Matchbox cars and Littlest Pet Shop animals down low, right at your kid's sightline, so while you are waiting to pay, your kid can start begging for a toy. 

I shouldn't forget to mention that most of these bag sets have a coupon on the back for a free child's ticket to Legoland or Legoland Discovery Center.  That's a pretty awesome coupon because a 1 day child's ticket to Legoland costs $68.00!

I've also seen bag sets at ToysRUs, hanging on an endcap in the Lego aisle, and at WalMart in a box in the Lego aisle.  But, by far, the best selection has been at Target.  Check out those bag sets and buy me a bag of Cadbury MiniEggs while you are at it!

Rekindling the LEGO fire

LegoSon was obsessed with Lego from age 4 to 5-1/2.  Everyday he woke up asking if we could go buy a new Lego set, and his birthday and Christmas were dominated by Lego and Hero Factory.  We decorated his room with Lego, built him a Lego desk, and read and reread Lego Club Magazine.  But slowly, as he spent more time with his neighborhood friends, his interests changed and he drifted to Angry Birds, WWE and Skylanders (now there's some smart marketing!).  LegoSon still played with his Lego, but not with the same intensity as before.  Nine months later, I was missing the Lego and decided to try and rekindle his passion.

Last week, I carried most of his tubs of bricks downstairs to the family room.  And I started to build!  I built for 2 days while the kids were at school, neglecting chores and workouts.  Sure enough, when he saw me building, LegoSon jumped in and started building too!  I rebuilt all his Atlantis sets (8058 Guardian of the Deep,  8056 Monster Crab Clash , 8060 Typhoon Turbo Sub, 8061 Gateway of the Squid, 8076 Deep Sea Striker).  Doesn't sound too difficult, except that the pieces are mostly sorted by shape, with unusual pieces all mixed together.  Most of the challenge was finding the pieces!  And the fact that my legs and back start to ache after just a short time of bending over piles and tubs of Lego bricks.  OldestSon talked LegoSon into leaving these sets intact and on display on the shelves in LegoSon's room, which were hung with the intent of being display shelves.  Imagine that!

Over the weekend, LegoSon built several of his own creations, mostly his own version of several DC Hero sets that he has his eye on.  We have built and played with several Hero Factory heroes and villans.  The Lego tubs are still sitting on the family room floor, but that's a small price to pay for the amount of entertainment they provide.  And since LegoSon is asking me to buy him new Lego sets, I'd say that we're back on track! .legomom