The best Lego sets aren't just the ones that will make your kids squeal with delight once they see the box. The true mark is how they put it together and how long they enjoy it once the initial building is done. Most sets give a blueprint with simple, step-by-step instructions. While some kids follow these instructions to the letter, others see them as guidelines and free-build their way to something completely unique."The beauty of Lego is that you can do both: you can slavishly follow the set instructions, one step at a time, or you can chuck them aside and create something entirely new," says Dr. Jon Sutton, a Lego enthusiast and the managing editor of "The Psychologist" for the British Psychological Society. "Some people bemoan the fact that the sets [are] more about building the latest movie tie-in than it used to be. I'm not sure I agree: it's good for kids to have the opportunity to do both set and free-building, and in my experience they do. And when I see how my boys play with Lego -- together, constructively, literally building on each other's ideas -- it makes all the money I've spent on Legos feel worthwhile!"
While the branded sets come and go based on popularity of movies and licensed characters, the best ones are the free-building sets that keep kids and adults coming back, according to Karen Nolan, who handles public relations for Lego. "Lego City, Lego Friends, Lego Star Wars, Lego Duplo and Lego Classic have been some of our best sellers this year -- in fact, year over year."Pick up some of those top toys, or try one of these best Lego sets for kids:1) Lego Juniors Fire SuitcaseThe Lego Juniors Fire Suitcase is a great carrying case for fun with vehicles and mini figures on the go.2) Lego Juniors Pirate Treasure Hunt SetKids get a quick start and lots of imaginative play options with the Lego Juniors Pirate Treasure Hunt Set.3) Lego Classic Medium Creative Brick BoxStart your kids' collection with the 484 assorted pieces, a storage box and building ideas found in the Lego Classic Medium Creative Brick Box.4) Lego Education Community Mini FiguresCreated for the school setting, the Lego Education Community Mini Figures set satisfies even the most Lego-obsessed kid out there, letting them build their own people to populate all of their worlds.5) Lego Education Vehicles SetStart at the beginning with all the transportation vehicles your children can imagine in this 934-piece Lego Education Vehicles Set.
At just over $100, the price tag seems hefty but you'll never have to buy a Lego City set again.6) Lego Friends Heartlake Shopping MallA complete experience for hours of building and pretend play, the Lego Friends Heartlake Shopping Mall is perfect for a kid who's into shopping.7) Lego City Camper VanImagination and adventure await with the Lego City Camper Van, which also comes with a canoe.8) Lego Magikus Board GameBuild and play the best Lego Magikus Board Game, which also happens to be magic-themed.9) Lego Superheroes Batman: Man-Bat AttackEvery Batman fan needs a Batcopter and Batman figure. The Lego Superheroes Batman: Man-Bat Attack comes complete with villains and a crisis scenario.10) Lego Creator Treehouse 3-in-1Treehouse, lakeside hut, farmyard barn -- let the kids decide with the Lego Creator Treehouse 3-in-1.11) Lego Creator Power MechThe Lego Creator Power Mech features 3-in-1 transformation from a giant robot to a helicopter and a pickup truck.12) Lego Superheroes Knowhere Escape Building SetKids dig deep into "Guardians of the Galaxy" with the Lego Superheroes Knowhere Escape Building Set.
It includes a trap door, catapult, poseable figures and lots of weaponry.13) Lego Star Wars AT-AT SetFans of Star Wars will love creating their own interactive armored snow vehicle, complete with weapons and snow troopers, in the Lego Star Wars AT-AT set.14) Lego Mindstorms Robotics Invention SystemThe hefty cost prices this amazing programmable Lego Mindstorms Robotics Invention System kit off the mass market but it pops up in schools and organizations for an introduction to robotics.15) Lego Master Builder Academy Set Robot & Micro DesignerThe helps your kid become a master builder with handbooks filled with tips and tricks from the actual designers at Lego."Lego is so easy to put together that even very young children can do it," says Dr. Sutton. "Immediately they are in a world of order and chaos, rules and no rules, where a collection of simple studded bricks can become a dragon, a racing car or a double-decker couch!"Want more toy suggestions? Check out the toy guides at Citrus Lane for suggestions that are sure to be a hit with your little one.
Cara Stevens is a freelance writer living in Connecticut with her husband and two children. She has authored several books for children and writes frequently about parenting, hair care, DIY crafts, food and healthy living.Lego sets come in all different sizes with different numbers of Lego pieces. Of course bigger sets cost more, but is there a linear relationship between set size and cost? Let’s take a look. Oh, and yes – I did look at this before, but that was a long time ago. It’s time to revisit the data. It’s not too difficult to find data for Lego prices and number of pieces. If you just look on the Lego online store. There you can find both the price and the number of pieces for each set. You can even sort them by “themes” – like “Star Wars” or “friends” Even though it’s easy to get, I only collected price data for a subset of the themes (mostly because I am lazy). If I put all of this data together, I can get a plot of the set price vs. number of pieces in set.
Here is what that looks like. Let’s look at the linear function that fits this data. The slope of this line is 0.104 US Dollars per Lego piece. There is your answer. On average, one Lego piece costs 10.4 cents. Also, I think it’s nice to notice that this data is fairly linear.What about the y-intercept for this fitting function? The value from the fit is 7.34 USD. That means that for this function, if you had a Lego set with zero pieces in it, it would still cost $7.34 – you know, for the box and instructions and stuff. Yes, I know that there are Lego sets cheaper than $7.34 – this is just the y-intercept for the fitting function. Now let me point out the three outliers in this plot. Notice that all of these (one from Duplo and two from the City theme) are train sets. Of course train sets are going to be more expensive than a set with the same number of pieces (but not a train) because of the electric motors and stuff. If you are looking for a “good deal”, might I suggest the Trevi Fountain (21020).
This set has 731 pieces for just $49.99. According to the fitting function, a set with this many pieces should cost about 83 dollars. Suppose I break all the data into the different themes. If I fit a linear function to each of the different themes, I can get both the price per piece of Lego and the price of a zero piece set. Here are the brick prices for some of the Lego themes. The error bars are the uncertainties in the fit parameters. If you know what a Duplo block is, you probably aren’t surprised that they are the most expensive (63 cents per brick). These are bricks created for smaller kids. They are all large so that you can’t swallow them. It just makes since that they would cost more. The other expensive bricks are the City sets. But this is deceiving due to the high set prices of the train kits. I suspect if you removed these train sets from the plot, it would be a more normal price. What about the base cost? This is the y-intercept of the linear fit.