Lego and Toys in General

I grabbed another random box of my Lego out of the closest to share with the boys. It's now our Lego, but they know it was Mommy's Lego and know there is more (although I don't think they know how much).

It turned out to be a box of mostly Lego figures and a few horses. These are not the figures of my youth. Those were the ones that had the long arms on a torso and you made the lower body with bricks; they had an adult male, an adult female and a child of each gender (based on hair) and that was it. They did not fit into any of the doors and were not sized to any cars you could make with the wheels available. These were the little ones that they have had for a couple of decades now. I like that they are scaled to the doors etc. I like the variability. I have many 'just bricks' sets and bought lots of bulk bricks over the years, but if a set comes out that has pieces I like or a theme I like, I got it. So I have A LOT of mini figures. The  pictures below are not even all of them, just those packed into that one box.

(Oh, I do have some of those old school figures in one of those boxes somewhere too).

The butcher, the baker, the candlestick maker and everyone in between. The boys really like the ghosts and skeletons. Corwyn now insists that there is a figure (with a helmet) on each motorcycle in his daily parade.

But wait you say! There, in that first picture....there, that one....the talk pink girl and the dog-like thing....those are not Lego! Ah, but yes they are.

The dog-like thing is from Fabuland. It was a short lived series, available mostly to schools. The pieces were Lego size but were more....basic if that makes sense for younger kids, but not Duplo. I like it and wish they still had it. The car the dog drove is what Corwyn calls his 'chariot' in the parade.

The tall pink girl is from an earlier attempt to market to girls called Belleville. I got a few sets, not because I was a girl but because I wanted the other colors of bricks (pink and pale green) and some of the accessories. That's the same reason I have some 'space' sets, because I wanted the unusual pieces (or it was just a kick ass sale). The pieces, for the most part fit Lego, but obviously the houses, had to be a different scale to work.

Lego recently put out another theme directed at girls called 'Friends'. It too has lots of pastel colored bricks and it's own line of mini-figures. The mini-figures are closer in size/style to the standard Lego one, but not the same. I don't have one yet, but I'll post a comparison when I do. As with Belleville, I'll get a set or two of these to get some bricks I can't get in the regular Lego line and because I don't want the boys to create a distinction in their mind that there is such a thing as 'girl' or 'boy' Lego.

There I said it. I don't like that they created such a universal building toy with a gender bias. But I understand why they did, why there was a need. Growing up, no one gave me Lego because I was a girl. They gave my brother Lego. Luckily for me, just being a boy did not make him like it. He had no use for it at all. So I played with it. I loved it. People would keep giving Lego as gifts and I would get to keep playing with it. I loved to build and take apart and build again. So why would no one think to buy me Lego?

In this world of gender equality, people still have unconscious or even conscious bias about what is a good toy for a girl or a boy. The stores create areas that are blue and pink. Many parents naturally gravitate towards the section they are told to. Those looking for a gift for a child not their own, will give a store clerk and age and gender and be directed to a specific area. Toy manufacturers either make products to fit these categories or their products don't sell. That is just the way it is, still, unfortunately.

Happily, lots of parents buck the trend and buy their boys doll and their girls cars. I think it's great, exposing their kids to all the options and letting them develop their own interests. Some parents do go too far and won't buy their girls pink-things or their boys trains. To me that is still giving a toy (or a color) a gender. Toys don't have a gender (well, some toys do, but those ones are not for kids!)

I feel bad for the girl who was never given the chance to play with Lego because her parents thought it was a boy toy. It's for those girls, with parents like that, that 'girl' Lego was created. So yeah, it's cutsie with houses and bunnies but it also works with all the rest of the Lego sets. And if a girl gets one of these Friends sets as a gift and loves it, she will probably start to ask for more. Some of that more will be other Friends sets, but some will be general Lego. And if she really loves to build, she will start telling her parents and grandparents which Lego sets she wants.

The same can be said for boys with 'girls' toys. Thanks to a letter from a child, the new Easy Bake will come in "not-pink" so boys could play with. Why can't a boy play with a pink toy??? He could of course. But his parents have to be willing to get him it. He may be worried about what friends or an older brother would say. So make a non-pink one and let him have a toy that is (now) considered girlish. I say now, because the old Easy Bake was in the same colors as the grown up appliances (avocado green ring a bell?). The really old ads in flyers and catalogs often had both boys and girls (admittedly more girls). It was only in the last decade that they started to make them pink and move the marketing 100% towards girls. Yet still, the greatest chefs of all time are men (and not many of those are even remotely feminine).

Blue Easy Bakes and pink Lego are a double edge sword to me. I really wish we didn't need them, but they serve a purpose (well, actually, I think Lego should be in every color just not gender marketed by color).

Did you play with any toys that were not considered for your gender? Did you love toys marketed to one gender more than the other? Was it your choice, or because it was expected of you? Me, I loved Lego, but I also loved dolls. I did not like toy cars but longed for a train set. I had no use for marbles but loved jumping rope.

The Evolution of a (Lego) Builder

This Christmas we made the move to 'big kid' Lego (although my guys call it baby Lego because it's smaller). Yes, they are still young enough for Duplo, but mommy has an entire closet (and I mean entire) full of Lego she has not taken out in years. The Duplo is still there, although it's being ignored.

Oh, for the 2 or 3 people out there who don't know the difference, here. Standard Lego is about 8 times smaller than Duplo.

Both boys play with the Lego/Duplo but Corwyn LOVES it. Here are some shots of the evolution of his play with the blocks.  His Duplo use started out building 'Trains' and then square towers with all the blocks filled in, onto creations with a ton of imagination. He started to figure out bridges, stairs and supports. Then I messed him up with the smaller bricks. He likes to build with the instructions and for the couple of new sets they got, he did that first, but he's back to first love of turning everything into a 'train'. He even put the horses on wheels so they could join in. The Lego motorcycles are a huge hit too.

 So far they have a teeny tiny bit of the Lego available. My place is not big enough for all of it to be out and they are not ready. But I'll  keep adding more bricks and blocks over time.

I can't wait to see what he creates with the Lego!

The Lego Store

On April 15, 2012, Vancouver made it onto the map, the Lego map that is. I had to visit.

The store opened up in Oakridge Centre at 41st and Cambie, conveniently located on the Canada Line. The mall has two anchor stores in The Bay and Safeway. As a Lego competitor, there is still a Zellers which will be come a Target in the next year or so. Otherwise the mall has a mix of stores, many specialty so the Lego store will fit right in. It couldn't have gotten a better place in the mall directly opposite the open kids play area.

The store is bright and nicely laid out. I was greeted as I walked in and encouraged to get a VIP membership (more on that later). I was also told about the 'Girl' Lego, but I'm not going to get started on that.

I think my head whipped around in every direction several times before I started at one corner and worked my way around the perimeter before moving in to the inner displays. It looks like they have a good selection from each of the current themes available and even some of the just 'bricks' sets. Each theme area had a display of a selection of sets put together giving you a better idea of what is in the boxes. There was a small selection of non-building set type of collectibles including watches, an alarm clock, mini-figure display cases and key chains.

The back wall had one of the features that will set the store apart from even the biggest toy store. It had a brick wall. This had domed filled drawers with just bricks. There were different styles and  different colors.  Some were fairly common bricks but in a less common color. Some were hard to come by bricks. For others, they may be common, but there may not be enough in a set to do everything you want. You get what looks like a cross between a giant frozen drink cup and a bucket and fill it up with what you want. If you bring the cup back for a refill, you get a discount. I saw many cups being filled and dumped and repacked in ways that make me think of Tetris to ensure that maximum space is used. I'm hoping that they rotate the stock periodically.

The next thing that set the Lego store apart from a 'regular' store is the custom mini-figure area. For 12.99 you get three totally custom built mini-figures in a special package made just for them. The possibilities are endless and there is nothing stopping you from mixing and matching themes of people. I poked around in here for a bit and will be back for sure. I think I would have made (at least) one three-pack but I foolishly went on a PD day and there were so many kids having fun that I didn't want to interfere (well, I wanted to but knew better).

There were a couple of small build areas with more than enough blocks to keep the kids at them busy.  The staff member who was restocking the brick wall, would take the bricks that left the wall and didn't make it into cups and dump them into this play area. This was probably much more efficient than sorting those tiny pieces out. It also exposed the builders to some of the bricks from the wall that they may not have seen.

The Technic section and Duplo section were fairly small. The store overall wasn't huge, but it makes good use of its space. I suspect they will change the focus of their stock based on their business in the first few months.

Because the boys are still in the Duplo range, for this first visit, I limited my block purchase to that grouping. I bought one of the sets aimed at girls. It adds bricks of different colors to their collection. And they got a turret to boot. (They have already built a few castles since the set came home 2 days ago). And for myself, I think I showed really good restraint and only got a key chain. I will go back, both with and without the kids. When I bring the kids, I will be prepared to buy what they pick so it's likely it will be close to their birthday (less than 6 weeks away). As they get older and we go back again (and again, and again), it can be to add things to their Christmas and Birthday lists or to pick gifts for others.

While the store opened on April 15, the grand opening isn't until May 4. There will be a 3 day building extravaganza. I don't know if we'll go. I'd love to but would really need someone else to come with us. The boys are past the stroller stage but getting them there and back on transit plus in a crowd by myself may be a bit much. I will try though. You can find more details at Lego Grand Opening

Online and in store, you can sign up to be a Lego VIP. The membership will allow you to accumulate points and convert them to Lego savings. Of course I signed up.

I have a LOT of Lego. No one really understands how much until I show them. As they get older, it will go to the boys, starting with the bigger pieces and moving onward. I am so happy both love Lego (Duplo) so much. There isn't a day that goes by that it's not played with. As they start to use some of my Lego, we'll know more what their interests in it are (I have lots of basic bricks, city type sets and castle sets). And of course there will be new themes that come out and new brick styles that we will need to add. I can't wait.

If you love Lego or love a Lego lover, you will enjoy the Lego store.

This review was done by me. No on asked me to do it. I was not compensated in any way. I did it for my love of a product and a selfish hope that the specialty store that just opened up stays open for a very long time. 

Duplo!

I wasn't even out of my (sofa) bed this morning when the boys had dumped the Zipbin of Duplo on the floor to start building. Duplo is a daily part of our life. As a Lego-addicted mommy, I couldn't be happier. I have an entire closet full of Lego just waiting for them to be old enough for the tiny pieces. And when I say closet full, I really mean it. Their big (Lego themed) Zipbin is less than 1/10 of the size of the storage for the Lego to come. Plus, I already have a box of the new Duplo Learn to Build with Duplo cards at the office as part of their birthday gift (if it waits that long).

Next month, Lego is teaming up with Today's Parent to do a 30 Day Duplo Challenge. They were looking for mom blogs to participate. I signed up and am really hoping to get picked. Clearly we're already fans and even if not picked, I will be looking at the daily challenges to bring more depth to our Lego playtime.

To start the morning, Corwyn began with a checkerboard style tower while Nathan went for the height right away. When the caregiver came, the first thing Corwyn did was have her come check his tower. He was still working on it an hour after he started, and barely stopped long enough to say good-bye to me. How is that for an addiction?

Playmobil or FP Little People or ???

I bought the boys their first Little People playset (farm) at a swap meet. They seem to like it and I can see the beginnings of role playing happening. They also love opening and closing the gates and doors and exploring all the areas of the barn and carry the animals around.  I was looking around at other new and used sets and there are lots out there.
Then I came across a place that had both Little People and Playmobil sets. And I went hmmm. To me, they both seem good, but I'm not a toddler. I dont have any first hand experience with Playmobile and limited with LP. So I figured I'd throw it out there to blogland where those who have the experience might have some input.
Let me know what you think of either set or if you know of something else that might be good, fire away.  I'm not locked into anything. )Except Lego. I cant wait for Xmas this year when the boys are old enough for Duplo - and since I have an entire closet of my lego, once they are past 3 its smooth sailing)