Lego Building Toys
There are a lot of building toys on the market. Lego and company has the largest share of the building toy market. Their brand is so popular that they are nearly synonymous with building toys. However, there are competitors that continue to create innovative products that children love. Lego classifies their products based on the age of the child. They have many lines that are quite different from each other.
The Lego People Hook
Lego has been genius with their Lego People. The people look great. You can take off the heads, the arms, and the legs. The hands and feel can come off and move. The hands can hold guns, whips, and emergency aid devices. There are helmets with or without visors and hats of many kinds.
Children love small toys and especially people. Then, to take that idea and make it totally customizable and fit into multiple scenarios has made children crazy about the Lego People.
I call it the Lego hook because it is what propels children to want more Lego sets. All the Lego people do not come in one set. Instead, you must buy a full set to get people. What most children want the most are the people.
It is hard to imagine that Lego existed at all without the Lego people. However, the people were an invention later added on in the line around 1978(source: Wikipedia). Lego calls the little people mini figures. Lego people are collected by adults and children.
Lego Quatro Building Toys
The Lego Quatro is for children aged 1-3 years old. What is the top concern of all new mothers? One of the main concerns is choking. Lego realized this problem and developed a set with large “unchokable” blocks. The Lego Quatro set is also slimmed down in size. You don't need a huge set to satisfy a one year old. The set is about the right size for a small child.
I can't help, but theink the Lego Quatro was named that way to help Lego appeal to the hispanic market. It is a stroke of genius because the term Quatro is also a favorable term for non-hispanics.
Lego Duplo Building Toys
The Lego Duplo is similar to the Lego Quatro Set. The Duplos are for the age group 3-5 years old. Of course, it depends on the maturity of the child. Many five year olds like both the Lego Duplos and smaller legos. Like the Lego Quatro, the Lego Duplos are larger in size and are less likely to be choked on. The Duplo sets are typically larger and older kids will appreciate that. One of the fun things to do with a Lego Duplo set is to see how high you can stack them. The larger blocks allow you to get really high before they tip over. Some children like to set them up and run their Matchbox cars over them or through a window they have created. It is also fun to set the Lego Duplos up and see if you can knock them down with a bean bag or ball. They stick together really well and are actually hard to make come apart by throwing something at them. You can certainly have fun just knocking them over.
Lego Mindstorm
The Lego Mindstorm is a little more advanced than other sets. One of the most popular thing that the Mindstorm has are robots. The robots actually move because the Mindstorm has motors and remote controls. The Mindstorm kits are quite a bit more expensive, but older children will especially find the joy in putting them together.
Have you ever been to a robot competition where the robots destroy each other. People really get into these robots and have a great time doing it. Lego Mindstorm is sympathetic to this techie crowd of overachievers. The hard part is selling something really cool for a low price. People don't want to spend a fortune and a really awesome robot is will cost exactly that. Lego is doing a great job with the price points that they have chosen.
Lego Bionicle
The Lego Bionicle toys look like they are half alien and half human. They are larger Lego “people” that have powers like infrared thermal imaging and bone crushing saws. The Bionicles are for older children over 8 years old.
Lego Technic
The Lego Technic is similar to the Lego Mindstorm. Technic is considered the most advanced line that Lego carries. Lego Technic sets will come with a motor and gears. Some of the sets get pretty advanced. There are clutches, worm drives, differentials, and more. The goal of the Technic series is to be able to totally customize your own set so that your own ideas can shine through. In addition, the advanced features allow you to create really cool stuff. For some of us crazy engineers out there, we only wish the sets were advanced enough that we could create real world products – not just toys.
Lego Exoforce
Lego exoforce are themed like the Japanese video games and card games. The sets remind people of Pikachu, the Power Rangers, and mostly Final Fantasy characters. Like you might imagine the Power Rangers working together to defeat a giant monster, that is how the Lego Exoforce works. The players can interact with one another and customize in various ways.
Lego Knights Kingdom Building Toys
The Lego Knights Kingdom building toy sets are some of the most popular sets. You get a lot of people. There is a lot you can do with the medieval theme. There are catapults, door rammers, princesses, and lots of horses and armor. One advantage to the caste set is that you get the caste and many children imagine how wonderful a castle would be to live in. For the boys, there are lots of fighting guys and for the girls there is even a princess or two.
If you only get one set for the family, then a Knights Kingdom building toy set is one of the best choices.
Pretty much all the Lego Techie sets are wheeled machines. There are a lot of cars, trucks, and construction equipment.
To think about what Lego Technic truly is, it is time to think about the Erector set. Erector sets look similar and are based on somewhat congenial ideas.
Leg Building Toys for Educators
Did you know some large corporations use Legos for training? In addition, many schools use Lego to help stimulate creative minds?
In one training exercise, with Legos, a large airplane manufacturer built Lego airplanes. The parts were simulated into a video production that showed the individual how to put the airplane together. The goal of the participant was to make sure that the colors were exactly right and that the plane looked right. The department wanted to make sure that people could pay attention to detail and to notice small differences that could occur. The effect of the training was to help people learn how important it is to pay attention to small details and to follow correct safety procedure.
Some schools are excited about the new rollout of Lego Mindstorms that plug into a USB port on the computer and allow you to design digitally.
Lego also developed a digital designer. The software is free to download. The individual or child can design a custom Lego set. The set can then be purchased from Lego. They will actually sell you an exact kit of your digital design.
Lego has found this service useful because they have ended up producing commercially some of the best designs. The custom Lego sets aren't prohibitively expensive, as you might imagine. Perhaps Lego doesn't make a lot of money off this service, but are able to get some great designs for free every once in a while.
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