Posted By Laura in #New!, Competitions | 16 comments

I have found in my long years of parenting that children come in two LEGO-types – The Free-Builders and the Planners.
No.1 son was a Free-Builder. Everyone knows one – they eye a large box of bricks with barely-concealed glee, frantically grabbing for a handful and clicking them together as their brain races ahead, rummaging endlessly for just the right piece to complete the vision in their soul. The final construction will have adapted and changed 37 times over the course of its build, mutating and growing as inspiration repeatedly struck.

But No.3 son Jolly is very much a Planner type. A large crate of bricks would just seem overwhelmingly full for him – the potential is too vast, the choices too great. He is always far happier with a plan to follow; a set build in mind, some rules to constrain the freedom into a boundary he could operate within.

We’d sometimes have building competitions, and he loved those – because he could only use 41 bricks, or had to include wheels, or had to make the 7 red bricks only touch yellow and it had to hold up a book.

So when I saw the new DK book LEGO® Awesome Ideas  not only was a I properly excited (first present off the Christmas list, that’s for sure…) because I just knew Jolly would adore it.

LEGO® Awesome Ideas is an all-new ideas book from DK – and it builds up entire LEGO worlds, while expanding your LEGO knowledge. From beginners to accomplished builders, this book contains creative model ideas and visual tips and techniques that will inspire anyone to get building!

Each chapter starts on a new theme, and model by model, brick by brick, it holds your hand through The Wild West and Fantasy Land to Space and The Real World. And it builds confidence for nervous Planner types, teaching them how to build a car, and then an ambulance using the same techniques. Then you add a set of traffic lights, some street furniture… and before you know it you’ve created the Metropolis world.

Of course, that’s not to say Free Builders won’t love it too. Let’s face it, if it has LEGO in it, they’re totally in. But I’m guessing a  Free Builder will dip in and out – spot a cool idea, make it, then brain leap sideways 6 pages and place traffic lights in the Wild West to control the spacecraft landing strip…

The writing is fun and the diagrams are clear – if your child can read, they’ll be creating astonishing models in no time. My personal favourite page? Well the one where it teaches you to build biscuits, obviously… Although they did ruin it a bit by adding a chocolate bourbon in there… *shakes head sadly*

And thanks to the rather brilliant types at DK, we have THREE copies of the LEGO Awesome Ideas book to give away! Just complete the Rafflecopter magickery below – first three answers are compulsory, and then the rest are up to you; the more you complete, the more chances of winning you get :)
Closing date is 30th November, so if you win the book will definitely be with you for Christmas. Good luck!
NOW CLOSED