Unless you spent your childhood under a rock, chances are you grew up playing with Lego at some point. In earlier years, it was more about different combinations of bricks and "special pieces" before LEGO came out with themed sets such as LEGO Star Wars or LEGO CITY.
I had no problems using my imagination to build girly things like dollhouses or horse stables, but then again that was way before anyone had ever heard of Star Wars or Harry Potter. Yes, it was *that* long ago.
Even though most LEGO sets are not specifically targeted at boys, it's obvious that most of them do not initially appeal to girls. This was quite unfortunate because building stuff is nurturing great imaginative and creative play, which would benefit girls just as much as boys. LEGO Friends have finally corrected this imbalance with a whole range of products that appeal even to the girliest of girls, and this might even entice them to explore the endless creative playing opportunity of building sets.
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What's your take? Will LEGO Friends encourage more girls to play with Legos?
nightowl, Do you know why Olivia's house was discontinued? The designs and storylines encourage such educational fun as comfort levels with architecture and engineering. But a cultural diversity gap nevertheless needs to be filled with representation for girls of African, Asian and indigenous descent.
Great share, Elizabeth! I felt so lucky to be able to play with my son's LEGO again, I got so much into it that I started buying and collecting the Christmas sets for myself. So much fun!
My daughter is 6 1/2, and started her Lego Friends collection over 2 years ago. Her 5th birthday party was even Lego Friends / Horses themed. She loves them, I love them!! GREAT IDEA! My brother had a TON of legos growing up, and I was never interested in them. I'm not sure who enjoys our HUGE lego collection more - me or my daughter.
As a girl who has played with all her brother's legos, i hate the friends sets. They don't work with the traditional legos, and the pink everything is an insult. An x ray machine is not pink, roofs are not pink, and animals don't have huge manga eyes. Instead of stereotyping girls, why doesn't lego just include a propprtional amount of FEMALE minjfigures to their sets "for boys" And you wonder why there are less girls in STEM! From the time girls are little they're taught that they can't be a fireman, police officer, or rescue person, but that they can be a girl with a pretty car and just party and play with her friends all day. Lego needs to step up and own the fact that most of their sets are sexist and encourage gender stereotyping.
I think they're fine. If girls gravitate to these sets because they like the colors, and the story-telling play opportunities, then it's a start into building toys. They can add on other kinds of sets, such as Architecture, as they wish.
Both my daughters love legos. They've both enjoyed playing and building with Lego toys since they were old enough to hold them. Great product review. :)K
Thanks for your input, ladies. I used to play with LEGO as a kid just fine, too, but would these sets have existed I would probably have loved them even more. I'm not a fan of pink plastic, but at least these LEGO Friends sets don't go overboard. I still enjoy building stuff as an adult, and as a parent of boys I have plenty of opportunity. I can imagine that parents of girls will appreciate that now as well. ;-)
I grew up playing with LEGOs with my brothers, and loving it. We made houses for our troll dolls (remember those cute ugly little dolls :-) ) and occasionally my Barbie would make an appearance in our LEGO structures too....if I had sets like the ones above, I would've been in heaven, although maybe my brothers wouldn't have played with them if they were "girl color" Legos :-)
I love these legos and now know what I'm going to get my granddaughters for Christmas. It's interesting how it's okay for girls to play with things that interest boys, but not the other way around. "As if boy things" are of greater intellectual importance than "girl things." Anything that suggests femininity and nurturing is considered frivolous and inconsequential. The male and female are different. There's nothing wrong with being a girl if you happen to be a girl as I once told my ex who wanted to dress his daughter like his two sons. I think humans have lost their minds. Just my biased opinion.