OP, how big is this bin that your nanny threw lego pieces in? I would have the nanny sift through with child to look for missing pieces.

What kind of nanny would throw this in a bin? Seems like total common sense to me. The box and manual must have been close to the half built hotel.

Total nanny fail.

Anonymous wrote:My kids are 5 years apart. Older kid had the Lego Hogwarts castle. Built it, had it up for awhile, then disassembled and all the parts thrown into a huge Lego bin. We had several different sets.

Three years later, younger child wanted to build Hogwarts. Spent a couple weeks (off and on) searching for the pieces and building it. Disassebled it. A few months later, did it again. Half the fun for my kids was sifting through all the differenct pieces and looking for just that right shade of red 1x2 that made a sconce in Dumbledore's office LOL!

Are we the only people who just throw all the pieces together anyway? I get that this is the initial build which should be somewhat easier, but it isn't the end of the world.

We did this for years. Now we disassemble, put in ziplock bags and put them back in the box with the instruction manual. 8yo DS has at least 15 sets in boxes in his closet and probably 20 assembled items that may or may not have boxes that are displayed in his room.

Then we have a huge bin of random lego pieces that includes the 50 sets or so that we originally would just throw together after initial assembly.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:These kits are killing the creativity right out of our kids.

Have her design her own hotel with the pieces in whatever order she wants to use them.

My kids build the sets, but also build their own creations. I disagree that they're killing creativity.

The kits are. Not the building their own creations.

Besides not having elementary kids, I am also getting the impression that you are not a very artistic/creative person.

The sets and instructions are wonderful at helping to build creativity.

https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/brain-candy/201506/building-lego-kit-instructions-makes-kids-less-creative

Sorry.

Disagree entirely.

I am a very artistic person and work in a very ceaative field.

I also have a great dwal of experience with actual real.life kids vs some theory by a blogger.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:These kits are killing the creativity right out of our kids.

Have her design her own hotel with the pieces in whatever order she wants to use them.

My kids build the sets, but also build their own creations. I disagree that they're killing creativity.

The kits are. Not the building their own creations.

Besides not having elementary kids, I am also getting the impression that you are not a very artistic/creative person.

The sets and instructions are wonderful at helping to build creativity.

Actually I'm a studio art major and work in an elementary school. And I'm a mom. If you think that following instructions to make something that someone else designed builds creativity, you're sadly mistaken. Kids need opportunities to create something on their own and problem solve when it doesn't work (and by problem solving, I don't mean re-reading the directions more closely.)
Get the kits. Enjoy them. But please take them apart, as many here already do, and let your kids get messy with them and build something totally out of their own imagination. And have the bins that have no directions whatsoever.
Peace.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do it if you want but don't expect other people to tell you it's OK or a good idea.

FTR, I have bought entire lego sets again for my kids when requested for a holiday or a birthday. I personally don't see the appeal but the point of a gift is to give the recipient something that they want. And, yes, my kids spend hours building creative things with sets that have been taken apart. It's not either/or despite what some people seem to think.

Oh no, my dear. It boils down to a question of money. Looks like you're quite wealthy.

How so? The same amount of money is spent no matter what the gift is. And have you ever actual bought Legos? The sets start at $15.

The occasional set is fine and can inspire new work, but IME open building can't be beat as far as developing building skills and troubleshooting. Guess what - kids came come up with quite creative new uses of pieces themselves if you give them a chance. I'd also rather have my kid experiment and fail with a few creations than just follow plans to get it right every single time. Their final work may not be quite as sophisticated but they are certainly unique and have a lot of thought behind them. They are telling stories as they build them, not just when they play them or rework them later.

We do a few big sets per year (or book inspirations), but the vast majority of our time is spent free-building.

-Lego-loving engineer

Look, it's simple. Make the kids do the kits the right way, the first time -- develops spatial reasoning skills, will help with future Ikea assembly as an adult, etc. Then after a week or two let them destroy it and build whatever they want however they want -- develops creativity, etc.

Simple as that.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:These kits are killing the creativity right out of our kids.

Have her design her own hotel with the pieces in whatever order she wants to use them.

My kids build the sets, but also build their own creations. I disagree that they're killing creativity.

The kits are. Not the building their own creations.

Besides not having elementary kids, I am also getting the impression that you are not a very artistic/creative person.

The sets and instructions are wonderful at helping to build creativity.

https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/brain-candy/201506/building-lego-kit-instructions-makes-kids-less-creative

Anonymous wrote:I find people who buy these sets (hotel, amusement park) usually have passive boring kids.

And I find these type of comments so odd. And silly in their generalizations based on their own, limited experience. I once heard someone say that they find woman who take their husband's last name once married as woman who are not very interesting. Such silly comments.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:These kits are killing the creativity right out of our kids.

Have her design her own hotel with the pieces in whatever order she wants to use them.

My kids build the sets, but also build their own creations. I disagree that they're killing creativity.

The kits are. Not the building their own creations.

Besides not having elementary kids, I am also getting the impression that you are not a very artistic/creative person.

The sets and instructions are wonderful at helping to build creativity.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:These kits are killing the creativity right out of our kids.

Have her design her own hotel with the pieces in whatever order she wants to use them.

My kids build the sets, but also build their own creations. I disagree that they're killing creativity.

The kits are. Not the building their own creations.

The kits do not kill crearivity.

The kids inspire kids to start seeing pieces in different ways beyond the typical usages.

You don't have elementary kids, do you?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:These kits are killing the creativity right out of our kids.

Have her design her own hotel with the pieces in whatever order she wants to use them.

My kids build the sets, but also build their own creations. I disagree that they're killing creativity.

The poster who is arguing that legos crush creativity is probably the same.person who had no idea that the lego instructions include a color coded with pictures inventory in the back of the instruction book.

Legos are awesome. The sets and instructions build the logical, engineering side of the brain. The ability to manipulate the sets, add to them and rebuild your own creations grows the creative side of the brain. The way the designers use differnet pieces beyond their most obvious use helps kids to learn how to think outside the box.

Anyone who says legos sets kill creativity obviously is unfamiliar with them and how kids (and adults) play with legos.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:These kits are killing the creativity right out of our kids.

Have her design her own hotel with the pieces in whatever order she wants to use them.

I disagree. My DS loves building kits with DH and me; it's a fun thing to do together, practicing following directions, attention to detail, sequencing, and describing the pieces you'd like your partner to give you.

After we build a set and show it off, DS "gets creative" with it, changing and adapting it however he would like. We have a big box of "creative" legos for that purpose, as well as building things from scratch. It doesn't have to be either-or.

https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/brain-candy/201506/building-lego-kit-instructions-makes-kids-less-creative

PP. Thanks for the article. My kid does follow the directions, but as I mentioned, he ALSO uses legos creatively. I'm an arts teacher; I wouldn't have it any other way.

My kids are 5 years apart. Older kid had the Lego Hogwarts castle. Built it, had it up for awhile, then disassembled and all the parts thrown into a huge Lego bin. We had several different sets.

Three years later, younger child wanted to build Hogwarts. Spent a couple weeks (off and on) searching for the pieces and building it. Disassebled it. A few months later, did it again. Half the fun for my kids was sifting through all the differenct pieces and looking for just that right shade of red 1x2 that made a sconce in Dumbledore's office LOL!

Are we the only people who just throw all the pieces together anyway? I get that this is the initial build which should be somewhat easier, but it isn't the end of the world.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:These kits are killing the creativity right out of our kids.

Have her design her own hotel with the pieces in whatever order she wants to use them.

My kids build the sets, but also build their own creations. I disagree that they're killing creativity.

The kits are. Not the building their own creations.