Lego Creator 6913: Blue Roadster

Harry has always liked playing with his Lego, whether it be his Duplo sets when he was a toddler, or the smaller normal bricks people usually associate with Lego that he plays with now. For his 6th birthday which happened a few months ago, he was given a few Lego vehicles as gifts. I don't usually buy him these as I don't think they are especially good value for money, are quite limited and pretty expensive for what they are, however they do make good gifts as they are around the £10 mark. His aunt, who knows of his love of cars, purchased him this, which is the Blue Roadster, which is part of the 'Lego Creator' range, and is suitable for 6-12 year olds.

The set comes in a rectangular cardboard box, which clearly displays an image of the car that can be made using the bricks inside, as well as 2 smaller pictures, as you can make 3 different cars with the set. The box is a good size, and is of course recyclable, but we have kept ours for the spare bricks and the instruction booklets. It's quite nice to have the clear pictures on the box so you can see what you're making, and the child making it can easily make a choice about their toy as well. Inside the box, the Lego pieces are in a sealed plastic bag, although once you open it, you'll have to put any spare bits in a sealable bag so you don't lose them. There are quite a few pieces in this kit, I haven't counted them but it's a reasonable amount for the 3 cars, although you can of course only make one at a time.

Harry wanted to make the jeep first, and got out the appropriate instruction booklet. We turned to the right pages, and laid the Lego pieces out on the floor in colour groups to hopefully make it easier for us to find the bits we needed as we went along. The first part of the instructions were fine, and Harry was able to find the pieces we needed and start putting them together. However, when it came to layering the pieces up, and making sure they were in exactly the right place on the model, he struggled a bit and I had to step in and help too, and by the end I was virtually doing it as it was just a bit tricky for him. Despite myself struggling with a few of the really small pieces, we managed to finish it in about 20 minutes, and Harry put the wheels on for the finishing touches. It looked great, like a real jeep buggy, and the wheels were smooth and allowed him to whizz it about on the floor too.

After a few days, he wanted it changed to the sportscar version, which is the main picture. We really struggled in taking apart some of the pieces, and had to fetch his special Lego separating tool from his big box of Lego in his room to allow us to separate some of the really small pieces. Again, we got the instructions, which by the way are really super easy to use, are very clear and basic enough for anyone to follow (children with a bit of help perhaps), and started to build. Once more, Harry was fine for a while and then asked for some help, as some of the bits were quite fiddly. Again, it took us about 20 minutes to build this one, and it really did look fantastic when it was all done. We haven't gotten around to making the third one yet as Harry wants to keep it as the sports car, he loves it so much!

Overall, I am really impressed with the kit, although the age guide of 6-12 I think is a little bit optimistic, as I don't know many 6 year olds that would be able to do these models without help. There are some easy bits, but when it gets down to the tiny bits, and you need to place them correctly, it's handy to have an adult help out so they can do it properly and not have to keep starting again if they make a mistake. The Lego pieces are of course a fantastic quality, and the finished cars look amazing (see our pics!), and stay together quite well, we have had doors drop off and things but it's to be expected and these things are easily fixed. It costs around £9 which isn't bad value considering you get 3 separate cars, and the fact it has wheels that really work mean its a Lego toy that can be used again and again, especially if you have a car fanatic like my little Harry. Recommended by us!

The set is available from Amazon.co.uk for £8.97 (May 2012 price).
Lego code: 6913

Thank you for reading.