Lego Friends 3930: Stephanie's Outdoor Bakery

From the moment my little girl saw the Lego Friends range advertised she's nagged me for it, her brothers have bucket loads of standard Lego and are always recieving sets as presents and as much as she enjoyed playing with it there wasn't quite the same appeal for her, she's every inch a pink princess so rocket ships, pirate boats and police cars aren't her thing. When family started asking what to get for her recent birthday I specifically mentioned Lego Friends sets as I always like to make sure my little ones get something they've asked for on their special days and though I'd purchased one small set for her myself I thought a few more sets would make the playing experience better.

Lego of course is a very well known brand of building bricks that has around for generations, I played with Lego as a child and still have some vintage Lego left from my childhood, it's a basic but excellent quality toy. There have been many themed ranges over the years but for the most part these have been more male orientated then female, the Lego Friends is specifically geared towards girls with themes like bakeries, dog shows, school etc....and all in typically girly colours like pink and purple. There are a range of characters that go along with the set, mostly different females and most of them with their own career, Stephanie for example is a baker but there is also a doctor, teacher, vet....as well as a few characters is standard day clothes and from what I've seen there's even a male character to go with the range. The Lego Friends characters and sets are a little more detailed then standard Lego, the girls faces for example are more sculpted rather then the basic pop off style, printed smiley face head of traditional characters. Stephanies outdoor bakery set is one of 2 small Lego Friends sets, made up of 45 pieces of different sizes and shapes (which includes the character of Stephanie who makes up 4 pieces) they all come together in a sealed plastic bag within a small purple card box covered in images of the set, there is also a small guide book which shows you step by step how to put the set together.

Though my daughter is experienced at playing with Lego these were her first real kits so we started her off with this bakery set as it looked relatively simple to put together, starting with the character and then going on through the small oven, table, parasol, stool and food items like a very cute carton of milk and even a lego birthday cake, some of the small round pieces were quite fiddly but as always the bricks are easy to put together and with help of the guide book there was no risk of pieces being put together wrong and causing frustration. At 6 years old my little girl found this a very simple set to put together and it's a good starter before moving onto larger sets, she recieved the tree house set too which is much more complicated and would have been a bit much to start off with but by starting small and simple it kept her attention and enthusiasm.

There are a few small downsides to this set, well to any Lego set really, and those are the threat of a destructive sibling, luckily my children are really good and don't destroy each others creations but I do recall a story where my husband sat on his older brothers lovingly constructed Lego castle and smashed it to pieces! Then there is the trauma of packing up hundreds of loose bricks and putting them away, not only can it take an age there's also the issue that if you're unlucky enough to miss a piece and discover it later by accidentally stepping on it then you'll find out just how painful those little bricks could be! I highly recommend laying out a sheet on the floor and making sure all Lego building takes place on there, then you can easily scoop the pieces up afterwards. Another tip I would give for this set and other similar sets is that if your little one gets bored and decides to pack it away put the pieces and the guide book into a little food bag, don't mix them loosely within other Lego just in case you want to build the set to match the instructions again but can't find the right pieces.

Other then the fact that the Lego Freinds sets are fantastic quality toys that will last years there's also the benefit that the pieces will fit other Lego sets and can be fixed to standard lego base boards...they will also fit other Lego "style" ranges though I've found that those don't always have quite the same snug, easy fit when mixed with branded Lego. By creating these kind of themed sets it means that not only can you encourage your childs hand eye skills and teach them about working through steps on a project through to the reward of playing with it at the end, you are also encouraging their creativity and imagination as they are not only construction toys but double up into play sets when they're finished, your little one can build up a little city of the sets and make the characters go about their daily lives, interacting with each other in much the same way as they could with Polly Pockets or even Barbies, the difference here of course being that they have the satisfaction of having built the set themselves. My little girl particularly liked this set as it features a little long blonde haired figure who she thinks looks like her but it also has a birthday cake which made her day as she spotted it on her own birthday, she's not bothered about whether it's sexist or creating gender stereotypes she's just happy that it's cute and girly and fun for her to play with.

The small sets start from £4.99 and can be bought from most toy stores and some supermarkets as well as online, I bought our outdoor bakery set from Play.com but we also saw the complete range in Toys R Us during a recent trip there. While £4.99 may seem quite a lot for such a small box I actually think it's pretty good value for money as far as Lego is concerned, some of the other play set ranges can cost silly amounts of money, the chances of my children ever owning a large size Millenium Falcon or Jack Sparrows pirate ship are slim but £4.99 is affordable and even fits withing the "pocket money" bracket of a lot of kids, then when you add on the facts that it will last for what seems like forever and can be mixed with other Lego it definitely makes the £4.99 seem worth it, I'm sure my little girl would agree with me.