My grandkids and I have had a great time researching old and new LEGOs sets and even though I wrote about several great resources on Wednesday, we have plenty more for today, Family Friday! One more set of alternate designs, using the Sponge Bob Square Pants LEGOs set. One of the easier ways to save money with LEGO sets is to keep those LEGO bricks organized, since you won’t be buying more to replace items you already have.

Here are some great sites to help you and your grandkids get their LEGO sets organized: Efficient LEGOs Set Storage LEGOs Sets Storage from the OrgJunkie How about a box to help you organize the LEGO sets your grandkids leave at your house? I haven’t tried it, but it does look good. It’s kind of like sifting for gold. The LEGO club is a site where your grandkids can find LEGO buffs to write to, share with, and find new designs. GRANDPARENTS / PARENTS – please check this site out carefully and supervise your grandkids’ / kids’  use of this site AND ALL THESE SITES carefully. I'll be doing the same!   Would you believe it, they even have LEGO stores all over the world, including these new, or soon-to-open sites:

• Kenwood Towne Centre, Cincinnati, OH
• Crabtree Valley Mall, Raleigh, NC
• Stonebriar Centre, Frisco, TX
• Penn Square Mall, Oklahoma City, OK
• Westfield Annapolis, Annapolis, MD
• NorthPark Center, Dallas, TX
• Easton Town Center, Columbus, OH
• Orland Square, Orland Park, IL
• Ala Moana Center, Honolulu, HI
• Arundel Mills Mall, Baltimore, MD
• Riverchase Galleria, Birmingham, AL
• Concord Mills Mall, Charlotte, NC
• Westfield Garden State Plaza, Paramus, NJ
• MyZeil, Frankfurt, Germany

Our grandkids are sure to enjoy the Monthly Mini Model Build at the various LEGO stores. As the site explains, “One day each month, children ages 6 to 14 are invited to come to the LEGO Store and learn how to build a special LEGO set model – then take that model home, for free! Check with your local Store for date and time – dates vary by country.” For those grandkids who just can’t get enough LEGO info and who live fairly close to Bellaire, OH, (or if you’re able to pass by it on a trip), you can visit the Brick Museum which is the worlds’ only LEGO based museum. It is located at 4597 Noble Street, Bellaire, OH, and its phone number is 740-671-8890. The site currently shows that it is open Wednesday – Sunday and it does charge admission. Be sure, though, to call before going to verify all the information. I’ve learned the internet is great, but it’s definitely NOT perfect, nor is it updated as often as I would like. Another interesting thing I found was two interviews with LEGO display designers who have worked on Star Wars LEGOS sets. They were fascinating and my seven-year old grandson thought so too! I printed them out and we read it for one of our “stories.” Now one of my five-year old grand-twins wants to hear the “story!” Not only was it interesting to read about the designs, it was exciting to learn that some people can actually grow up and earn a good living designing, creating and playing with LEGO sets! There are LEGO video games, LEGO board games, and in the next year or so, there will even be a LEGO movie. WOW! Well, that’s it for all things new and old LEGOs for now, though there will probably be more coming in a month or so. If you have more to add, we’d love to hear about it.

Kaye

LEGO is one of my grandsons’ FAVORITE words right now. That’s because their new and old LEGOs are some of my grandkids’ favorite building toys.  For that matter, they are probably a favorite among many of us in the Baby Boomer Generation, since they’ve been around for decades!

I decided to do some internet surfing to see what fun info I could find for them, and you, about LEGO and LEGO sets. I haven’t tried any of these yet. I’m hoping to order the book (below) for Christmas, and trying a couple of these design kits (also below) over the next few months. When I do, I’ll write more about them then. In the meantime, if you beat me to it, let us know how you like them.

These are not “cheap toys,” but they are so wholesome and educational, they are well worth it. They are excellent for homeschooling programs as proven by all the LEGO curriculum idea links at this homeschooling programs support site. They are also  terrific for grandkids with autism or Asperger’s Syndrome, as well as other special needs. This is true for the regular sets and/or the LEGO soft sets.

Plus, I discovered that, while most LEGO sets that you can purchase only make one or two designs, there are some intriguing alternate designs online using parts from various kits. Those would be some great ways to save money! Here are some that sounded interesting. As you look through them, you’ll realize that “yes,” we love Star Wars and Star Wars LEGOs :

• Photos and some directions for alternates for the Millennium Falcon Star Wars LEGO sets.
• Lots of interesting designs, including Star Wars LEGO set ideas.
• Directions for making a LEGO Toy Car. This is a very cool site. It offers many free projects that are small plus some huge projects that run about $7 each. They also offer CDs that are about $10 which contain several projects on them. I’m thinking this will be another Christmas present for my grandkids. Shhh, don’t tell.

If you've lost the directions for a LEGO set you have, or you've bought some LEGO sets at a yard sale or thrift store with no directions included, the Brick Factory would be a great place to start looking.

Last for today, but definitely not least, I found interesting and informative reviews of what sounds like a very good resource book about LEGO sets and pieces, The Unofficial LEGO Builder's Guide. According to its website, it “provides an overview of the entire LEGO hobby from how to identify different parts right up to the skills you need to design and build your own original models.”

It includes instructions on how to (and not to) put LEGO bricksets together, it explains what “scale” is, and even includes the complete instructions to build a minifig scale train station. It shows how to build the little people using mostly common pieces  as well as how to build giant LEGO modules. There are also complete instructions for making a gorgeous sphere LEGO set. Some of the other things in it include:

• Building mosaics
• Mechanical parts including gears, axles, and lift arms
• Creating a mini space shuttle orbiter
• Design Grids
• How to create instructions to share your designs with others
• Using new and old LEGOs bricks to play games
• How to sort and store bricks and bricksets
• Technic info
• Setting up a LEGO work area
• A Brickopedia  – info about over 300 of the most common new and old LEGOs pieces
• And so much more!

The website even offers a sample chapter for you to download along with free directions for smaller projects. Lots of fun for my grandkids coming up, that’s for sure!

I’ve looked into it at Amazon where I found good reviews there as well. It’s only $16. 47 there (list price is 24.95) so it’s definitely on my Christmas list. I’ll have to order early as it looks like it takes a week or so to get it. I suspect it may be geared for kids a bit older than my grandsons, but I don’t want to take a chance it won’t be available in a couple of years.

Be sure to come back on “Family Friday” this week for LEGOs for Grandkids, The REST of the Story.

Kaye

It’s HOT! At least where I’m at. And if it’s not hot where you’re at, just wait – SUMMER STARTS NEXT WEEK!  In the season of life I am currently enjoying, I prefer a tad bit cooler, however my grandkids are all THRILLED that summer is almost here. It’s been so warm, their mom has already pulled out the plastic swimming pool. They’ve been having a blast with it.

When I was babysitting last week, my grandkids decided they didn’t want any more paper airplanes. They wanted swimming pool toys instead! That was fine with me as my budget said, “Cheap Toys!” So back to the drawing board, errr computer, we went.

We decided to give paper boats a try. What would make better pool toys than paper boats! I was a bit leery, I have to admit. After the struggles I had with the paper airplanes, was I up to the challenges of the paper boats? Guess what? I was! I found a great site to share with you (see below), in case you’d like to make some of these fun pool toys!

The first site I went to had a great pattern. As I was folding it, Grand-Twin one commented it looked just like his paper hat we had made over the winter. Two folds later, he made the same comment. Four folds later, he repeated it. By this time, I was a bit panicked, but IT WORKED. I sent him out to the pool and started churning out the next hat.

By the time I finished the third hat, the first grandkid was back in saying his was “all shwedded up in the pool” (his first missing tooth ). Following him outside, we discovered he had been splashing it on top, underneath, and everywhere else he could get water. That led to a very entertaining and educational discussion about how to put a paper airplane in the water and make wind to blow it without splashing it too much. We even had a great mini-theological discussion about how we can’t see the wind, but we can see what it does. In the same way, we can’t see God, but we can see what He does – His Fruit. Which, of course, led us right back to our Fruit of the Spirit memory verses.

Eight boats, two discussions, and three memory verses later, we were ready to head in for nap. Well, I was ready. They weren’t ready, but cheerfully went in anyway. All in all, a hearty time was had by all, maties.

If you give these fun swimming pool toys a try, let us know what you think about them. And if you have any great sites with more ideas for cheap toys, we’d love to hear about those as well!

Directions for Fun Swimming Pool Toys – Paper Boats

For more fun summer ideas and tips, check out HomemakerBarbi’s Family Friday.