[BIair]

I'm not surprised this is the top comment on a hacker site. But having watched my 5-year old son assemble a 300 piece set while following a 40+ page manual, gave me a new appreciation. He was obviously creating a new thing, even if not experienting. Not only did he have great pride in his creation, but he leaned a lot about 3D visualization and spacial awareness. Sign me up!

[nashadelic]

I have a 3 year old and he's too young to make lego city sets from the instructions but he loves playing with them and watching me make a set and helping. However, when I leave him with the bricks, he plays on his own, makes funky looking cars and planes. I've seen him spent a lot of time figuring a brick out by keep trying it with different bricks. It's very cool to see the learning process in real time.

I think children learn more by mixing, matching and making their own creations not just following the instructions. It was nice to see that the Lego movie was about this too.

[mbreese]

My 6 year old son is obsessed with Lego. I think it's great to watch him follow the directions to get a big set built. (So far, the biggest he's done solo is ~ 1100 pieces). The process of following the directions, seeing the small changes from step to step, is great for him. Some of the newer sets have some really good engineering behind them too. The above 1100+ set was a Star Wars ship that basically had a Technic skeleton that the rest was attached to.

But I'm far more impressed with the little creations he makes on his own by mixing and matching sets. Usually he makes small transport ships out of anything he can get his hands on, but it's the random stuff that's the best.

(And I think it's hilarious to see Batman fighting along side Clone Troopers.)

[malkia]

Same here. But occasionally he'll diverge and change the design a bit, or he'll try to build it just by looking at the cover, or not finish the third rail wagon, because he has the main engine, and a second one.