MiaCan
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MiaCan's Stats
MiaCan's Stats
- 4Average Rating
- 42Helpfulness Votes
- 0Featured Reviews
- 3Review Count
- June 30, 2016First Review
- December 13, 2016Last Review
MiaCan's Reviews
Parisian Restaurant
Parisian Restaurant
Posted:December 13, 2016
MiaCan
Age:
35-44
years old
Customer Type:
LEGO Parent
Building Experience:
Novice LEGO builder
Overall:
5
/
5
Birthday gift for 7 year old
" My daughter just turned seven and I got this for her as a birthday gift. She has breezed through a number of the Lego Friends collections this summer managed to get through the Lego Architecture Berlin within 40 minutes... so for her birthday I wanted to get her something challenging.
We ended up getting her a few of the Lego Creator models namely the VW Camper (16+), the Brick Bank (16+) and this Parisian Restaurant (16+).
When asking the sales associate at the lego store which models would be the most interactive (as it seems she likes to play with the legos once she is done making them) the associate was a bit surprised that we were looking at these models for a child who was just turning seven. He insisted (although very politely) that this might be a bit too challenging for her and that unless an adult was making the lego and she was helping then it might end up being something that would end up frustrating the child more than anything else and we might end up having the puzzle set to the side without much interest. The sales associate was really very nice and looking out for our best interest and I did appreciate the honesty and candor. I did look through some of the models he suggested but honestly she has gone through 800+ piece legos within a few hours so they would have been somewhat boring and we were looking to challenge her.
I figured we would get them anyways and if the challenge was too great we would set it aside for when she got just a little older.
For the record, none of us help our seven year old with her legos. I for one have never even attempted to build one as the whole thing just looks like a very daunting task! The most I do is play the part of "the lovely assistant" as she calls me and demands that i sort the pieces by color... easy enough for me... I'm in! Then i sit there and watch her go!
Well she got the legos for her birthday and the very next day she wanted to open this particular one. The Parisian Restaurant. For the first 10 minutes she looked at them, then she threw a mega hissy fit when she realized the instructions were not quite the same apparently as the Friends collections she had done in the past. She said the instructions were "like the architecture one"... if that makes any sense to anyone. I could not see what she was talking about. And then she was given the choice to set this lego set aside and to play with some of the other toys she had received at her birthday party (barbies and shopkins) or to move forward and try and figure it out.
Within 15 minutes she was sorting through the plastic bags and inching her way towards building this set. She wanted me to be her "lovely assistant" and to "watch her make it" and so i sat there and sorted the different pieces by color and set them aside.... that was the ONLY assistance she got.
Within the one day (this weekend) that she worked on it she finished bags numbered one and is almost done with bags numbered 2 and I cannot believe the ease with which she is going through it....
She oohs and awws about all of the little details and I took a look at what she has finished so far and it is IDENTICAL to what the pictures show on the instructions manual... She loves the detail and I have to say it is really very impressive. It comes with it's very own little grey rat! Oohhh la la!
She still has a way to go and I will update as she finishes this set up and see what she likes and does not like about it... If someone could just guide me on an article that describes in detail the various collections of lego and what makes each of them different i would greatly appreciate that.
I will let her get through the other models from this creator collection and build her little town (apparently these models all can be put one next to the other to create a little city) and in the meantime I will try and find something that will challenge her a little bit more... Not so much with the length of time... but rather the complexity of the instructions manuals... I liked it when i saw her have a mini meltdown regarding the fact that the instructions were not the same as the other ones she had done... I am looking for more of those kinds of reactions. I know... bad, bad mommy! But those meltdowns mean she is being somewhat challenged.
Also how reliable are the ages on the boxes of lego? And does the challenge get greater as she goes from bag 1 to bag 2 to bag 3 to bag 4 or is the level of challenge within the same box the same... meaning.... if she got through bags 1 and 2 with zero problems does the difficulty level of this particular puzzle stay the same or does it get tougher as you near completion of the lego set?
In any event... this is by far one of the legos that gave me the most fun to watch her make. The initial challenge... the frustration... the lightbulb moment... the enjoyment in watching her put the pieces together, the ease with which she does it and the enjoyment she gets are all worth the while!
I would certainly recommend this set to anyone whose kid wants a lego and to any mom or dad who wants the lego to last longer than a few hours before being completed! Fun stuff!
Love it!
PS: I have added a picture that i took when she finished the first batch of bags with the number one on them...
"
Images for this Review
(click to see full-size image)
I would recommend this to a friend!
From: Saint-Laurent
From:
Canada
Age:
35-44
years old
Customer Type:
LEGO Parent
Building Experience:
Novice LEGO builder
Purchased For:
Daughter
Play Experience (Optional):
5
/
5
Value for Money (Optional):
5
/
5
Level of Difficulty:
Average
Very Easy
Very Challenging
I would recommend this to a friend!
Share:
-1point
0of 1found this review helpful.
Pop Star Tour Bus
Pop Star Tour Bus
Posted:August 14, 2016
MiaCan
Age:
35-44
years old
Building Experience:
Novice LEGO builder
Overall:
4
/
5
6 year old completed it within 3.5 hours Loves It!
" I wrote a review a few weeks back about my 6 year old having breezed through the Berlin from the Architecture Collection. She completed that one within 40 minutes and found it to be way too quick and way too easy. Plus being a building with no moving pieces she finds it pretty and has it showcased in her room but that is about the extent of it. Last week she got this Pop Star Tour Bus model from her aunt and since there were many more pieces in this one and looked significantly more complicated, I figured it would take her a good couple of weeks to get through it. It took her in total 3 hours (maybe 3 and a half hours TOPS) to complete but she felt this one was more interesting because she could actually play with her creation. I watched her do the puzzle and was amazed at how quickly she would figure out where the pieces went and that certain symbols meant you need to turn the bus upside down... At the very beginning she made a few mistakes and got extremely frustrated with herself (something that she did not encounter with the architecture set) but by the end i noticed that troubleshooting problems became challenging for her and she seemed to be enjoying getting to the bottom of where she may have gone wrong. As a mom i liked this puzzle because it allowed my little perfectionist to understand that making mistakes can be seen as a challenge and not as a failure. I have never made a lego puzzle myself but I am starting to see what the appeal is in them. Very beautifully crafted and well thought out. I especially love the idea that she can spend hours, once the whole thing is completed, playing with the little figurines and finding enjoyment in her creation. Now what?
"
I would recommend this to a friend!
From: Saint-Laurent
From:
Canada
Age:
35-44
years old
Building Experience:
Novice LEGO builder
Purchased For:
Daughter
Build Time:
03
hrs
Build Time:
30
mins
Play Experience (Optional):
4
/
5
Value for Money (Optional):
4
/
5
Level of Difficulty:
Easy
Very Easy
Very Challenging
I would recommend this to a friend!
Share:
+1point
10of 19found this review helpful.
Berlin
Berlin
Posted:June 30, 2016
MiaCan
Age:
35-44
years old
Building Experience:
Novice LEGO builder
Overall:
3
/
5
Six year old breezed through this one
" My daughter has been getting legos as gifts here and there and I noticed that she was breezing through the ones she got rather quickly. The ones geared towards 6-12 year olds with multiple pieces were done with almost no effort and within a very short amount of time so we went into a local lego store and asked the young man to help us find something better suited for my six year old. He was very well informed and suggested I try an architecture collection to see if my little one was ready for something a bit more challenging. My daughter opted for the Berlin one because it had "sparkles" (referring to the glass dome). I figured this should keep her occupied for at least a couple of days. Within 40 minutes of starting this piece, she showed up at my side saying this was way too easy and she was done. She was proud of her accomplishment and i gather she enjoyed building it... but it was really not challenging at all for her. I know NOTHING about legos. As far as i can tell she did everything correctly and the model she completed looks identical to the one on the picture... and i really looked! Could it be that she did something totally wrong here? She says she used all of the pieces that the instructions called for. Can someone who understands Legos take a look and tell me if she did this properly or not? I will attach a picture. Thanks! Also if anyone has any suggestions of a good next step please let me know... I don't necessarily want her spending more time on a lego puzzle but rather have it be a little more challenging (assuming she did this right). Thank you in advance.
"
Images for this Review
(click to see full-size image)
From: Saint-Laurent
From:
Canada
Age:
35-44
years old
Building Experience:
Novice LEGO builder
Purchased For:
Daughter
Build Time:
40
mins
Play Experience (Optional):
1
/
5
Value for Money (Optional):
1
/
5
Level of Difficulty:
Very Easy
Very Easy
Very Challenging
Share:
+11points
32of 53found this review helpful.