Lego BrickMaster by DK Books: Book and Lego as one

My 5-year-old son loves Lego. I don’t think that’s all that unusually for a boy his age. He loves to make his own creations but he’s a big fan of Lego sets, you know the ones that provide you with instructions on how to build a police car or a space ship.

So when I discovered the BrickMaster sets from DK Canada I was intrigued. They kindly sent over the Pirate set for our review (there’s a Castle set also).

The BrickMaster set looks like a large hardcover book. The inside cover has a pouch that holds all the required Lego pieces (140 bricks and 2 figures in the Pirate set). The book portion contains six pirate related scenes that can be built with the pieces provided. There’s a table of contents listing each set with a finished picture.

Each section includes a little description or one paragraph story about the scene you’ll be building, followed by a pictured outline of each Lego item you’ll need. In great Lego fashion, the building steps are all visual and numbered, making it easy to understand and build. I think Lego’s simple yet clear instructions have fostered my own son’s ability to stay focused and build a whole set on his own, without any frustration on his part. I love that about Lego. I'm glad to see DK Canada has maintained that feature in the BrickMaster set.

The BrickMaster set is designed for kids 5+. The story and other words in the BrickMaster book are a nice large type for early readers. My son loved reading the little scene set-up prior to building. They helped him set the scene for play once he was done. And play he did.

My son has built all six different scenes at one time or another. He’s also built his own creations or created hybrid creations by combining ideas from two or more of the BrickMaster designs.

Any pieces not being used we store in a bag and put it back into the inside cover sleeve. My son owns a lot of Lego building sets and he loves following the instructions to build but usually he only builds the set once. DK Canada's design of having these plans in a book format, something we can easily store, has made it easier for him to rebuild the different sets over and over again. And he has done just that.

The Lego BrickMaster sets by DK Canada retail for $29.99 (either the Pirate set or the Castle set)

* Product was provided for the purpose of this review

About the Author Managing Partner and Editor-in-Chief at one of the best social networking and lifestyle sites for moms, EverythingMom.com. Trying to balance life at home with my 3 kids (all under 8), while building my business, working at EverythingMom.com and developing my writing. Oh and throw a load of laundry in and a dinner that isn't burnt. Wasn't working from home suppose to be easier? Posted by Carrie Anne in toy reviews on February 26, 2010 More from this author  |  Author Website Follow Carrie Anne on:  |  |  |