LEGO City Advent Calendar 2008

I ordered this last year for my 4 year old son (who is now 5 1/2). I thought he’d like it, but wasn’t sure what to expect. WOO HOO!! This was so much fun. It was definitely one of “those” toys, where you think to yourself, “This was one of the best $30.00 I’ve spent.”. It’s by no means cheap, but, honestly, watching my little guy’s excitement every time he opened another door was a delight for me.

I incorporated counting, number recognition and the brain-teaser of finding the numbered door. The calendar layout is a scene of the Lego City. The numbered doors are scattered throughout the city, so your child has to hunt for the correct number. I also used this as a way to talk about our family’s religious beliefs and what Christmas means to us. For someone like me, who loves the Christmas season, this was a joyful way to bring the holidays into our home all month long.

**Note: I recommend putting the calendar out of reach after each use. We found out, rather quickly, that the calendar’s lure was irresistible. One is very likely to end up with doors poked open and prizes pilfered. For $30 I wanted the fun to last all month.

We have ordered the LEGO Christmas Calendar every year for at least 10 years, and have never been disappointed. My child is now 16, and still looks forward to opening and assemblying each day’s packet! It wouldn’t be Christmas without out LEGO Christmas Calendar!!

The idea is a great one – get an advent calendar for your children where they get to open it and have a new little Lego toy each day leading up to Christmas. Well, each toy isn’t exactly what I expected. About every third day, you get a Lego person, which my children love, and then the next two days, you get a “prop” to go along with that person (a 6 pc. Lego BBQ or a 10 pc. Lego Ice Cream cart). Most of the props are things my kids won’t use with their current Lego sets, and trying to split the days among the three kids meant that some days, one child would get a silly prop toy that doesn’t do any good without the next day’s prop toy and the previous day’s Lego person. Overall, a bit disappointed, but I’m glad we tried it once – won’t be doing it again, though.