Christmas time is near once again and God knows what’s going on into the minds of our kids as they just can’t wait for that wonderful day! It’s us, parents, who try to keep their extreme excitement at bay by letting them help us with decorating the house and write letters for Santa, and by listening and responding to every babble of Christmas thoughts and ideas that just suddenly come to their minds. I understand how extremely excited they are, but sometimes it just drives me crazy!
So this year, I got an awesome way to channel my kids’ Christmassy energy into something that will keep them busy and at the same time productive while waiting for their super favourite holiday. We’ll be making the LEGO Creator Winter Toy Shop! This one definitely makes an ideal extra early advance Christmas gift. Let me tell you why.
The LEGO Creator Winter Toy Shop features a cheerfully busy toy shop that’s full of beautiful things inside, and a merry atmosphere around it. The delightful Christmas-decorated toy shop that is every child’s dream, is complete with unique accessories: cash register, clock, table, chair, tools and ladder, wreaths, light strings, and a LEGO light brick that sparkles from the toy shop tower! The set also includes pieces for building a great big Christmas tree complete with ornaments, and a big bright star on top. There is also a bench beside a tree and a glowing lamp post where a cat can hang out. And of course, there’s a carrot-nosed snowman!
But what makes this Christmas scene alive is the presence of happy people. The Winter Toy Shop set has 8 minifigures! There’s the toymaker, a male caroler, a female caroler, a man, a woman, two young boys, and one young girl. And they’ve got lots of accessories to do lots of things with: top hats, carol board books, wrapped gifts, snowboard, skis, and a variety of 10 toys! The child minifigures can ski, snowboard, build a snowman, throw snowballs, sing along with carolers, help decorate the giant Christmas tree, and of course play with their favourite toys from the toy shop: teddy bear, robot, biplane, helicopter, race car, train, truck, rocket, tugboat, and jack-in-the-box.
For sure, this Winter Toy Shop is going to be my family’s most favourite Christmas decoration in our home once it’s done. Why, it’s built with my kids’ labour of love! And once this very own winter wonderland of theirs is completely done, they can play with it too and make Christmas stories out of it, so at least their incontrollable excitement is thrown somewhere and their Christmassy imagination is put to good use.
The LEGO Creator Winter Toy Shop is recommended for ages 12 and above, but my 7-year old daughter loves challenge so I knew this would help her become more focused, patient, and confident. It has a total of 898 pieces, so it’s going to take a little long while for kids to complete it, and before they know it, it’s nearly Christmas Eve! But of course, parents like us are just gladly here if they need help building.