Stephen Shankland/CNET

I build a lot of Lego sets with my kid, and he surprised me by choosing this one over something more predictable like a Lego car. However, we had a great time putting it together, talking about the different varieties of echeveria featured in the instruction manuals, and sharing the creations with her friends. I generally prefer mechanical Legos – rack and pinion steering, suspension, gears and that sort of thing – but the succulents set was a refreshing, organic alternative.

An added bonus: these make tasteful and interesting centerpieces for tables, shelves and mantels, which is probably one of the reasons why this botanical kit is listed as a “grown-up” set. “. You can even reconfigure the nine modules in different ways for different arrangements.

–Stephen Shankland

You are getting price alerts for LEGO Icons Succulents 10309 Artificial Plant Set for Adults, Valentines Day Gifts, Home Decor, Creative Gift Idea (771 Pieces)

James Bricknell/CNET

It was a random find for me from Target, and I’ll be honest, I was more excited about it than maybe a 42 year old should have been. My daughter and I got a huge kick out of it, and we spent about 4 hours building it.

The details are excellent. From Season 1 outfits and hairstyles to mini-figs to Chandler’s Dell laptop (complete with a Lego logo), everything reminds you of the show. I also like that it’s the Position from Central Perk, not a recreation of the fictional cafe, so it has movie lighting and a raised area to make everything more visible. Then we buy the two apartments to make a matching set.

–James Bricknell

Lego

When my kids were younger they had all sorts of Lego sets – the pirate ship and Hogwarts castle from Harry Potter – provided many hours of entertainment. But they had already grown by the time Lego released the Women of Nasa as part of the ever-expanding series of Women in Science minifigures.

This series now includes female scientists, aerospace engineers, astronauts, oceanographers, a geochemist and a paleontologist. These sets often sell out, which is nice to hear. Girls, boys and everyone else should be aware of the pioneers and contributions of women in our society, so kudos to Legos for embracing the idea.

-Connie Guglielmo

You are receiving price alerts for LEGO Ideas 21312 NASA Women (231 pieces)

Light your bricks

One of my favorite places on the planet is the Huntington Library’s Bonsai Garden, where I first saw the Lego Bonsai Tree kit. This is a nice little kit that allows you to easily switch between a green tree and a flowering tree, so the kit can change with the seasons.

This kit is so popular that there are also third-party lighting kits for this build, allowing you to turn this kit into a fantastic, eye-catching piece of art to display in your home.

— Russell Holly

You are receiving price alerts for Lego Icons Bonsai 10281

Steven Musil

From my son, Justin, who was 11 when he built the set:

“What I love most about the ISS is that it’s so big and includes a space shuttle that you can pretend is docking with the ISS. It was a set hard to build, and I love how the solar panels move. I love how NASA helped build a place where humans can live in space and look down on us on Earth.”

–Steven and Justin Musil

Danielle Ramirez

Our 6 year old son has a deep passion for Lego and “bad guys”. He completely lost his mind when he saw this Thanos attached to Target. (It was $10 when purchased and now sells on Amazon for $27.76.) He had already completed Spider-Man and Thor from the same collection, both of which were a little difficult for him to handle. -same.

Building Thanos was less difficult than Spider-Man, which will go down in history as one of the most boring sets I’ve ever had to help with, but it still required a little help from me. I liked that Lego didn’t just make the glove out of one big piece, but made it look as close to the real thing as possible. Including stones.

— Danielle Ramirez

You are getting price alerts for LEGO Marvel Avengers Thanos Mech 76141 Cool Action Building Toy for Kids with Mech Figure Thanos Minifigure (152 Piece)

Lego is the name of the Lego Group company, but did you know that it is actually an abbreviation? Lego is an amalgamation of the Danish words “leg” and “godt” which, when used in a sentence, mean “play well” in English.

While the Lego Group says the correct pluralization of Lego is Lego, people in the United States tend to use the term legos to identify more than one Lego brick. Lego brick and Lego sets are the preferred terms in most countries, but it’s a regional choice as to which one you use.

Personally, I think there are two ways to say the plural version: Lego, or backwards.