• Playing with SNOT

    Continuing the exploration into interesting LEGO techniques, my son played around with SNOT. SNOT stands for Studs Not On Top – it is a way of building LEGO where the studs face in other directions, usually sideways.

    One great example of this technique is the “SNOT ball” – this is a ball of LEGO where the studs face outward on all sides. It involves building 6 matching sides out of plates and then joining them together internally using various SNOT pieces. We followed an online guide for the first side, but my son picked it up really quickly and did the rest on his own:

    To prove that is was indeed a ball, it had to be rolled (and captured in slow motion):

    A pretty cool experiment that turned out to work really well! We need more SNOT pieces to build this kind of thing more frequently and on a larger scale (we didn’t actually have enough to maintain the structural integrity for long, and it fell apart on the next roll), so we’re definitely needing to expand our collection to include more versatile bricks.

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  • Merry Christmas from Kids Bricks

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    In the spirit of the season, my kids worked on some fun Christmas builds to celebrate.

    Enjoy!

    An Elf on the Shelf alongside a snow globe

    Wishing you and your families a merry Christmas and a happy New Year – may your 2023 be filled with creativity and fun.

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  • A Sweet Pair of Sunnies

    This is a smaller build that my son put together in about 10 minutes – just a quick idea that he executed superbly. The sunglasses were really stable and survived for a few weeks of being worn by various stuffed animals. It’s a small, but neat little build.

    Sunglasses modelled by Hugs the Christmas Koala
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  • Forest Fire

    It’s been a little while since I posted something new on here, but that’s not because my kids haven’t been building LEGO – I’ve just been so busy I’ve forgotten to get their builds up here.

    Here’s one that my daughter built recently – a fire sweeping through a forest. I really like the use of colour and the sense of movement in this one. You can see how the fire has started on one side and is on its way toward the rest of the forest, leaving burnt trees and charred rocks in its wake.

    I wanted to add some minifigures running away and screaming, but we don’t have that many, and all of them have happy faces, which wouldn’t fit the whole vibe too well.

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  • Brick Bending

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    After watching a ton of LEGO Masters and being introduced to new ideas and ways of building LEGO, my kids were keen to try some new techniques. One thing we learnt about was brick bending – a way of layering bricks that allows them to create curved shapes by appearing to bend. You can see some incredible examples at brickbending.com.

    My kids started with a basic example of the technique – using exclusively 2×1 bricks to create curved shapes. The size of the bricks allows them to pivot on the studs to give the illusion that they are actually bending out of shape. It’s honestly very cool, and they did this all on their own.

    This wheel (which can roll and be comfortably squashed into an oval without breaking) uses 1,064 bricks in total:

    This is just the start of these experiments and I hope to see more soon!

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  • Guitar Guy’s House

    After my son built an evil ninja’s lair from his minifigure pick, my daughter took up the challenge to build a house for the character that she selected and dubbed “Guitar Guy”:

    Yes, I know he’s holding a lute, but the name “Guitar Guy” stuck.

    Since Guitar Guy’s defining feature is his guitar, the house my daughter built was themed along those lines. She built a multi-storey abode designed to look like a guitar – body, neck, and all.

    I really love how this turned out!

    Here’s a closer look at the house from the bottom up to the top:

    Delivery driver out front with a cart full of packages
    Guitar Guy’s well-appointed bedroom
    Study with desk, chair, and pot plant in the corner
    A couple friends enjoying coffee on the deck
    Kitchen with fridge and oven
    A lonely dining room
    Chilli Girl catching up on Netflix in the TV room
    Guitar Guy hanging out in his rooftop garden

    Just a great build all around – I’m really proud of her work on this one.

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  • Unicorn Riders

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    My kids have been super busy with some impressive builds lately – I just haven’t had the time to photograph and upload them yet, so more will be coming soon!

    In the meantime, here are some neat little unicorns they designed and built recently:

    The next build is going to be much grander in scale…

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  • An Evil Ninja’s Lair

    We had some fun recently, with both kids picking a mini figure out of a hat and then building an appropriate home for it. Here is my son’s work after selecting this Ninjago figure:

    My son decided this was an evil ninja (although I think Ninjago canon says this is actually a good guy named Cole) and that he needed a lair suitable for his needs. Here is an overall look at it before we dive into some of the neat features:

    There’s a lot going on in this build, so here’s a breakdown:

    An external look at the lair itself
    A look inside
    His ship parked and ready for action
    The landing pad for his ship (“sh” is short for “ship”)
    Working on his laptop – no doubt crafting more evil plans
    Every evil villain needs a bookcase to study new villainy

    And finally, the build has some moving parts, so here are a couple of GIFs illustrating how they work.

    Firstly, the entrance booms:

    And then the feature that all evil lairs need – a roof-mounted “mega weapon”:

    This was a really fun build and using the mini figure pick as a way of generating a build idea was great. It was inspired by watching LEGO Masters, and I’m stoked with the creativity that it inspired. My daughter built something even bigger, which took her a long time to complete, so that’s coming soon!

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  • A Little Bit of Nature

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    This was a team effort from both of my kids. The rainbow tree was a fun one they did together, and the hippo was designed while it was being built. I feel that’s important to point out here, to be honest – these builds are all made up as they go along and not based on a picture, instructions, or anything else. I know I’m biased, but I’m continually impressed with my kids…

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  • An Underwater Scene

    My son designed and built this underwater scene – complete with a diver, green coral, treasure chest, baby blue whale, and Nemo-esque fish. We strangely don’t have all that many minifigures, so it’s cool to see one of them being put to use.

    As the close-up photos show, some of our LEGO pieces are really old! Most of this LEGO is from my own childhood, so it’s no surprise that there’s some dirt and cracks in them.

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