Toys r Us Toyologist Review – Lego Kings Castle

Back in November we applied to be part of the Toys r Us Toyologist programme and a few with weeks later were thrilled to discover we had been chosen. A couple of weeks later we received a Lego Kings Castle to review.

The boys have loved Lego since they were small, they have grown up with Lego Duplo and the older two have now progressed to Lego. So when they saw the Lego Kings Castle they were thrilled. Trystan wanted to make a start building the castle straight away, I had to remind him that it was for everyone to build and play with and that we had to be careful with the small pieces around Erin. So after tea that night we told the boys they could start looking through the pieces and the instructions before they started building.

I helped the boys to clear a space on the floor so that they could lay the content of the box out. I also explained that as it was getting late they wouldn’t be able to start building until the next day.

content of the box

I was pleased to see that there were individually numbered bags which contained the required pieces for each section. Additionally there was three instruction booklets. Trystan and Luc laid the bags out next to the instruction book they went with. Also included are 7 Knight figures and accessories and a couple of horses. Then we took the packets and instructions into another room where they would be safe until the next day.

The first thing the boys wanted to do when they got home the following day was to start building the castle. I explained that they had to work together and that it was safer to build the castle in grandma’s room away from Erin and my minded children. Rowan was also keen to help out so I explained the set was meant for children aged 7 to 12 years old but that if he listened to his brothers he could help put the knights together while they built the castle. Trystan and Luc were very keen to have a go at building the castle without the help of myself or dad of 3. Trystan took charge! and I reminded him that he was to work as a team with his brothers. I kept an eye on the boys but they started to work really well together working their way through the first instruction booklet. When dad of 3 returned from work he went in to see how they were getting on and was surprised to see that they had almost completed the first section.

Construction Fun

It was quite a big undertaking for the boys to build on their own so despite them wanting to complete the castle in one go we told them it would have to be done over a couple of days. Trystan did end up doing most of the building but Luc was happy to pitch in now and again while Rowan was happy playing with the horses, catapult and knights.

After three days of building off and on and with minimal assistance from myself and dad of 3, the Kings Castle was complete. There were a few moments of frustration as there were a few instances were pieces fell apart as they were been put into place. I found that you had to be quite firm when putting the castle walls in place, especially for the towers and the boys had difficulty doing this at times. We also discovered that the castle towers gained stability once the second layer was in place. There were also a few instances of little fingers being inquisitive when the boys forgot to close the door to the room and she had wondered in. Dad of 3 had to move one of the towers slightly were Trystan had miss read the instructions too and he couldn’t work out why the side wall wouldn’t fit but apart from that Trystan and Luc built the whole castle themselves.

completed Lego Kings Castle

We left the castle in Grandma’s room for the boys to play with. All of the children including Erin have played with the castle since it has been, although the younger two have been supervised due to the small parts. The Knights Castle has provided hours of fun and imaginative play and the boys are keen to get some of the other sets available in the Knights Castle range.

One of the reasons I love Lego is that is is great for the following things:

Hand eye coordination
problem solving
following instructions
Imaginative play / role play
Independent play as well as working together
developing fine motor skills

The Lego Knights Castle costs £79.99 and is available from Toys r Us I think the price is quite good for the size of the set and there it is sure to be a big hit with both young and old, I’ll admit I’ve even joined in the games when supervising the younger two. You build the Castle either as we have or you can have the castle as the front only so the set is quite adaptable to your child’s needs. I know the Knights Castle will be getting a lot of use in this house as the boys have thoroughly enjoyed playing with it so far.

Disclaimer: We were sent the Lego Knights Castle for the purpose of this review however the content of the review is 100% my own.