From all the LEGO books, some of the best ones are those that provide building inspirations and seed ideas for your own LEGO projects. These books are like trusty shop manuals that are flipped through over and over again to find solutions, learn new techniques, and even provide step-by-step instructions. They are used by both young and old LEGO fans to start or expand on projects. DK Publishing has a whole series of such books, usually referred to as the LEGO ideas book series. So far, there have been three books in the collection, with a fourth one recently added. We already reviewed the first three books previously (see links at the end of this post), so I will only mention them briefly, and today we will focus on the fourth book. 🙂
Here is a little summary of the first three books of the series. The original THE LEGO IDEAS BOOK – UNLOCK YOUR IMAGINATION was released by DK Publishing in 2011, followed by the LEGO PLAY BOOK – IDEAS TO BRING YOUR BRICKS TO LIFE in 2013, and the LEGO AWESOME IDEAS – WHAT WILL YOU BUILD? book in 2015. They are all full of inspiring models to help you discover ideas and techniques for your own creations. The pictures are big and beautiful, and the more complex models are broken down into smaller chunks to easily see and replicate the details. The creations include buildings, vehicles, spaceships, ships, creatures, craft projects, micro-models, mosaics, home decor and holiday decor, games, puzzles, gift ideas, and a lot more. All three books are still available at various bookstores and on Amazon (just follow the links).
I should also mention that there is another book by DK Publishing that is similar to the LEGO ideas book series, but with more focus on games and other creative activities instead of building inspirations and seed ideas. This book is titled 365 THINGS TO DO WITH LEGO BRICKS and was released in 2016. We have reviewed this book previously as well (see links at the end of this post).
The latest in the LEGO ideas books collection is the LEGO STAR WARS IDEAS BOOK. This is the first time a book in this series has a specific theme, which means that all of the included models, building ideas, and games are related to Star Wars in some way or another.
The book includes more than 200 games, activities, and building ideas, from projects that take just a few minutes to make, to builds that will keep young and old Star Wars fans occupied for hours.
The book begins with a double-page spread asking different questions to help LEGO fans decide what they might like to build. Questions such as “How many bricks do you have?”, “How much time do you have?”, and “What are you in the mood for?”
The book is broken down into four color-coded main sections; Recreate, Expand, Challenge, and Use It! The Recreate section features favorite characters, scenes, vehicles, and prop from the movies that Star Wars fans can build. The projects are not too big or complex, so someone even with a medium-sized LEGO collection should be able to build them. The Expand section features projects that are not directly from Star Wars, but they are in the spirit of the movies; fun robots, alien creatures, alphabet starfighters, creative rebuilds of official Star Wars sets, and more. The Challenge section features various brick-built strategy and memory games, and activities to play alone or together with friends and family. And the Use It! section features Star Wars-themed useful objects like piggy banks, pencil holders, organizers, display-stands, key ring holders, gift items, and more.
Each of the projects includes big and clear pictures, so they can be easily replicated. For larger models, there are breakdowns of the more complex sections, tips on how to simplify or adapt ideas if you don’t have the exact pieces, and explanation of the techniques used. And there is also plenty of LEGO humor. There is so much to do, play with, learn, and read, this book can keep both young and old LEGO fans busy for a long time.
The huge variety of inspirational models and games featured in the book are built by well-known LEGO fans, Alice Finch, Rod Gillies, Tim Goddard, Kevin Hall, Rhys Knight, and Barney Main. While they are all suitable for children ages 7+, many of them can be very interesting to teen and adult LEGO fans as well. And the projects found in the games and activities section can be fun for the whole family.
I’m a big fan of the LEGO ideas book series, and would highly recommend any of them. The first three books are not tied to any particular theme or franchise, so I would say they are more appealing to a wider audience. However, if you are a die-hard Star Wars fan, THE LEGO STAR WARS IDEAS BOOK may be a better choice. The book offers a great variety of creative projects all related to the Star Wars universe. But you really can’t go wrong with any of these books. They are great for both personal use and as a gift for other LEGO fans. You can find them all on Amazon with excellent discounted prices:
- THE LEGO IDEAS BOOK ON AMAZON
- LEGO PLAY BOOK ON AMAZON
- LEGO AWESOME IDEAS ON AMAZON
- 365 THINGS TO DO WITH LEGO BRICKS ON AMAZON
- LEGO STAR WARS BOOK ON AMAZON
What do you think? Do you have any of the books from the LEGO ideas series? Have you built any of the projects from the books? Or, did any of the models inspire you in your own projects? Feel free to share your thoughts and own reviews in the comment section below! 😉
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We love the Ideas books! It may sound limiting that this is only about Star Wars, but if a kid mostly has Star Wars sets and pieces, this book is better than the other Ideas books. I would like to see a Friends Ideas book, Ninjago, etc.
That’ actually a good point I haven’t thought about. A lot of kids only collect sets from one or two themes. Having Ideas books for some of the major themes would make the suggested models a lot more practical.
I was just about to say that I don’t like the book is limited just to Star Wars, but I can see Hayato’s point too. Good call!
There are already the books “Lego Friends: Build your own adventure” and “Lego Ninjago: Build your own adventure” out there, although they might be a bit simpler.
Otherwise, I think I should have picked up most of the major characters now (except Leia), rummaging through minifig bins at charity shops. so I might give a Star Wars build a shot someday. (Although I prefer the 80’s-90’s Space themes and Superheroes, I’m not a serious Star Warrior or Warhead, or whatever these geeks call themselves…)
The Build Your Own Adventure books are very good, but they don’t have nearly as many projects then the Ideas books. I would recommend both series. It just depend on your preferences.
Some of the alternate builds look super creative!! And I also like that they have games!! I will have to check this out as I’m a Star Wars fan!!!
I’m baaaack! Lol. I may have one of the ideas books but, I’m not sure. There’s another book called ” the big Lego book” I think . It’s red and white , it talks about the history of Lego. Again , I’m not sure exactly?I’ve been trying to find it.
It might be “The Lego Book”, although there’s a bunch of books listed on Brickset.
https://brickset.com/sets/ISBN1465467149-1/The-LEGO-Book-New-Edition
https://brickset.com/sets/theme-Books/page-1
Nice to have you back! Hope you had a good time. The LEGO history books are always interesting as well. Hope you find yours! 🙂
I like this idea of rebuilds for different sets. Lego, or DK, or whomever, should release more books like this. It’s discouraging when you find an awesome moc, but you don’t have the bricks to build it. Lego could even do this on their website. I know they already do it with Technic and some creator sets, but we could use more.