Lego Ninjago Review

For Mikeys birthday the other day, we brought him a couple of sets of Lego Ninjago, which was the main thing he had asked for (not sure if that was his choice or if he'd been influenced by his older brother!) lego always goes down well, the little figures seem to have a certain appeal to small hands, maybe its the fact their limbs remove, or that you can change their heads, who knows but these small little plastic figures seem to have more longevity than alot of other toys.
Although lego in itself is an age old classic, it never seems to date, and as it is so universal all sets go well together, so you really can't go wrong buying more and more of the stuff, I guess the only down side is some of the pieces are very small and easily hoovered up!

The idea behind ninjago, is that ninjas have learnt the new art of spinjitzu, where they can spin so fast they make tornadoes defeating their enemy made up of remarkably cute looking skeletons.

The starter set retails at £12.99 from all good toy shops, toys R us etc
this is a great set and not too highly prized, you get two figures one all important ninja and one skeleton, you get several weapons, some cards to add extra elements to the game, 2 spinners and a simple arena.

Ninja Ambush set retails around £6.49 and you again get 2 figures, ideal set to purchase with the starter kit as the figures are different in each, you also get some weapons and you get a nice little set which when built has a push up button which opens the gates and fires the ninja forward. Be aware tho that no spinners are included in this set, the spinners being a highly important part of the whole 'ninjago' range.

These sets have been greatly received by my two boys, and have brought new adventures to their existing lego, we now have ninja hide outs and skeleton caves made up of our old lego pieces.

Overall lego will always get a high mark I think, but these sets do have that little extra 'fun' about them with the spinners and the cute characters, also the sets seem reasonable priced and have really brought out the imaginations of my boys.

Lets Play...

Over at ' TheboyandMe' they are doing a linky about play.... Play, well its something all children excel at right? well mine do love to play, most often their play is more exploration together, outside climbing trees, hiding in long grass, catching butterflies and looking for four leaved clovers or frogs and bugs! But for a while each day they 'play' in the common sence of the word, with toys, together, without my guiding role and I love listening to them playing, one of my all time favourite things is when I wake up in the morning and hear them chattering away completely involved in their games, they seem to play so much nicer in the early hours of the mornings, it is at these times when I think it is so nice to have three fairly close in age, after school the older two are often too ratty and tired to play so nicely, but those hours in the morning they will happily create worlds where they are completely emersered in wonderful childhood!
Jake and Chloe being only 18 months apart have always been fairly close and always shared these early morning play sessions, even tho Chloe has her own room, they wake and end up in the boys room, which is where all their toys seem to find themselves, Chloe who is not a huge 'player' is far more arty, and at all other times seems to turn away from any conventional 'toys' she has never been into dolls, or figures in any way, no barbies give her much pleasure, however anything arty and crafty she loves, although I seem to have spent a lot of time trying to find something to spark her imagination in the same way as the boys get from their figures, castles, cars and trains, it is only in these morning hours she will entertain the boys games.
The boys however do play together pretty much the majority of the time, they set up good guy and bad guy bases, that span across the entire floor, they rope in all sorts of things to join their gangs, from teddies to bricks and books the scenarios they come up with vary from the conventional fights between goodies and baddies, to things more interesting like family scenarios they call 'playing life' which I think comes from Chloe who as I say seems to not be quite as imaginative as the boys so her play always seems to drift to reality situations.
these morning playing sessions are top on my 'favourite sounds' list and its truly refreshing to lay awake in bed listening to all three of them playing.. however these blissful situation shatters the second I wake, they seem to be powered by my awakeness to turn into unreasonable monsters, maybe they subconsciously know when I'm in bed they have to sort things between themselves, but as soon as they hear me up the 'muuummmmmmmmmm' calls seem to echo through the house I have checked the theory that it is due to me being awake that triggers these out bursts and it truly seems that way, I can sit awake in bed, silently for an hour or two with not a whimper of 'mummmmmmmmmm' or 'hes moved MY toy' or such wonderful phrases, but the second they hear so much as a scuffle in the room they are drawn in to see if I am actually 'awake' and as soon as I venture down the stairs you can guarantee no matter how much I praised them for 'playing nice' and asked them to continue whilst I sort breakfast, they will, give it 5 or 10 minutes, be trailing down the stairs one after the other with what has caused them great concern and then that will single the end of the blissful sibling togetherness, and then through the remaining of the day Chloe will not entertain her brothers, and its hit or miss if Jake and Mikey will spend time together, some days the boys never faulter and their games will expand and go on all day long, others they can not get the togetherness right and they have to play separately, so I guess that's why the mornings seem so special as its in these mornings I let my self believe that all three do actually get along and are rather fond of each other as at other times I do have to wonder!

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