‘This set is bonkers!’ – kids review LEGO Bluey sets

The LEGO Group sent us the new range of LEGO Bluey sets to review, so who better to test them out than their target audience?

For decades, the LEGO Group has been driven by the slogan ‘only the best is good enough for kids’, a constant reminder that the company shouldn’t skimp or cut corners because children deserve the best.

The new Bluey range of sets is an excellent opportunity to evaluate how the designers at the LEGO Group are doing on that front. There are three 4+ Bluey LEGO sets, plus two DUPLO Bluey sets, which between them feature the Heeler family and various references to their playtime adventures. An adult LEGO fan might be inclined to dismiss these sets, or get hung up on boring grown-up concerns like the price per piece or how long the build takes.

Far better than letting a boring old person take the lead on reviewing these sets, then, was to hand them to some children and see what they made of them. Thus, these sets have been reviewed by a four-year-old, a 10-year-old, and a 30-something-year-old, all working together on the building process.

“This set is lovely!”

The smallest of the Bluey sets was tackled – at least at first – by the youngest of our reviewers. At four and a half years old, he is the exact target age for these 4+ sets, but this is a far cry from his normal LEGO-building experience. His preferred theme is Star Wars, particularly anything with a Clone Trooper, and he still gets quite a lot out of his DUPLO, which he uses regularly for making blasters.

Despite not being hugely familiar with the process of building LEGO from instructions, he was able to parse every step with surprising ease – thanks in large part to how simply everything is laid out in these 4+ books. He did need some help with pressing some bricks into place, but fine motor skills will be different for any kid at this age.

It’s safe to say that he had an absolute blast with this set. He had the most fun building the characters – Bluey and Chloe in minifigure form, and a brick-built pelican that makes up part of the playground equipment.

He also had a great time with the tiny cupcakes and picnic table that accompany the main build. As could probably be expected, he was delighted to see the element used as a lavender-coloured swirl of icing atop the cupcakes. Apparently, having ‘purple poo’ LEGO pieces is a particular treat.

The actual building of the set itself did lose its novelty fairly quickly. At one point he uttered the unfortunate complaint, ‘LEGO building is boring!’, at which point he was relieved of active building duty so that he could go back to just playing with the characters. In contrast, there are few things in life quite as heartwarming as his laughter when he started playing with the set – pushing the Bluey minifigure down the slide over and over was endlessly entertaining for him.

As far as meeting the needs of a four-year-old, this set absolutely delivers. The basic, big, chunky build works well, and while some details seem a little vague (there was some discussion about whether or not two grey minifigure heads included in the box are intended to be a reference to pet rocks) the set is the perfect jumping-off point for imaginative play.

“This set is bonkers!”

The second-largest of the 4+ Bluey sets was tackled primarily by the 10-year-old reviewer, who managed things mostly unaided but did need help putting the lid on to the set’s treasure chest (here being used as a food cooler).

She found the build relatively straightforward and scoffed a little at just how simplistic the instructions are, but did find it particularly fiddly to place the seats into the Heeler family car. Under normal circumstances, her favourite theme is Botanicals, so she’s used to building sets aimed at a much older demographic, and as such it might just be worth bearing in mind that even slightly older children could do with a little bit of supervision when building this set.

The 10-year-old reviewer also had a great time putting together the minifigures, but for very different reasons than her younger colleague. She insists that this interpretation of Bluey’s family is creepy, and she dialled this up a bit by putting Bingo’s head on backwards and whispering ominously, “This is forever gonna be in your nightmares!”

Perhaps the best part of the build for her was the ‘aha!’ moment when she realised she’d been building Bluey a mermaid’s tail made of sand. It’s clear that a lot of effort has been put into filling these sets with references to the show, and none of these went over the 10-year-old reviewer’s head.

The only real point of controversy with this set was that her younger coworker was desperate to get hold of a pair of sunglasses that came in the set so that he could put them on his Bluey minifigure. The debate surrounding who gets the spare elements from this set is ongoing.

Finally, the largest of these sets was reviewed by the largest of our reviewers for the theme, a LEGO fan who’s been building since long before the other two reviewers were alive. He had his doubts going into the Bluey theme – an initial disappointment that these sets are so simplistic and not quite as detailed or display-worthy as he would have liked, and a concern that the minifigures just don’t look quite right.

All of this melted away quickly, though, when he sat down to build alongside his colleagues. As it turns out, childlike joy and wonder are contagious. The whole experience was thoroughly enjoyable, but only when he turned off his adult LEGO fan brain and just accepted the sets for what they were.

That nitpicking adult brain, though, is hard to silence permanently. 11203 Bluey’s Family House certainly doesn’t look as accurate to the source material as it could. The building’s proportions are all wrong – a flaw that even the DUPLO Bluey house managed to overcome.

Another large licensed 4+ set, 10788 Gabby’s Dollhouse, does a far better job of accurately depicting its source material. It also feels far more complete and sturdy than the Bluey house.

That said, the lack of fidelity is really only seen in the shape of this house. Everything else, once built, is surprisingly detail-rich for a set with a 4+ target audience. There are plenty of little references, and a lot of different rooms from the Heeler house have been recreated flawlessly, providing a lot of different play options.

It’s also worth pointing out that both the 10-year-old and the adult reviewers were tremendously relieved that, as 4+ sets, none of these builds involved any stickers. The printing is immaculate and the graphic design is perfect, with more than a few Easter eggs thrown in for good measure.

10459 Bluey’s Family House with Memory Game and 10458 Ice Cream Trip with Bluey

While there’s a temptation sometimes to rush young children into LEGO, especially when there’s a 4+ option available, the DUPLO Bluey sets are also well worth considering. These two sets do several things better than the LEGO sets. The chunky DUPLO figures feel a little more accurate to the source material than their LEGO counterparts, the Bluey house feels substantial, and there’s some delightful printing on a few DUPLO bricks that suggest plenty of ideas for play.

The larger of the two sets also comes with a wheel that can be spun to suggest different play activities. How much this will actually be used is debatable, but it’s a thoughtful inclusion.

Conclusion: BYOF (Bring Your Own Fun)

Perhaps the smartest thing that the Bluey LEGO sets have managed to adapt from the source material is a sense that these toys are better when viewed through the eyes of a child.

There are plenty of Bluey episodes that involve adults learning lessons from their children – Mum or Dad may be unable to relax or let go of a disappointment until their children show them how to have fun. The show often emphasises how getting down to a child’s level, engaging with them, and seeing the world from their point of view, can have a profound impact on an adult who may have lost a little of that naïve excitement and enthusiasm.

Similarly, a jaded adult LEGO fan who comes to the Bluey LEGO sets looking for the same kind of experience they get from other themes may well be disappointed. While the LEGO Group has been catering to the adult market more and more in recent years, these sets are intended as children’s toys and little more.

For kids, the fun of these Bluey sets is obviously apparent. For anyone mature enough to be looking up reviews for toys online, take this word of advice: the best way to experience LEGO Bluey is to build it with a child. Considering that the whole point of the Bluey cartoon is to encourage parents to play with their kids in new and different ways, this feels incredibly fitting.

These sets were provided for review by the LEGO Group.

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