LEGO is a brand, but it’s not the actual toy. The cost of these building blocks is the reason why we buy LEGO alternatives. The main difference between Lego and other building blocks—and what makes them so popular—is their interlocking nature: each of their elements has “arms” that hold onto the next one and they come in various colors and designs.
Namely, LEGO has a lot to offer kids. But if you’re looking for alternatives, you have to consider all the aspects that make LEGO so great: interlocking plastic pieces; colorful plastic pieces; our signature red-and-white colors; light-up parts that are actually very well made (they don’t just look like plastic) and many more. We use them all the time when we build with Legos but also when we design our products or content for them.
The cost of LEGO
Gigi Bloks is a Swedish brand that makes educational toys. The company has branched out into building blocks, offering alternative products to the LEGO building block set. While the LEGO set is largely available in Europe, they are also available in North America.
Gigi Bloks started as a French startup and was acquired by the Swedish company Lindskab AB in 2014. They have since gone on to produce several other products:
• Gigi Blocks
• Gigi Building Blocks
• Gigi City Play
• Gigi World Play (the latter being a larger size of Gigi Blocks)
• Kids Builders Toys (which is a line of toys aimed at kids 6-12 years old.)
The alternative building blocks
Our family has been building with LEGO since I was three years old. I remember my mother and father buying LEGO sets as gifts, and my brothers and I eagerly tore apart their construction kits, carving out holes in the walls and pouring molten lava into the floor.
My parents often told us stories about LEGO sets being a very creative thing for children to do; about how it made you think about things like architecture and engineering, and how you could use your imagination to create things out of LEGOs.
Building with LEGO is a great way for kids to learn by doing. It’s fun, it’s challenging, it makes you think, it’s educational; it teaches young minds how to solve problems (and people who may be too old for this kind of learning actually prefer that).
But what if there were other options? What if building with LEGOs wasn’t the only experience kids had with building? What if there were other ways of constructing things in Lego form?
The answer: we created our own alternatives. And they are called… LEGOLAND! LEGOLAND is an experience that brings together all kinds of interesting building blocks: FAO Schwarz (for kids), Legoland Discovery Center (for adults), Legoland Express (for adults), The Lego Group (for adults and families)… these are just some of the brands that we work with in offering a variety of experiences for young people who want alternatives to building using LEGO bricks. Through these products — which combine real-world concepts with virtual experiences — young people can also learn more about engineering, sportsmanship, science, math, and more!
In addition to providing alternative brick-based experiences for kids who don’t know what else is out there besides LEGO, we also provide them with opportunities for creativity: ThinkQuest competitions for high school students; science fairs; school visits at our theme parks, or our partner theme parks; Lego Clubs where students can build a model city or space center in their home… All these are opportunities to explore new ideas creatively while developing critical thinking skills.
In short: EVERY kid needs alternatives! There are no easy answers — some kids will always want to play with something else than LEGO — but at least now they have options that allow them to do so without damaging their already limited budget or resources.
Conclusion
The LEGO Group is the world’s largest manufacturer of building blocks. But do you know why? Because they were founded in 1932! In response to a request from an American inventor, Ole Kirk Christiansen started manufacturing small, plastic building blocks that could be assembled into larger structures. In 1948, the company was renamed LEGO, and by 1950 it had become the most successful toy brand in history. Today, LEGOs are sold in more than thirty languages and are also used for arts and crafts (making them a perfect fit for children who love to build).
These days, we all know that LEGO can be an expensive item to buy because it has a long production lifecycle: from raw materials to finished product (though to date, the largest-selling size is still 2×4). But what if there were a perfectly affordable alternative for kids? What if there was a cheaper option that was just as fun? The ‘Frequently Asked Questions section of LEGO’s website gives insight into some of the costs associated with making these products (such as shipping and getting them manufactured):
It may seem like this costs a lot but we decided instead of trying to solve a problem that most people haven’t even thought about (the production cost) we make our product so cheap because we want people to enjoy it. People who want awesome prices on great products like ours feel bad paying too much for them!
In other words: it’s not about economies of scale; it’s about how much fun you can have with your purchase. And that is especially true when they’re relatively inexpensive — which is why we are able to offer such good value on our products at such low prices!
If you’d like more information on any particular topic covered here please feel free to get in touch with us.
