is 12 too old to play with legos?

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Sonikku
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20 Sep 2017, 4:11 pm

I am 42 and I have a huge set I build with my son.
I also do domino races and marble runs. The former is a really expensive sport so I would need a sponsor to compete at any level.


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lostonearth35
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23 Sep 2017, 1:53 pm

This is the problem with almost being in your teens. The second your age hits a number everyone suddenly thinks you're automatically too old to be doing things you still like doing and you have to act older instead of being yourself. But you're too young to do things older teens and adults get to do. Add puberty and all the painful and scary changes happening to your body and your life turns into one big horror movie, especially if you're a girl.

That's how it was like for me when I turned 13. My mother didn't want me playing with dolls and stuffed animals anymore but trying to socialize in school with other students was so painful role-playing with my toys helped me cope. At least my mom is sorry for trying to force me to stop doing something because what society thinks is soo much more important than what personally makes me comfortable, relaxed, and happier.



rowan_nichol
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24 Sep 2017, 2:03 pm

Never too old to play with Lego.



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24 Sep 2017, 2:38 pm

lostonearth35 wrote:
This is the problem with almost being in your teens. The second your age hits a number everyone suddenly thinks you're automatically too old to be doing things you still like doing and you have to act older instead of being yourself. But you're too young to do things older teens and adults get to do. Add puberty and all the painful and scary changes happening to your body and your life turns into one big horror movie, especially if you're a girl.

That's how it was like for me when I turned 13. My mother didn't want me playing with dolls and stuffed animals anymore but trying to socialize in school with other students was so painful role-playing with my toys helped me cope. At least my mom is sorry for trying to force me to stop doing something because what society thinks is soo much more important than what personally makes me comfortable, relaxed, and happier.


This. The last couple of years were very lonely; I mostly played with a cousin almost 10 years younger than me. But I'm glad my folks had intelligence enough to let me decide what I wanted to do with my free time, even if that meant I was 14 years old and still playing with dolls.

Adolescence is the worst time of an autistic kid's life. If Legos bring him comfort and pleasure and the possibility of connecting with other people (even if they are older or younger), I say, give the kid the Legos!! At least it's a "toy" that has the potential to develop talents that could be turned into a job (engineering, construction, architecture).

Too bad they're so cotton-picking expensive, though.


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24 Sep 2017, 5:30 pm

I'm 40 and I love to play with legos. I might play with legos in proximity of my son under the guise that I'm playing with my son, but truth me told that's just an excuse. I don't know that you're ever too old to play with legos.



SharkSandwich211
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25 Sep 2017, 11:58 am

For ages 4-99 says it right on the box! Just don't let social norms put you in one!! ! ( a box, that is)



MagicKnight
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25 Sep 2017, 2:11 pm

Caz72 wrote:
is it still ok to play with legos at 12?


Depends on whom you ask. If one asked me personally: is that ok? Yes, I think it's ok. The reasons follow.

I never had Legos per se but I could be seen playing around with small figurines, building blocks and all that until fifteen, maybe sixteen. I was used to that in secrecy because other people around my age had long lost interest in that and due to bullying in school, I felt I'd rather not let anyone know.

Now... back in those days, I had a plethora of pastimes beyond plastic tidbits. I was interested on things that no one else in my age would understand. I knew I was different and I knew that as much as I was able to understand where others were coming from, they would never do the same for me.

Then one day I accidentally caught my friend's sister playing with her dolls. We were about the same age, 14-15yo. As soon as she noticed I was there, she pretended to be just arranging the dolls. Seeing how she felt embarrassed, I pretended not to have seen anything and walked away. I thought to myself that I should tell her not to worry, "I do that myself" and so on... but I gave up on the idea. "Better let it be, it can be awkward".

Taking these things into account, maybe - just maybe - teens playing with Legos, dolls, whatever are more common than they would like to admit. Probably not an Asperger thing.

Besides, there's this thing called Minecraft which so many young adults enjoy and in many ways it's sort of a digital Lego world.



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25 Sep 2017, 10:50 pm

I'm not on the spectrum, and I think I played with Barbies until I was 12. I played with LEGO's until I was a freshman in high school, I hid it from my friends of course :P

I think now a days, kids are getting older, faster. Like, now, 12 might seem too old to play with Barbies. 12 year olds now want iPhones.
I say, if it's a productive activity, let him do it. It's creative, it's calming, it's (almost) a quiet activity.



kraftiekortie
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26 Sep 2017, 6:16 am

Even today, kids still play with toys until adolescence and beyond. After the age of 12, though, they hide that fact from their friends.



b9
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26 Sep 2017, 6:20 am

Quote:
is 12 too old to play with legos?


it depends on the designs that they have in mind.
if they are elaborate and adventurous, then it is surely a good thing.

if they persist with simple stacking of blocks in an unsophisticated way, then it may be better to steer them away from it.



loobyloukitty
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04 Nov 2017, 3:43 pm

No way. Never too old to play with that sort of thing. It mentally stimulates and teaches a variety of vital skills. Creativity etc. Its defiantly important as a child and can reduce anxiety resulting in meltdowns. I used to love K-nex. Still have a couple of small kits that I play with.



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04 Nov 2017, 3:55 pm

I know adults who consider the newer Lego models to be about the best thing anyone can give them.

Other than a great shotgun, rifle, or handgun, of course.



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04 Nov 2017, 11:27 pm

eric76 wrote:
I know adults who consider the newer Lego models to be about the best thing anyone can give them.

i never really liked lego. all you could make were structures.
if you wanted to construct working machines, you had to buy prefabricated parts.
now you can buy a completed product made from lego (supposedly) and it takes away from the challenge of design and implementation.

what i really liked as a child was "meccano sets"
at that time, they were made of metal and had a tray of little nuts and bolts and girders with drilled holes as close as they could attain without compromising the structural integrity.
they also had metal plates of various sizes which were also predrilled with holes etc. the only prefab stuff were electric motors etc.
i wanted recently to build a coin sorting and counting machine which i conceived of, so i bought a meccano set and it is useless. it's all "child friendly" made of plastic and it was useless for my purposes.
meccano i note has also gone the way of "prefabricated toys" like meccano monster trucks and rubbish.

whatever.




eric76 wrote:
Other than a great shotgun, rifle, or handgun, of course.


what ever blows your hair back i guess.



eric76
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04 Nov 2017, 11:50 pm

We had "erector sets". I assume they were pretty much the same as meccano sets.



b9
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05 Nov 2017, 12:08 am

eric76 wrote:
We had "erector sets". I assume they were pretty much the same as meccano sets.

well you have to google "meccano sets 1970's" to see if they are the same.

i am too busy in a way to google "erector sets"

actually i will......

yes they seem the same.



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07 Nov 2017, 9:38 am

When I was 12 I was a member of the Lego fan club, I had Lego fan club patches on my jeans. I got bullied for it but it didn't stop me from liking Lego.


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