Sarah Dees - The Big Book of Amazing LEGO Creations with Bricks You Already Have: 75+ Brand-New Vehicles, Robots, Dragons, Castles, Games and Other Projects for Endless Creative Play

author of the bestselling LEGO Creations book series
and creator of Frugal Fun for Boys and Girls

The author and publisher have provided this e-book to you for your personal use only. You may not make this e-book publicly available in any way. Copyright infringement is against the law. If you believe the copy of this e-book you are reading infringes on the authors copyright, please notify the publisher at: http://us.macmillanusa.com/piracy.

TO JORDAN AND OUR LEGO-LOVING KIDS

AIDAN, GRESHAM, OWEN, JONATHAN AND JANIE. ITS AMAZING TO INVENT NEW LEGO PROJECTS WITH YOU ALL!

CHECK OUT THE OTHER BOOKS IN THE SERIES

Welcome, LEGO fans! If you love to build, construct, design, create and imagine, this book is for you. These next couple of pages will help you get the most out of this big book of amazing building ideas.

FIRST, ACTIVATE YOUR IMAGINATION!

Get ready to build awesome vehicles, city scenes, robots, fairytale creatures and even works of art made out of bricks. This book is all about IMAGINATION! The goal is not for you to build everything exactly like the pictures. Instead, the idea is to inspire you to take your big tub of random bricks and taken-apart sets and build new and amazing things with them.

The projects in this book will teach you some new building techniques and give you fresh ideas to inspire you to create some really cool things with your bricks. Think of the ideas here as a launching point for you to imagine and build creations of your own.

THE INSTRUCTIONS WILL HELP YOU BUILD.

Many of the projects in this book have step-by-step instructions. These instructions are not exactly the same as the LEGO manuals that come with a set. You can use the pictures to see which bricks to add next and where to put them. The captions with the pictures will also tell you which bricks to put where, and theyll help you figure out the names of the bricks being used in each step, in case you want to order individual bricks to supplement what you have.

If you dont have the exact pieces shown, thats totally okay. You can substitute different colors or even different types of bricks. In fact, you may discover a modification for a project that actually makes it better! And if you really DO want your project to look just like the one in the book, Ill explain how to order individual bricks in just a moment.

TRY ORGANIZING YOUR BRICKS.

Some kids like to organize their bricks and some dont. Its totally up to you! But it can definitely be faster and easier to build when your bricks are sorted.

If youve never organized your bricks before, just start making piles. Put all the wheels together, all the minifigure parts together, all the basic bricks together and so on. You might want to separate out plates with handles and clips that form joints and bricks that have modifications added to them like wheel holders, bars or clips. Another helpful idea is just to sort out tiny pieces from larger bricks. You can sort by color or you can sort by shape. The important thing is to develop a system that helps you know where to find the piece youre looking for.

THERE ARE TWO TYPES OF PROJECTS IN THIS BOOK.

This book contains both step-by-step projects and creative challenges. The projects that have full step-by-step instructions have a parts list included that lists every brick youll need to complete the project as shown.

The creative challenges have a key elements list that names the most important pieces. The creative challenges are meant to be just thatcreative! Use our ideas as a launching point, but build them the way you want. For example, when building the Cozy Bedroom project , you can customize it to look like your own bedroom, or you can design your dream room. Its up to you!

You can use both the parts lists and the key elements lists to organize your bricks before building or to figure out which bricks you need if there is something that you dont have on hand. Please note that a few of the simple creative challenges are exceptions-they have full parts lists, but they dont have full instructions.

ORDER INDIVIDUAL ELEMENTS ONLINE IF YOU WANT TO SUPPLEMENT THE BRICKS YOU HAVE.

If there is a project that you want to build just like the picture but you dont have all the pieces, its easy to order the bricks you want. One option is to order through the Pick-A-Brick or Bricks & Pieces sections of Lego.com. You can select the bricks you want by using the brick name or the ID number. Each LEGO brick has a very tiny ID number, usually located on the bottom of the brick. These numbers can be hard to see, but once you find the number, you can enter it on Lego.com and find the exact element you need. Note that the ID number is specific to the brick shape only, not the color.

Another great option for ordering individual LEGO bricks is to visit BrickLink.com. Brick Link is a site that hosts many different sellers of LEGO bricks. You can buy individual bricks, both new and used, as well as minifigures and new or retired sets. The prices on Brick Link are related to supply and demand, so youll pay a lower price for a basic brick in a common color than you will for a rare collectible minifigure.

Keep in mind that each seller on Brick Link charges separately for shipping, so youll want to find one seller that has several different things you need. You dont want to order seven types of bricks from seven different vendors and pay a separate shipping fee each time! In addition, be aware that some Brick Link sellers have a minimum purchase amount that you must meet before ordering.

The Brick Link site has a helpful color guide, and the colors are also listed on the Pick-A-Brick section of Lego.com. One difference, however, is that Brick Links color guide includes both current and discontinued colors. The Brick Link color system is used in this book, but please note that the current light gray and dark gray bricks are actually referred to as light bluish gray and dark bluish gray on Brick Link.

Be sure to get permission from your grown-ups before making any purchases, and get their help when using websites such as Brick Link and the official LEGO site!

Did you know that LEGO bricks have names? You may not know any brick names because you dont need to know the names of the bricks to put together a LEGO set. The names arent even used in the instructions. However, if you want to order individual LEGO elements online, youll need to know either the names of the bricks or their ID numbers.