The wonderful world of LEGO is vast. There are probably more LEGO sets available to buy than hours in a year to build them.

Around 400 billion individual LEGO pieces exist in the world as of right now, and more come off the production line every day. That’s enough to give 62 bricks to each person on the planet. If you stacked them together, the pieces would form 10 towers each spanning the distance from the Earth to the Moon.

A set of 6 2×4 LEGOs can be combined in 915 million ways. There are a lot of LEGOs out there and a very large number of options for what you can build with them.

The fun goes beyond the incredible LEGO sets the company offers. Sure, they are too cool for words, and the accompanying instructions are easy to understand. Yet, they are also hard enough so that a kid using a set will feel a major sense of accomplishment upon finishing the project. But after multiple sets have been built, destroyed, and rebuilt numerous times, your house will be a mess with piles and piles of various types of LEGO bricks just begging for a new and creative construction project.

Before you get overwhelmed by the sheer volume of pieces that will become part of your life if your child turns into a LEGO-nut, you should read my article on LEGO storage ideas to help you avoid a potential spiral into insanity.

While you’re at it, maybe find some ideas on making a DIY LEGO table for all your family’s LEGO building needs.

Why are LEGOs so awesome for kids?

The LEGO brick as we know it was launched in 1958. Pick up a couple of bricks and see for yourself, and your inner child will thank you!

The benefits of LEGO building are numerous. Not only is it a wonderful bonding experience to have with your kids, but it’s also a great way to open their creative minds, aid in their physical development, and give them an air of self-confidence, among other things.

On a personal level, LEGO is hands-down my son’s favorite toy. The hours he has spent building with classic LEGO bricks far exceed those he’s put into doing any other activity (except maybe watching Dino Dan, but I digress).

This love for LEGO isn’t really a mystery. I have gifted him many LEGO sets from my own collection upon his first inkling of interest in these amazing plastic bricks. I loved playing with them as a kid, I still do as an adult, and I knew my son would, too. That’s because when you play with LEGO, the only limitation is your imagination.

That might sound like a cliché, but as we know, most clichés have an element of truth to them.

Some out-of-the-box LEGO building ideas

My son, like all kids, loves to build LEGO sets literally right “out of the box.” He’ll just get a new item, like this LEGO City Wildlife Rescue Operation set, and go to town following the LEGO classic building instructions. It’s exciting, fun, and satisfying.

However, I’m talking about a different “out of the box” approach. He and I will sometimes come up with our own simple ideas for cool LEGO builds. We’ll either construct them together as a team or challenge each other to see who can make the best, say, spaceship. We have a blast and end up with cool things to play with.

We have explored classic LEGO ideas and built things like haunted castles, space stations, and underwater coral reef ecosystems. My son even built a scene depicting him and his group of friends playing in the park. It was very creative, and the display at our house was much appreciated, not only by his buds but also by their parents.

Sometimes, our ideas come from mistakes. My son and I have recently started a LEGO project in honor of the fast-approaching Halloween season, and the idea of the build all stemmed from an accident. My son had just built his new Star Wars AT-AT.

We have 2 kittens, and like most of their kind, they enjoy chasing each other around at the house at night. Well, you may have already guessed what happened. Last week, we were suddenly woken at 3 am by a loud crash signaling the demise of said large walking robot, destroyed by the dark and rambunctious kittens of the Sith.

As my son sat among the ruins of his masterpiece, we came up with an idea: instead of rebuilding the behemoth, we were going to keep it in a half-built state and make it a Zombie AT-AT, the centerpiece of a Star Wars Zombie Apocalypse on Hoth Lego Diorama! Happy Halloween, everyone!

Our genius aside, this is just an example to show you that there’s no perfection necessary when it comes to LEGO ideas. The toy itself is its own medium. You want to build a house? Great. You can make it as perfect or as imperfect as you want. You can treat it as something in the real world or in the world of LEGO, where a pad of green means grass, and a police officer with a spear on a flying horse is a common sight.

My son and I have already made so many amazing things for our house out of LEGO, and we’re constantly adding to our list of cool LEGO ideas to build.

Our mantra is:

Why buy things when you can just make them by using the LEGO bricks you already own?

Household items we’ve made from LEGOs and a few others on our list

• Utensil holder-My son and I built this one according to our own specs as a gift for my wife. It holds all of our large spoons and whisks. Also, it’s very cool and a great conversation piece.

• Toothbrush holder-Make brushing your teeth fun again with this cool LEGO toothbrush holder. We did, and our breath is spectacular!

• Tissue box – Haven’t done this one yet, but with flu season coming up…

• Desk organizer-Keep them interested in school by building their own desk organizer. Then glue it together so it’s impossible for them to play with the LEGO bricks during class

• Fruit bowl-Why use a regular bowl when you can make one out of LEGO? This is a simple idea that will be a conversation piece for sure. Just replace the LEGO fruit with actual fruit for health (and safety) purposes.

LEGO decorations for the holidays

• Gingerbread houses-This is one of my favorite LEGO house ideas. Inedible like most actual gingerbread houses and maybe sporting less of an aroma, but one of these houses built by the family will definitely impress the relatives.

• Holiday ornaments-Never break an ornament again! When you break one of these easy LEGO builds, putting it back together becomes the entertainment for the night.

• LEGO Hanukkah Menorah-8 crazy nights of LEGO building, I say!

LEGO gift ideas

• Picture frames-Your beautiful photography won’t be the coolest thing on the mantle anymore.

• Bookends-To hold your books in place.

• Garden gnome-A garden gnome is a little yard decoration that was first brought from Germany to England in 1847 by Sir Charles Isham. The LEGO version was created by hundreds of internet geniuses.

Mind you, there’s a plethora of even more creative LEGO ideas out there.

Lego building contests and challenges

Feeling confident about your LEGO creations? Why not enter a contest and win some money so you can buy even more LEGO bricks for your kids? There are so many LEGO events happening all over the world at any given moment that it would be a shame not to check some of them out when they’re in your area.

If you hate competition, that’s ok. Just go and marvel at the wonderful creations others have made, and who knows, maybe you and your family will meet some like-minded LEGO heads. Could be fun. Here is a list of some contests to enter.

Do I think everything should be made out of LEGO? Of course not. Toilets, cars, and surfboards are 3 things that definitely should be made out of…well, whatever they use to make them. I’m not insane. I’m just a grown-up who would rather most of the items in his house were made of LEGO, and I’m not ashamed to admit it. Furthermore, my son agrees with me.

Now, if you’ll excuse us, we have to build a large LEGO display of a battle station on an icy planet being destroyed by a giant walking zombie robot and a horde of zombie minifigures.