The gift giver’s guide to LEGO® City

LEGO® City holds a special place in our hearts. It’s entirely homegrown, meaning we’re the only ones who decide what sets we make, which characters we include, and all the features we cram into each build.

And just like any good City, it has grown. And grown. And grown. Across oceans, frontiers… even into a YouTube series! But given the sprawling nature of this bustling bricktropolis, we reckoned the time was right to draw you a map with some of the key landmarks of our LEGO City range, to make the most out of your kid’s time in town.

Buildings

Yep, a pretty important part of any City…

But what makes the buildings in LEGO City unique, as opposed to other LEGO sets? It all stems from their design.

In our more adult-skewed themes like LEGO Architecture or the LEGO Modular Building series, we make sets that replicate buildings as accurately as possible.

But while they make for incredible displays, they aren’t designed with play opportunities as their primary focus. That’s why the best LEGO City building sets not only look like they could be in a City, but are easily accessed for play by small hands.

If you look at our Downtown set, for example, you’ll see a lot of the exciting details are positioned out in the open: in parks, on balconies or in rooftop bars. Like most LEGO City buildings, the backs are open so that kids can orchestrate the play scenarios taking place indoors.

To help inspire kids’ budding, city-planning imagination, we often utilize modules, so kids can arrange their buildings any way they like, not just as they appear on the box.

LEGO City also features nifty Road Plates which make it easy to combine sets, to help kids create that sprawling City effect with every set they add.

Vehicles

But then again, what’s the point in having a sprawling City if you can’t explore it in style?

Vehicles and LEGO City go together like PB & J, cookies and cream or eating a whole tub of ice-cream and regret…

Although most kids create their own stories when they get their hands on their best LEGO City vehicles, we do enjoy giving them a jumpstart to their play. Such as by building an entire garage to go with some racers, or customizing their very own e-sports arena inside one of our trucks.

Whether inside monster trucks, limousines or slushy vans, it was the fun to be had while driving around their Cities that never fails to inspire kids.

Space

It’s nice to get out of the City for a while…

Given that LEGO City is all about celebrating curiosity, creativity and a desire for adventure, we kind of HAD to go to space.
Our sets have been more realistic than you might think. From 2010, LEGO City had a working relationship with none other than NASA, releasing NASA-inspired sets replicating real missions and experiments.

But as we continue to explore the great unknown in 2024, the stories are going to get bigger and better. Expect to meet a lot of unusual, extra-terrestrial characters and obstacles as our LEGO City space adventures breach frontiers never yet explored.

When it comes to space and LEGO City, we want kids to be able to do anything, meet anything and be anyone they’d like to be. And that’s what our sets are going to help them do!

Fire and Police

The classics never die.

We’ve been making Fire and Police sets for decades. Literally, decades. But as our City has grown, so have our firefighting and policing capabilities.

Of course, we still make the old favorites like police stations and fire engines. But to make the best LEGO City Fire and Police sets possible, we just had to make a whole host of nifty gadgets and unexpected surprises that give kids exciting ways to add siren-filled narratives to their adventures.

Because it’s been scientifically proven that homemade nee-naws improve kids’ playtime by a billion percent. Now excuse us while we look up the word ‘scientifically’…

Life & Work

Part of the appeal of LEGO City for kids is the realistic aspect of the play.

There’s a time for ninja battles and interstellar travel.

But a growing imagination doesn’t just mean sci-fi. It can be rooted in the routines and relationships of everyday life.

And so, our Life & Work sub-theme was born, swapping out the rockets for recycling trucks (though there’s nothing stopping your kid from adding their own rockets onto it…)

Because even though we love to star everyday folks, it just wouldn’t be LEGO City without that playful, intriguing, unusual play aspect. So yes, we stick the occasional alien in a spaceship or hatch sea-turtles on our beaches.

Away from the sets

Okay, so hopefully by now you’ve gotten a small sense of quite how many sets can fit into that teeny-tiny little LEGO City heading.

But wait, there’s more!

We recently released the new LEGO City – No Limits YouTube series which promises a world of endless fun, awesome gadgets and non-stop action in bite-sized chunks. You can catch the series on YouTube right now!

LEGO City has even had its own video game, LEGO City: Undercover (did someone say cult classic?), where you play the role of Chase McCain, solving his way around the City.

All the above and more is to say that, whatever most interests your little one, your best bet at finding something they’re passionate about is right here, in LEGO City. Happy building!