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With options for children, teens and adults, Lego has become a multi-generational favourite, but the choice is overwhelming
Nathan Spendelow
Commissioning Editor, Tech
Nathan is a commissioning editor for The Telegraph's Recommended channel, specialising in tech product reviews, buying guides and deals advice. Previously Deputy Editor at Expert Reviews, Nathan is an NCTJ-accredited consumer technology journalist with over a decade of industry experience.
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The products or services listed have been independently tested by our journalists. We earn a commission from the affiliate links in this article. Read more >
When it comes to Lego, the choice is endless. There are sets for young kids, older children, teens and adults, with themes including flowers, animals and cars, as well as builds linked to popular games or film franchises. There’s a set to suit everyone, but it can be overwhelming to sort through what’s on the shop shelves.
That’s where I come in. I’ve been reviewing Lego for almost a decade and have tested and built all the latest and best sets. Whether you’re looking to purchase a gift for a friend or family member, or just an analogue, screen-free activity to get you off your smartphone, I’m here to help.
You can find my reviews of my favourite Lego sets below, as well as answers to some frequently asked questions you might have before buying.
When I test and build the latest Lego sets for Telegraph Recommended, I consider five key metrics, as well as assess how long it takes to build each set.
To find out more about our testing process, visit our Who We Are page.
Best Lego Set for Kids
Lego’s Creator 3-in-1 series was always going to make an appearance in this guide. Great for Lego newbies, this is the best-value set of all my recommendations, letting you build three distinct parent-and child-themed displays: a panda and their cub, an orca and its calf or a penguin and chick.
The build process for all three is easy to follow and there are three separate instruction booklets in the box. One thing to note is that you can’t build all three simultaneously, as some pieces are shared across the separate builds.
The final builds are all life-like, with many ways to pose them, especially with the panda and cub. This is the best of the three builds, with the other two using fewer pieces. All three builds have some nice little extras, including bamboo, coral and an ice shelf. If you’re looking for a relatively inexpensive stocking filler (at least as far as Lego prices go) with a variety of building options, this is the set to get.
Other Creator 3-in-1 sets are also available, including a retro camera and a cute bunny.
Best Lego Set for Adults
If the person you’re buying for grew up in the late eighties or early nineties, there’s a chance they’ve already spotted this Lego set on shelves. Dressed up to look exactly like the original Nintendo Game Boy from 1989, with almost the same dimensions, the building experience of this set is unlike anything I’ve ever come across.
Almost every decoration uses a printed piece, and you build in all sorts of interesting ways. Around 80 per cent of the time, I had no idea what I was building, and then it all suddenly clicked into place. There are some interesting building techniques at play here, which I wouldn’t want to spoil.
Once built, the Lego Game Boy is a masterpiece. All of its buttons and switches can be individually pressed and flipped, making for a convincing approximation of what it’s like to play with the real thing. You can even swap out the game cartridge on the back and the lenticular screen.
The only downside is the price, since it costs almost as much as buying the real thing secondhand on eBay. However, as a display piece, the Lego Game Boy is mighty impressive, and it’s easily my favourite set I’ve built for several years.
Best Lego Set for Toddlers
Duplo is Lego’s toddler-friendly range, featuring chunky blocks, big figures and simple building instructions. They’re intended as a child’s introduction to building, promoting interactive thinking with some extra educational purposes, such as colour matching and numeracy.
The Lego Duplo line now includes the popular Australian children’s TV show, Bluey. There are loads of Bluey sets to choose from, but the Ice Cream Trip is the best choice for the youngest of builders.
With a minimum age rating of two, the Ice Cream Trip features a handful of large plastic bricks, including some interesting pieces such as a cash register, ice creams and a car. Bluey and her dad aren’t your typical minifigures, but they are still nice to pose.
Lego also sells traditional-style Bluey sets, suited for children aged four and above.
Best Technic Set
Technic is Lego’s ‘more advanced’ sub-brand that caters towards older children and adults. Consisting of interconnecting rods and other non-brick plastic parts, Technic sets don’t often include the traditional Lego bricks, and they tend to be more challenging builds overall.
Because of this, the Technic Ferrari FXX K is better suited for the more advanced builder, or if a youngster is accompanied by an adult. Admittedly, I’m no Technic master, but the Ferrari FXX K took me around three and a half hours to build and I did go wrong multiple times. This is a set for the most patient of Lego creators.
Stick with it and you’ll be rewarded with a terrific model of Ferrari’s hypercar. There are loads of intricate details, with functioning butterfly doors, front wheel steering and the miniature V12 engine’s pistons even go up and down when you push the car along. On that point, there are a lot of gears involved in the construction, so this could be a good option for an aspiring engineer.
One word of caution, however. There are a total of 40 stickers in this set, and while your mileage may vary, I had some difficulty putting them in place.
Best Lego Botanicals Set
Lego’s Botanicals line has exploded in popularity in recent years, proving to be a great entry into the world of Lego. Case in point: my mum, who has never had any interest in plastic bricks, asked for the Lego Orchid for Mother’s Day last year. Lego is clearly doing something right in its efforts to reach new audiences.
The Orchid is my pick of the Botanicals line. It looks just like the real thing, and the building experience is incredibly straightforward. The instructions even include the occasional fact about the piece you’re putting into place, as well as some information about the plant itself. It’s also one of the few Lego Botanicals sets where you build the plant pot it sits in, rather than having to procure one yourself.
It can be a bit fiddly to build, and those with dexterity issues may require additional help. The pieces can fall off easily, too, so you may need to take extra care when dusting.
Best Lego Bricks Set
Sometimes, all your child needs is just a tub of plastic bricks. Offering the sort of Lego experience you might have grown up with, this big collection of Lego pieces is a great introduction for younger children and is a great way to spark creativity in little minds.
There’s no need to build following a rigid set of instructions. Your child can construct whatever they see fit, with a massive range of Lego bricks in 33 different colours. Included are some windows and doors, wheels, sets of eyes and two big green baseplates. Lego also suggests some starting builds if your child’s creative juices aren’t flowing from the get-go.
I would have liked Lego to have included at least one or two basic minifigures, but there’s no denying the sheer value on offer with the Creative Brick Box. If you want as many bricks and pieces as possible, this is what you should buy.
Best Lego Star Wars Set
With a new Star Wars movie on the way this year, school playgrounds up and down the country will likely be awash with Grogu-mania. The little green fella from The Mandalorian Disney+ TV series is getting his first feature film, so you might want to get in there early with this buildable figure of the pocket-sized lead character.
It’s a fun build, too. Grogu is nicely detailed, and comes with some additional extras, like a little blue frog to hold and some small circular biscuits to munch on. Building the pram wasn’t quite as enjoyable, and there is a reliance on stickers, but it wasn’t too tedious, even if it did take up most of the building time.
I also appreciated the included information plaque, which you can display next to the build. You get a tiny minifigure version of Grogu to place alongside the big build, too. If you’re looking for the best Star Wars Lego set, this is the way.
Best Lego Harry Potter Set
I remember building the first Lego Harry Potter set in 2001, which was a simple build with just 48 pieces. Back then, the choice of the wizarding world was limited, but now there are builds for all manner of Harry Potter locations and moments, with some particularly high piece counts.
Some of these sets can be eye-wateringly expensive, but the Hogwarts Castle: Flying Lessons is the best-value set you can buy right now. Featuring the scene from the first film, where Harry Potter and his fellow students learn to fly on brooms, this set comprises a section of Hogwarts Castle, complete with rooms that can be pulled out for easy access.
The flying features are tonnes of fun, there’s a special transfiguration classroom, and it comes with six minifigures, including the boy wizard himself, his classmates and Madam Hooch. If the price of this set is still a little high, the Herbology Class is also a great pick at £45.
Best Lego Wicked Set
The second (and final) Wicked film is available to buy and stream at home, earning this set a place on many children’s wishlists. Welcome to Emerald City comes with most of the main cast of characters, including Glinda, Elphaba, Madame Morrible, The Wizard and Fiyero.
Just be warned that these are the Friends-style figures, which can be a bit of an acquired taste. They have long, exaggerated proportions and big, round heads, so if your child would prefer traditional minifigure versions of the Wicked cast, you might want to consider the Glinda and Elphaba bookends instead.
That said, the castle build is highly detailed, with multiple floors and plenty of small play features to keep little hands occupied.
Best Lego Ninjago Set
Lego’s Ninjago theme has been around since 2011 and has grown into a massive multimedia franchise, with books, TV shows, video games and theme park rides. Each year, there are loads of sets to pick and choose from, and by far the best value model in 2025 is the Ninja Spinjitzu Temple.
The set comes with four Ninjago minifigures, a baby dragon and a brick-built version of a martial arts training temple. It has an age rating of four plus, so it’s a great introduction to the world of Lego. It’s a simple build, so it isn’t the best choice for older children, but it represents the theme well, with a selection of energetic play features.
Best Lego Set for Young Gamers
Lego sells a few Animal Crossing-themed sets, but my pick of the bunch is the Able Sisters Clothing Shop. It includes two characters from the game (Mable and Sasha), a small shop and surrounding garden, as well as a variety of items from the game, including a sewing machine, outside stall and clothing customisation area.
On that point, I like that the set comes with extra pieces of clothing for the characters, allowing you to play the role of a personal stylist, just like in the game.
What I like most, however, is that this set comes with some extra pieces, which allow you to rearrange certain elements of the house for added creativity. Weirdly, though, only one Able sister is included in this set (perhaps the other one called in sick).
The Ultimate Lego Set
Lego’s most expensive set isn’t for the faint of heart. A proper endurance challenge from start to finish, the 9,023-piece Star Wars Death Star took my wife and me almost 20 hours to build. Provided you’ve got the time (it’s a marathon, not a sprint) and the money, there’s no doubt this is the ultimate Lego set to buy.
The build is tonnes of fun, with loads of enjoyable sections and hidden secrets that I wouldn’t want to spoil. It’s essentially a massive dolls house, with rooms from the movies and a shedload of characters, including some exclusive figures you can only find in this set.
Obviously, there are a lot of grey bricks, which is expected given the source material, but I didn’t like that Lego included so many stickers, especially for a set that costs as much as this. That said, if you really like the person you’re gifting this to, or you’re looking for a time-consuming family activity, the Death Star isn’t a bad pick. You just might need to remortgage your home to buy one.
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