What LEGO makes

Origins. LEGO began in 1932 in Billund, Denmark, when the carpenter Ole Kirk Christiansen started making wooden toys. The name comes from the Danish leg godt, play well. From 1949 the company made plastic bricks, and in 1958 the brick gained the tubes underneath that make it clutch. A brick from then still fits a brick from today. LEGO is still owned by the founder's family.

What it stands for. The founder's motto was that only the best is good enough. LEGO names imagination, creativity, fun, learning, caring and quality as its values, and sees play as a way of learning. The brand is working on bricks made from something other than oil: some plants and leaves are already plant-based plastic, but a brick made from recycled PET bottles was dropped in 2023.

Reputation. LEGO is known for the precision of its bricks and for building instructions that work without words. Sets are kept, handed down and collected. The criticism is mostly about plastic, and about how big the boxes for adults have become. What LEGO does not have is a box that suits everyone: a set for an age someone has passed bores, a set for an age still to come frustrates.

Themes. DUPLO for the smallest, with bigger bricks. City and Friends for anyone just able to build alone, Technic for anyone who wants it to move, and Creator 3-in-1 for three models from one box. Then the licences, from Star Wars and Harry Potter to Marvel, Super Mario and Minecraft, and for adults Icons, Botanicals, Architecture, Art and Ideas, where fans submit their own designs.

Examples. Below, one set from each of four themes, from toddlers to the adult builder. All the sets are under construction toys, and around the bricks sits the odd lunchbox or backpack for the child whose theme is already decided. Older sets are often sold second-hand and sometimes faked; Buying from a private seller says what to check.

From Botanicals: a bouquet or plant made of bricks for the windowsill, which never needs water. A popular gift for adults who say they do not buy toys. More LEGO.

From Technic: a Technic car, with gears and moving parts, for anyone who wants to see how something works. More LEGO.

From Icons: the pirate ship from Pirates of the Caribbean, a big build for an adult fan, to put together over a few evenings and then put on display. More LEGO.

For the smallest: a DUPLO set, with bricks big enough for small hands that also fit ordinary LEGO bricks later on. More LEGO.