Van & Caravan

My 6 year old built this set, with little help from me in the beginning. He said the instructions were good , just right. He loves this set.The caravan can be opened from one side . When not in use, my son puts the little lego people and BBQ , dog , bone etc in the caravan and lock the door with a piece if lego on top.I also bought a base plate for his Lego projects to keep everything organised.My son loves this and he recommends this set.If my review is helpful please hit "helpful " below. If any questions, leave a comment. more less

I really want to like this set more than I actually do. On the positive side, it is a nice, simple build with 2 minifigs, a dog, and some light accessories. It is also somewhat of a 2 in 1 vehicle kit with a good-looking van that fits all the figs, including the dog, as well as a pretty fair representation of a mini (or tear drop-style) camper, complete with a small bed and a tiny breakfast nook type seating area. There's even an open flame grill with hot dogs. The piece count is even bumped up from 195 with the last small $20 camper to 250 at the same price. Unfortunately, there's just something in my adult mind that prevents me from being able to suspend the disbelief required to have the minifigs enjoy the camper as it's really too small to fit everything in properly. For example, while you could cram the two minifigs together in the bed, one is going to be stuck on its side which seems unfair even in my imagination. Also, there's really nowhere to put the open grill when you need to pretend the van and camper are in transit. You could leave it in the camper, but it only fits on the bed so you'd have to pretend away all the issues that would arise as a result of having to sleep in the same place you kept a dirty, smelly grill lol. The play space inside is almost too small to really work with. In the real world, micro campers tend to have interior space mainly for just the bed and allow the kitchenette area to be contained in a sealable hatch accessible only from the outside, so I do wonder if that type of design would have been better/possible for this budget set. I suppose you could just rebuild it yourself, but that might require more pieces and experience than this cheap City set should. In any case, if you can get past some of the limitations--and I believe most kids of the appropriate age would be able to--this is a solid City vehicle and reasonable value overall. more less

Overall not a bad build and the playability of the set is great for little ones who want to run away with their imaginations. After all there is only some many fires you can put out or criminals you can lock up! more less