Most toys are designed exclusively for children, but some—while still definitely children’s playthings—can in a way only be truly enjoyed by adults. The LEGO Town Plan is just such a toy. While there’s no question that kids ages 12 and over will have a blast putting together this massive town scape and playing with this fantastic toy, only an adult can really appreciate the history at hand. You see, this isn’t the first LEGO Town Plan, but actually a reissue of a set from much earlier, that was made to celebrate Lego’s 50th anniversary. Yet despite the fact that this set is in some ways very old, it’s still unquestionably one of the hot toys 2009.
First and foremost, as with most of their products, this set is an incredibly fun building toy. The set is composed of three different buildings and a park or a town square. There’s a movie theater that comes complete with theater seats, a movie screen, movie posters, and even a concession stand. There’s also a gas station with a car wash, attendants, and classic retro styling. Finally, there’s a town hall, which includes a cute couple of newlyweds. For many collectors, the centerpiece of the set is the town square, which includes a fountain with three commemorative gold bricks that mark this 50th anniversary of Lego. Putting each of these sets together means hours of fun, which is Legos have always been considered some of the best toys on the market.
While true aficionados will recognize the LEGO Town Plan as a remake and update of one of the top toys from Lego’s past, there’s no question that kids today will have a ton of fun putting this toy together. Plus, once the toy is together, kids can still have lots of fun enjoying the surprisingly detailed world they’ve created. They can let the newlyweds cruise town in one of the great fifties-style cars, or perhaps catch one of the fun movies that are advertised on the full color posters. Or perhaps imagination will lead your children to let the residents of their town simply enjoy a beautiful day in the park. The opportunities for creative play are essentially endless, which is another reason that this is one of the top toys 2009.
One of the reasons that we really like the LEGO Town Plan is that while it comes with good instructions to create the set pictured on the box, it also opens the door to a world of creativity. With all of the different Legos in this set, kids can easily build almost anything they can dream up, and certainly don’t have to be limited to what they box shows them. This not only encourages creativity, but can help kids get even more enjoyment out of their toy. Plus, this set makes for a great introduction to Legos in general. For all these reasons, it’s easy to name this as one of the best toys 2009. Plus, because this is a collector’s item, this toy could easily become even more valuable as time goes by—which is just one more reason to put this one on the shopping list.
