Best LEGO sets for kids, big and small

This one took us the best part of the weekend to construct but, boy, was it worth it. Standing tall at 13-inches (31cm), this LEGO R2-D2 is made of 2147 pieces, has a retractable mid leg and even has Luke's lightsaber hidden inside a compartment. Full of the Star Wars flourishes we wanted, this one is a must for fans.

This Home Alone LEGO set that recreates Kevin McCallister's house, complete with some fantastic booby traps, famous moments from the film and other fantastic geeky details. The set uses nearly 3,000 pieces and comes with a number of Minifigures, including Kevin, The Wet Bandits and more!

A beautifully presented LEGO set, this recreation of the Lunar Landing is made up of 1087 bricks and was made in celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Lunar landings. There are detachable sections, you can recreate the One Small Step famous moment and it includes two astronaut inifigures.

This is the biggest set LEGO has ever constructed and will take a long time to build. In total there are 9036 pieces - all pretty much the same colour - and the set comes with a 360 degree design that shows off the amphitheater in all its glory.

Following on from the 1989 Batmobile, the 1989 Batwing is a stunning LEGO set that comes with 2363 bricks. It's a really good interpretation of Tim Burton's Batwing design. It includes a mounting bracket and three exclusive mini figures.

Yes, we have two Nintendo-LEGO linkups in this list but that's because they are so good! The LEGO Nintendo Entertainment System is another fantastic reproduction of something from (our) childhood. Made of some 2646 pieces, the kits is very faithful to the original NES and you also get bricks to make a Game Pak cartridge, too. There are some nice touches, including a TV that has a handle, crank it up and you control the 8-bit Mario on the screen. Lovely stuff

This is one of the all-time classic LEGO sets. There have been more than a dozen LEGO takes on this Star Wars Millennium Falcon model over the last 20 years. But this whopper first introduced in 2017 is the most extensive of the lot. It features 7541 pieces, and is 83cm long when fully constructed. There are even removable outer panels to get you dig into the ship's inner workings. The Guinness World Record for its construction is 10 hours 21 minutes — it's going to take at least double that time for the rest of us.

This is a wonderful product, created with fantastic care and attention. The retro typewriter, when assembled, has working keys, with a moveable carriage. There's a place to feed paper into the thing and there is a black red ink spool that can be attached. Another brilliant touch is that the typewriter is based on one that was used by LEGO founder Kirk Kristiansen.

This is one of the more impressive new LEGO sets of recent years, and it works on two fronts. Your first take will be the Batman Batcave Shadow Box is purely a presentation kit, the kind of thing you might put up on a shelf alongside other geeky wares. Sure, it can be. However, it also opens up doll house style, turning this into an actual play centre, including a Batmobile and seven minifigs. This set is comprised of a chunky 3981 pieces and is recommended for 18+ builders.

If you're more into realistic scenes than haunted houses or Harry Potter, this is for you. Picturing a beautifully detailed London skyline, you'll build the London Eye, Big Ben and Tower Bridge – it even includes the National Gallery and Nelson’s Column.

An epic LEGO set of an epic scene from an epic movie series. The Lord of the Rings: Rivendell recreates the elven home from Fellowship of the Ring, including the scene where the key characters are all sat in a ring on chairs. Classic stuff. This set is comprised of 6167 pieces and is a pretty complicated project, recommended for builders of age 18+.

The Adventures with Mario and Luigi Starter Courses are superb. They are interactive LEGO sets that marry the fun of the Mario games with traditional LEGO. Both Mario and Luigi versions of the sets are available. We tried out the Luigi one and it comes with a LEGO Luigi who shows reactions via LCD screens and a speaker, and platforms and blocks to create a course. Building instructions are done through the LEGO app, which adds to the fun. While you only need one kit to start, the magic really happens when you start combining courses.