Across age ranges, for boys and girls, LEGO top the pile as the building toy of choice. Kids appreciate that they can work alone or with someone, and they like to see their ideas come to life. Toca Magazine talked to a few avid builders to find out how they put it all together.

What’s your favorite toy or tool to build with?

• Elizabeth, 5: LEGOs
• Sage, 7: LEGOs
• Caroline, 9: LEGOs
• Eli, 11: LEGOs

What do you like about it?

• Elizabeth, 5: I like LEGOs because I really want to be in the magazine.
• Sage, 7: I like how I can build with them and make cool things.
• Caroline, 9: You can engineer your own designs and try out different versions of things, like cars.
• Eli, 11: I just like building with them and doing whatever I want.

Where do you get your ideas for what to build?

• Elizabeth, 5: I just make things up.
• Sage, 7: Usually I’m really creative, so I just make it up.
• Caroline, 9: My head. Things that I see.
• Eli, 11: Most of the time, I come up with them myself.

What’s the best thing you’ve ever built?

• Elizabeth, 5: A Halloween museum
• Sage, 7: A ginormous alien saucer. One of my favorite things that I’ve built was a little house with a table and chairs. I was building a backyard for it.
• Caroline, 9: My dad and I made fighting robots using LEGO robotics.
• Eli, 11: My greatest structure was a starship with detachable parts and mini ships.

Do you prefer to build alone or with someone? Who?

• Elizabeth, 5: I like to build with my sister or somebody who’s really good at it.
• Sage, 7: Alone.
• Caroline, 9: It depends on what I’m building. I like to make my own designs by myself, but I like to work on kits with my dad or my friends.
• Eli, 11: I prefer to work alone.

How long do you work on a creation?

• Elizabeth, 5: For a little bit.
• Sage, 7: A long time, like 30 minutes.
• Caroline, 9: As long as it takes.
• Eli, 11: Most of my creations take 30 minutes to an hour.

Do you organize your LEGOs? How?

• Elizabeth, 5: No way. They’re in a big flat box.
• Sage, 7: We used to do it by color, but now we do it by function.
• Caroline, 9: They aren’t really organized. I need to organize them!
• Eli, 11: I do not organize my LEGOs. Well, I do if you count all my LEGOs thrown in one big tub!

Has your mom or dad ever stepped on a LEGO left on the floor? If so, what did they do?

• Elizabeth, 5: I’ve stepped on one! Owie!!
• Sage, 7: Yeah – they just took it off!
• Caroline, 9: Yup. My sister and I didn’t pick up once, and it really hurt!
• Eli, 11: Oh, they have. It wasn’t pretty.