If I summarized what I did in 2024, “LEGO Harry Potter sets” would come up. It started around Mother’s Day, when my mom and I picked up a wildflower set from the LEGO Boutique series. Not only did we enjoy it, we also were surprised by how much I could do by myself. By then end of the year, I completed four LEGO sets almost completely on my own.
Below are the Lego sets that I assembled in 2024, and my thoughts on how difficult they were to put together.
LEGO Harry Potter Hogwarts Express and Hogsmeade Station Set
AGES 8+
I am a sucker for fictional trains, particularly the Polar Express and Hogwarts Express. One of my favorite holiday memories as a kid is playing with my remote controlled train with my sister. For my birthday, my parents surprised me with a LEGO Harry Potter Express and Hogsmeade Station set. The set has 1,074 pieces and is targeted towards kids aged eight and up. With my limited fine motor skills, it can be difficult to gauge what activities I can and cannot do.
It took me about one and a half to two months to complete this set. I would work on it about once or twice a week for 15-to-30-minute sessions depending on how well my fingers were cooperating.
The hardest part of this set was attaching the windows, attaching the wands to the characters and disassembling the Legos if I skipped a step.
LEGO Harry Potter Hogwarts Owlery Set
AGES 8+
Once I was finished with the Hogwarts Express LEGO set, the LEGO Harry Potter Owlery Set and Lego Buckbeak were soon paid for and on the way to my house. As someone who loves animals, the owlery is one of my favorite locations on Hogwarts’ grounds. Getting the owl statue inside the building was the hardest part of assembling this Lego set for me as well as adding the smaller aesthetic pieces, such as the flags.
LEGO Buckbeak
Ages 9+
Having done the Owlery and Hogwarts Express Set, which are built for ages eight and up, I decided to challenge myself to a set built for ages nine and up. The LEGO Buckbeak set was more challenging for me, and I needed to ask my family for help more often. The hardest part was that because it is not a building set, there is no foundation to use leverage when trying to push a logo piece in. Instead, if I pushed on a Lego piece too hard, Buckbeak would topple over and lose a bit of his fur or a leg.
These projects took me about two months to complete. I typically worked about thirty minutes two to three times a week. I feel that I have gained more fine motor control.
These Lego Harry Potter sets have inspired me to continue to challenge myself in 2025. I have already completed LEGO Harry Potter Triwizard Tournament Black Lake Set with little help and will be getting ready to start on Hagrid’s Hut soon.
Are you a Lego fan? What sets do you enjoy looking at or assembling?