Classic

Around The World

A little zoo, a little atlas, and a bin of bricks that keeps giving.

Brick Rated Score

3.8/5

Set 11015 · 2021

Pieces951

Minifigsn/a

Year2021

Set number11015

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The verdict

I have a real soft spot for this one, because it does the thing LEGO Classic is supposed to do and doesn't get precious about it.

You get 15 small builds, a giraffe, a lion, a red London bus, a penguin with its chick, and a paper wall map that tells you where each critter lives. It is not a display centerpiece and it will not challenge an experienced builder, but as a first proper set for a young kid, or as a parts haul, it earns its keep. Just know going in that you are buying a colorful pile of bricks, not a model.

Best for: Parents building a first real LEGO set with a 4 to 7 year old

The full review

What it is

Around The World is a LEGO Classic box, which means it is less a single model and more a starter kingdom in a bag. The instructions walk you through 15 small builds pulled from all over the map: an American bald eagle, a lion, a giraffe, a brown bear, a baby crocodile, an orca, a parrot, a kangaroo carrying a joey, a penguin with a chick and a fish, plus a cactus, a palm tree, an Asian house, a sailing boat, a red double-decker bus and a little airplane. The first time I laid them all out together I actually grinned, because it reads like a tiny paper zoo crossed with a travel scrapbook. For a young builder, having that many finished things to line up on a shelf is the whole joy of it.

The catch

I will be straight with you about what this is not. There is no baseplate, and the wall map everyone mentions is a printed paper poster, not a brick build, so none of these little animals actually stand on anything. The builds themselves are simple, which is exactly right for the 4-plus age it is aimed at but means an older or experienced builder will breeze through all 15 in an afternoon and feel no resistance. And this box is full of the very smallest pieces LEGO makes, 1x1 round plates, tiny eye studs, single tiles, the kind of parts that end up in the couch or the vacuum. At its original 49.99 that value was fair rather than remarkable, and now that it is retired you may pay a small premium for the privilege of tracking it down.

Who it's for

So who actually wins with this box. Parents putting a first real set in front of a 4 to 7 year old, absolutely, because the builds are quick, the payoff is fast, and the map gives you something gentle to talk about while you build. Bulk builders and MOC folks hunting cheap, colorful, varied parts, also yes, the animal-eye pieces and small rounds alone are handy. If you want a set to build once and proudly display, or you live for clever engineering and locking techniques, this is not your set, and I would point you somewhere with a real model at its center instead.

The parts story

What the build is actually like, and the pieces worth knowing about.

Building this is a relaxed, low-stakes afternoon rather than a project. The bricks arrive in bags that each cover three or four of the 15 models, so you can hand a bag to a kid and let them knock out a cluster of builds without hunting through the whole box. Each model is short, a handful of steps, and the guide is clear enough that a first-timer can follow it solo. There is no single showpiece build to sink into, which is the tradeoff, but the variety keeps it moving. You finish one animal, tip out the next bag, and start something completely different.

The real value here is the spread of parts, not any single rare element. This is a Classic box, so you get a wide mix of common bricks, plates and slopes in a bright, cheerful palette, plus a generous helping of small detail pieces: printed and plain eye studs, 1x1 round plates, cheese slopes and little curved tiles that give the animals their shape. Nothing in here is a collector-grade rarity, and you will not find a new mold to get excited about, but the animal eyes and the sheer count of small rounds make it a quietly useful donor set. For a hair under fifty dollars new, roughly 950 pieces of usable, colorful, everyday LEGO is honest value.

Fun facts

01The set bundles 15 separate mini-builds spanning six continents, from an American bald eagle to an Australian kangaroo with a joey tucked in its pouch.
02It carried a launch price of 49.99 USD when it arrived in 2021 and has since retired from the official LEGO shop.
03The much-talked-about wall map is not a brick build at all, it is a printed paper poster that shows the home continent for each animal and plant you make.
04LEGO rated it for ages 4 and up, one of the more approachable entry points in the Classic lineup at nearly a thousand pieces.