Friends

River Camping Adventure

A little riverside escape you build in one sitting, and mean it.

Brick Rated Score

3.7/5

Set 40694 · 2024

Pieces182

Minifigsn/a

Year2024

Set number40694

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The verdict

I built this on a Sunday afternoon with a cup of tea going cold beside me, and it was over before I wanted it to be, in the best way.

It is a small, cozy scene, a raft, a bit of riverbank, a fire pit, and it captures that quiet camping feeling without needing a single sticker sheet to do it. I would not buy this as a centerpiece set, but as a bonus build tucked into a bigger Friends order, it earns its spot on the shelf. Give it to a kid who wants a fast, satisfying win, not one chasing a huge display piece.

Best for: Friends fans who want a quick, cozy accent build rather than a big centerpiece

The full review

What it is

This is one of those small Friends builds that does not try to be more than it is, and I respect that. It gives you a little slice of riverbank, something to sit a raft on, a fire pit to gather around, and enough greenery to make the whole thing feel like an actual campsite rather than a pile of parts. At 182 pieces it moves fast, and I found myself wishing there was just a little more to do by the time I was done.

The catch

Here is the honest part. This is not a set to buy expecting a weekend project or a jaw dropping display piece. It is compact, the color palette leans heavily on the greens and browns you would expect from a woodland river scene, and there is no huge showstopper element inside. If you are the kind of builder who wants your money to translate into hours of build time, this will feel thin.

Who it's for

Where it shines is as a companion piece. Set it next to a bigger Friends build, a treehouse or a camper van, and it fills out the scene beautifully. Get it for a younger builder who wants to finish something start to finish in one sitting and feel proud of it. Skip it if you are shopping for a single big-ticket set and want your budget to stretch across hours of building instead of minutes.

The parts story

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

The build itself is short and straightforward, which is exactly the point. You are stacking a handful of small sections, a bit of raft, a bit of bank, a campfire cluster, and watching a coherent little scene come together fast. There is no fiddly, repetitive stretch here the way you get in bigger sets, which makes it a nice palate cleanser between more demanding builds.

Nothing in the parts list is going to make a collector gasp, this is a small-format set built from the usual greenery, wood-tone, and water-effect pieces LEGO uses across its nature themed Friends builds. The value here is not in rare molds, it is in how efficiently those ordinary pieces are arranged to sell a camping mood in under two hundred pieces.

Fun facts

01River Camping Adventure sits in LEGO's Friends line, which has increasingly used small-format sets like this one to fill out camping and outdoor adventure themes alongside its larger builds.
02At 182 pieces, it is sized for a single short building session, making it a common pick for younger builders wanting a quick, complete win.
03The set leans on classic Friends nature palette pieces, greens, browns, and water-effect elements, rather than any headline new mold, keeping the focus on the scene over the parts.