Creator

Safari Wildlife Tree House

A giraffe so charming it carries the whole set on its back.

Brick Rated Score

4.0/5

Set 31116 · 2021

Pieces397

Minifigs2

Year2021

Set number31116

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The verdict

I picked this one up expecting a straightforward little tree house and left completely won over by the giraffe.

Its neck articulates, its horns use a clever bar and pin holder piece, and it just reads as giraffe the second you look at it, no stickers needed. The tree house itself is the weakest of the three builds, sweet but a bit plain next to LEGO's bigger tree house sets, so the real reason to buy this is the animals and the 3-in-1 rebuild into a biplane with a lion or a catamaran with a crocodile. For thirty dollars and under 400 pieces, that is a lot of imaginative mileage.

Best for: animal lovers and kids who want three different play modes from one box

The full review

What it is

This is a Creator 3-in-1 set built around a small tree house on stilts, with a balcony, a ladder, and a tiny interior that has a couch and even a bathroom with a sink and toilet. Underneath the tree house sits a giraffe, a flamingo, and a hornbill, all built from bricks rather than molded as single pieces, which is exactly the kind of thing I love pointing out to people who think LEGO animals are just plastic figures. The giraffe stole the show for me. Its neck moves, its legs are proportioned right, and the horns use a small bar and pin holder element that reviewers singled out as a smart piece choice.

The catch

I will be honest about where this set is thinner than I would like. The tree house structure on its own is fairly simple, more of a frame to hang the animals and minifigs on than a showpiece build, and if you have built LEGO's larger tree house sets you will notice the difference in scale and detail right away. The part count is modest too. This is not a set that impresses you with sheer volume, it impresses you with what it does with a smaller pile of bricks. And rebuilding it into the biplane or catamaran means taking the tree house apart completely, so if you want to keep all three versions around at once you will need to buy more than one set.

Who it's for

I would hand this to a kid who loves animals and wants to build something new every weekend, or to an adult who collects the animal-focused Creator sets and wants the giraffe on a shelf. If you are shopping for the biggest, most detailed tree house LEGO makes, look elsewhere. If you want a small, clever, three-in-one box that rewards close looking, this earns its spot.

The parts story

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

Building this one is quick and satisfying rather than a long haul, which suits its age 7-plus rating. You start with the tree house frame and stilts, add the balcony and tiny interior details, and then build the three animals separately before deciding which model to keep assembled. None of the sub-builds take long, so it is a good one for a single sitting or for splitting across a couple of short sessions with a younger builder.

The animals are where the piece choices get interesting. The giraffe uses articulated joints for its neck and legs and a bar and pin holder piece for the horns, a small but smart repurposing that New Elementary called out specifically. The flamingo and hornbill lean on curved slopes and clip pieces to fake feathers and beaks without a single printed part. There is no huge rare-part flex here, but the value is in how efficiently the designers turned ordinary bricks into recognizable animals, which is the whole appeal of the Creator 3-in-1 line.

Fun facts

01The set includes three complete builds from one box: a tree house with a giraffe, a catamaran with a crocodile, and a biplane with a lion, using the same 397 pieces rebuilt each time.
02The giraffe's horns use a Round 1x1 with Bar and Pin Holder piece, a repurposing New Elementary highlighted as one of the set's smartest part choices.
03Alongside the giraffe, the tree house version includes brick-built flamingo and hornbill figures, giving the set five different animals across its three modes.
04Originally $29.99 at its March 2021 release, the retired set has since been valued around $40 sealed on the secondary market, according to BrickEconomy.