Today, let’s look at a fun little set (not that little, really), aimed at kids, and girls especially. I love that the brick brands have been releasing sets aimed at getting girls into STEM-oriented thinking. My four-year-old daughter is already building way beyond what one would expect for her age, thanks to the loose clone bricks I reviewed a few weeks ago, and watching–and even helping–me with more complicated builds. She sorts by colour, size, type, and can even describe pieces as “2×4 bricks” or “1×8 plates” accurately. I have long believed that brick building increases children’s intelligence, problem solving skills, and also builds confidence. For too long, girls have been somewhat an afterthought for the brick makers. Not any more. The big Danish group have released a number of “Friends” sets aimed at pre-teen girls, with play scenarios that cater to girls who like the more traditional toys such as dolls and stuffed animals, but with the added benefit of building, and changing the model and re-building.

“Girls Club” series’ Heartlake Hospital is clone set 01039, a clone of the Lego 41318, which has been discontinued for quite some time. The clone version will cost you about one fourth to one third the price of the Lego original on the secondary market. If your threshold for “what makes buying a clone ok?” includes asking if it is no longer available from the major brand, then you’re in the clear with this one. Other brick brands such as Bela and Lele have also gotten in on the cloning action with the girls’ sets. I find these clone bricks to be highest quality among most of the Chinese brands, with Bela a very close second (very close), so I usually get the major clone brand when possible.

The Heartlake Hospital has nearly 900 pieces, four characters (plus a skeleton mini-figure, for the doctor’s office), three storeys of fun play possibilities, and hits all the right notes for a toy hospital: an ambulance, a helicopter, a waiting area with vending machines, a maternity ward, an imaging department, a surgery room, and a rooftop helipad, among other cute additions, including a baby!

Some of the building methods I found especially clever, such as the tiny pram for the baby, the seating of the ambulance, and the wheelchair. They solve the problem of how exactly to make vehicles that can accommodate the Girls Club “mini-dolls” (as opposed to more traditional mini-figures), whose legs do not move independently. These mini-dolls have much different proportions and joints as compared to the traditional mini-figure design, so occasionally design changes are required, such as seating (they can’t sit on studs with a click, for example).

So many other cute details abound, such as a nursery, where the baby’s cot has a teeny brick-build mobile floating above it, to soothe the little one to sleep. The nursery also includes a baby book that opens and closes, containing the birth certificate. Our patient can be imaged in the x-ray room, and then have a cast set on his arm.

For those who have been building with Lego since the 90’s or earlier, this set will contain some familiar features, such as a lack of stairs to reach the higher floors. Back when I was a lad, we had to imagine the stairs existed and just jump our people up and down between floors. (All the modular buildings with their more accurate staircases are a very recent invention to please the more discerning adult fans of brick building. Lego even took a self-deprecatory view of this design aesthetic of things that need to be “just right” and people whose imagination extends no further than the instructions, and parodied it in the form of “Lord Business” in the Lego Movie from 2014).

My daughter loves how the Duplo bunny makes a cameo appearance in the baby change station!

Though the hospital does get built in stages, and the floors could conceivably be played with separately (much like a modular building), it has some other aspects that depart from the modular design language of many recent Lego building. It is also built on a base made just to fit the hospital, and has a completely open back. This set is built for play, more than display. But that doesn’t mean it doesn’t look nice. It’s does. The colour scheme is rather attractive, even to a guy like me. I don’t think it looks “too girly”. It probably would require some modifications to fit into a modular town layout, however.

Quality was great as I’d expect. It was missing one piece: the stretcher carrier which would be used to fly the stretcher beneath the helicopter. But that doesn’t detract too much from the play scenarios. The decals are all very cute and add a lot of detail. Often, I would hope for printed bricks over decals, but with children’s sets, it’s more acceptable in my mind to have decals rather than expensive printed bricks and elements. The details added by use of stickers include an aquarium, defibrillator, nutrition poster, wet floor sign, ambulance interior, window blinds, and many more. The window blinds adhere to the outside of the windows, which I thought was a bit odd, but no big deal. Speaking of windows, they were all wrapped separately, and therefore emerged from the packaging mostly unblemished.

My daughter loves the Heartlake Hospital. I suspect a young girl in your life would rather enjoy it, too. And never underestimate the importance of inspiring creative play for young children, boys and girls. Brick building toys offer a chance to have countless adventures, limited only by a child’s imagination.

Get yours today from our friends at BuildingToyStore.com, and be sure to claim your 10 USD off coupon, as well as their new account bonus discount (on their site). Just go to BuildingToyStore.com using this link, create an account (which gets you a 10% discount), and use coupon code K7CXYREL. You may also find a coupon code on their site for an additional 5% discount.

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