The LEGO Group recently revealed LEGO DREAMZzz, a new theme inspired by dreams and how it helps children’s psychology.

According to The LEGO Group, the theme was developed alongside global research of children aged 6 to 12 years old from 29 different countries which looked at children’s imaginations, the psychology of dreams, and their importance in processing emotions, problem-solving and the importance of play for creative experimentation.

The Dreams Research was conducted by Opinium Research in US, UK & IRE, France, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Spain, Italy, Denmark, Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary, Czech Republic, Türkiye, Romania, United Arab Emirates, Australia, South Korea, Japan, China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia, Mexico, Canada, Brazil, Belgium, Netherlands, Sweden, and Portugal.

The global research of over 23,000 children has found almost seven in ten (69%) children across various cultures are experiencing complex emotions, such as stress or loneliness, in their day-to-day lives, with one in four (24%) children citing events in the world or on social media as causes.

Out of the 1,000 children surveyed in Malaysia, three in five (58%) children believe dreaming is important — they like sleeping. Three in four (73%) of the children say dreaming helps them explore their creative imagination, and almost the same number of children say happy dreams help them to be more creative (74%) — they also really like naps.

What The Experts Say

Psychologist and behavioural sleep expert Dr Shelby Harris who is working with The LEGO Group on the research shared that dreams can play a key role in helping children process complex emotions and engage their imaginations.

“Kids are natural dreamers and experimenters but as they get older, societal pressures begin to confine them and limit their imaginations. Dreaming is a universal phenomenon generally welcomed by children across the globe. With more stress and demands in their daily lives, encouraging free play and creativity is important in today’s world. The research has clearly shown that kids that have access to free play time increase their frequency of dreams and as a result, makes them feel happier and more imaginative,” explained Dr Harris.

Children in the survey agree, with two third of them (68%) saying that dreams are important and help them be more creative during the day.

First The TV Show

LEGO DreamZzz will first launch as a tie-in TV show with 10 episodes on 15 May with more coming in August then the accompanying product range is released.

The series follows the adventures of school friends, Mateo, Izzie, Cooper, Logan, and Zoey, as they join a secret agency and learn to use the power of imagination to journey into the Dream World and learn to defeat the Nightmare King.

Toys aside, LEGO TV shows tend to be excellent entertainment for children and adults. The LEGO CITY Adventures series based on LEGO’s best-selling theme, for example, is a fun underrated gem.

Then The Toys

“LEGO DREAMZzz is our very first concept that celebrates the wondrous world of dreaming and explores what happens when dreams become real, ordinary kids become extraordinary and creativity is a superpower!” said Cerim Manovi, Creative Director for LEGO DREAMZzz. “We want children to feel empowered to bring their wildest dreams to life and revel in the true force of their creative imaginations while dreaming – and this is just the beginning!”

Like The LEGO Movie themes before it, DREAMZzz looks to be a mash of several convention archetypes, from sci-fi to fantasy, but taken to the next step. This results in a new fantastical hybrid creation of pure creativity.

The first wave of LEGO DREAMZzz products consists of 10 products with prices ranging from RM94.90 to RM679.90.

The list of products is as follows:

71453 Izzie and Bunchu the Bunny
● Age7+
● 259 pieces
● RRP: RM94.90

71454 Mateo and Z-Blob the Robot
● Age7+
● 237 pieces
● RRP: RM94.90

71455 Grimkeeper the Cage Monster
● Age7+
● 274 pieces
● RRP: RM159.90

71456 Mrs Castillo’s Turtle Van
● Age7+
● 434 pieces
● RRP: RM209.90

71457 Pegasus Flying Horse
● Age8+
● 482 pieces
● RRP: RM239.90

71458 Crocodile Car
● Age8+
● 494 pieces
● RRP: RM289.90

71459 Stable of Dream Creatures
● Age8+
● 681 pieces
● RRP: RM419.90

71460 Mr Oz’s Spacebus
● Age9+
● 878 pieces
● RRP: RM439.90

71461 Fantastical Tree House
● Age9+
● 1257 pieces
● RRP: RM469.90

71469 Nightmare Shark Ship
● Age 10+
● 1389 pieces
RRP: RM679.90

https://www.lego.com/en-us/aboutus/newsroom?locale=en-us

At a glance, the sets look like a hodgepodge of LEGO’s contemporary themes. Apart from the Nightmare Shark Ship, every other set looks like it could be built using existing sets.

Playing It Safe

As a casual collector, most of the sets in the LEGO DREAMZzz look attractive. The Nightmare Shark Ship is getting on my wish list.

For the hardcore collector, the new and unique pieces included in some of the sets are reason enough to get them. I can also imagine these sets would look good showcased in between themes. For example, the Crocodile Car would look good between the recent Ninjago sets and Speed Champion sets.

For kids, I think these sets will compete with already established and more coherent themes as they are very similar. I think The LEGO Group understand this as well and is the reason why the TV series is being pushed four months before the toys are released.

I can see kids who like, for example, the Fantastical Tree House would also be looking at the Friendship Tree House from the Friends series. And if they want to make original “dream” creations, they might as well build from the sets that they already have or get into the Creator theme.

In other words, to me, DREAMZzz doesn’t stand out enough and what would make or break the theme will be placed in the TV series.

But, to be fair, The LEGO Group’s experience with all-new creative themes, more often than not, doesn’t do as well as expected. Of the 32 themes (and sub-themes listed) on the LEGO builder app (products that are still being produced), more than half are licensed themes with some being a mixture of both original and licensed sets.

There’s Also A Contest

From 20 May to 20 June, to celebrate the new theme, The LEGO Group is holding a contest for children between 6 and 12 years old.

To participate, the children can submit a picture of either a LEGO build (or a drawing that incorporates brick building) they’ve made themselves of a creature or vehicle they have dreamt up along with a short description, the name of their creation, what it can do, and why it excited them in their dream to LEGO.com/dreamzzz

The chosen participants will be flown to Denmark, home of The LEGO Group, to take part in several LEGO DREAMZzz and be named as a Chief Dream Creator.