LEGO Boost: Review
LEGO Boost combines building with coding for kids 7-12. You build five models with motors and sensors, then program them through an app. It teaches real coding concepts through play - no typing required.
Your child has been building since they could grip a brick, and lately the static models aren't holding. They want the thing they built to do something — move, react, follow a command. You've seen the videos of grinning children coding robots on tablets and thought: maybe. Then you saw the price and thought: maybe not.
LEGO Boost is a robotics-and-coding set built around 847 standard LEGO bricks, a motorised Move Hub, a motor, and a colour-and-distance sensor. It targets ages seven to twelve. You download a free tablet app — tablet only, not phone — that provides both building instructions and a drag-and-drop coding interface. There are five models: a robot called Vernie, a cat, a guitar, a rover, and a miniature assembly line. The first session is realistically ninety minutes of building before any coding happens. Your child will need patience for the fiddlier steps, and you will need a compatible tablet with Bluetooth that doesn't go to sleep every two minutes. Those are the entry conditions.
What it's genuinely good at
The fundamental thing Boost gets right is that it still feels like LEGO. Children who've spent years building with bricks are not learning an entirely new system — they're building something familiar, then making it move. That continuity matters more than it sounds. Every standalone robotics kit with proprietary parts asks a child to start over. Boost meets them where they already are.
The coding interface uses colour-coded blocks that snap together on screen, and the gap between dragging a block and watching the robot respond is short enough to hold attention. Children learn sequencing, loops, and conditionals without anyone using those words. A child who spends an afternoon making Vernie dance and dodge obstacles has absorbed real programming concepts without noticing. That's exactly how it should work.
The real longevity is in the Creative Canvas mode, which opens up once the five official models are built. Children code and motorise anything from their own LEGO collection using the same hub and sensors. The ones who reach this stage get months from the kit. They are the audience it was actually designed for.
What's actually wrong with it
LEGO discontinued Boost in December 2022. You cannot buy it new at the original price. What remains is secondhand sets and old stock at inflated prices. A complete used set in the UK sits between £80 and £150; sealed boxes push past £200. The original retail was around £130. If you've found one at a reasonable price and are wondering whether to grab it, that's a fair position. If you're considering paying above original retail for a discontinued product with uncertain software support, that's a different conversation.
The app is the single biggest risk. It still exists on iOS and Android, but LEGO is no longer developing it. Recent app store reviews describe crashes on newer devices, Bluetooth failures during firmware updates, and an update process so broken it requires a separate app — LEGO Powered Up — to fix. The practical consequence is that you may open this kit on a Saturday morning and spend the first two hours fighting a connection instead of building a robot. There is a workaround: update the firmware through Powered Up first, then connect via the Boost app. You need to know this before the first session, not after the first meltdown. The box will not tell you.
The age range says seven to twelve. The honest range is eight to ten. A seven-year-old will need significant parent involvement for building and coding alike — that's not a criticism of seven-year-olds, it's a criticism of the marketing. The sweet spot is eight or nine, already comfortable with Technic-level builds. Children over ten with any coding experience will find the block-based interface too shallow within weeks. If your child is eleven and already knows what a variable is, this will bore them before the month is out.
The verdict
If you can find a complete set for £100 or less and you have an eight- or nine-year-old who loves building and has never coded, this is still one of the best introductions to robotics that feels like play rather than curriculum. But you are buying a discontinued kit with ageing software, so test the app on your tablet before you wrap the box. If your child is under eight, wait. Over ten and already coding, skip this — look at LEGO SPIKE Essential or Makeblock mBot2 instead. And if the seller wants more than original retail, let them. There'll be another one on eBay next week.
