GeekDad: Click That Brick! Celebrate Our Planet With the LEGO Icons Natural History Museum

What’s better during the holidays than to spend time with family, eat some tasty treats, and build some LEGO? Thankfully, I had recently gotten one of LEGO’s latest sets, the Natural History Museum, to assemble. It was the perfect project to tackle during the chilly month of December.

What Is the LEGO Icons Natural History Museum?

LEGO Icons Natural History Museum, set number 10326, is a 4,041-piece set that also contains 7 Minifigures (not to mention a dinosaur skeleton and a French Bulldog). When completed, it measures 13″ high, 16″ wide, and 10″ deep. It also happens to be one of LEGO’s modular building sets, so it can be plugged right into other buildings to form your own LEGO city block. I’m personally thinking that a Jazz club would look really nice right next door!

The Natural History Museum is designed by Chris McVeigh, and retails for $299.99. The set is available for purchase at LEGO stores or online at the LEGO webstore.

Unpacking the LEGO Icons Natural History Museum

There are 33 labeled bags in the box, as well as a couple of baseplates and one additional bag of bricks for the build.

There are two vinyl banners that are included with the set, which will ultimately hang on the front of the building. Thankfully, there are no stickers whatsoever! Anyone who has dealt with attaching stickers to LEGO bricks will undoubtedly appreciate that last fact.

The 392-page instruction manual has very little fluff inside. While there are some factoids regarding different museum exhibits, don’t be expecting the behind the scenes info that you’ll get in the instructions for one of the licensed sets like the Batcave. The manual for the Natural History Museum is razer-focused on putting together the set.

LEGO Icons Natural History Museum – The Build

Instructions for how to assemble the Natural History Museum can be downloaded here.

The LEGO Icons Natural History Museum is modular, and consists of 3 separate floors. The build starts at the ground floor and works up. The various Minifigures, as is generally the case with LEGO sets, are spread throughout the build:

Click to view slideshow.

I particularly appreciated that one of the Minifigures had a prosthetic limb- it’s always nice to see variety and inclusivity. A friend of mine mentioned that one of her LEGO sets included a Minifigure with a hearing aid, something that she greatly appreciated as she herself wears one.

And, while not a Minifigure, who can resist a LEGO French Bulldog? Not me! Especially as I have one (the dog and the Minifigure!)

Ground Floor

Here’s the process of the ground floor build, bag by bag:

Click to view slideshow.

And here’s the ground floor, completed:

There are a ton of great details throughout the first floor build. One that I loved is one of the most basic, and something you never see in Star Trek. Did you guess correctly? That’s right, it’s a toilet:

But of course, this is a Natural History Museum, so there’s a bunch of actual displays. The most prominent is the large dinosaur skeleton that you’ll build:

There’s also a lovely Easter egg in the museum. Early in the build, you’ll put some bones into the foundation:

These bones will quickly end up completely covered up, never to be seen again. But, should you disassemble the set, you’ll find some buried bones, just as scientists may discover at various dig sites around the world.

Second Floor

Click to view slideshow.

While the first floor is oriented towards life sciences, the second floor is much more about exploration.

There are several exhibits having to do with astronomy and space travel, notably including this model of the solar system:

The second floor also hosts this display of the progress of civilization:

Rooftop

The final part of the assembly is for the rooftop, as well as several design elements which help bring the building to life:

Click to view slideshow.

Here’s the completed front of the building:

And don’t forget the employee entrance around back:

The curator has his own private office up on the roof:

He reaches his office via a second-floor stairwell that opens to the roof:

The three levels of the Natural History Museum easily separate, to allow you to explore all the areas of the building, and set up your own scenes of people visiting the museum:

Click to view slideshow.

LEGO Icons Natural History Museum – Final Thoughts

This was my first modular building from LEGO, and it certainly makes me want to start building a whole massive city block. I love that these sets are complete structures, unlike a lot of other LEGO buildings which only have 3 walls. The modular setup allows you to appreciate the architecture of the building, and you can easily take each level off and admire the interior. And both the architecture and interior of the LEGO Icons Natural History Museum are top notch.

Granted, this is a subjective opinion, but I think the Natural History Museum has some of the most attractive design of any of the modular building sets. The decorative window frames and columns really sell the building as a museum, as do the statues flanking the entrance. But for me, the greenhouse-style skylights on the rooftop really elevate the structure.

There’s also so much life to be found in the interior. Design elements like the second-story railing and the staircases between floors really sells the museum vibe, while the various exhibits are just a joy to look at.

This is a fantastic set both for anyone looking to expand their modular building setup, or just for those that love science and architecture. Not only is the LEGO Icons Natural History Museum fun to build, but it’s educational as well. Just like an actual trip to a museum, you can use this set to spark discussions about the sciences with your children. And maybe working on the set together with them will inspire them to learn more about how our natural world works.

This was a great set to finish off 2023 with, and I’m looking forward to seeing what LEGO will have in store for us throughout 2024. I can’t recommend it highly enough, and the LEGO Icons Natural History Museum has definitely earned a spot on my increasingly crowded shelf.

If you’d like more information on the LEGO Icons Natural History Museum, head over to the LEGO webstore.

Click That Brick!

Click That Brick! is a look at LEGO building sets that appeal to the geek in all of us. I’ll be bringing you previews and reviews of various LEGO sets, such as the LEGO Icons PAC-MAN Arcade. So be sure to keep your eyeballs peeled for more great LEGO content here on GeekDad.

LEGO provided this set for evaluation, but had no input into the review.

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