If you are a parent of a Lego fan then you already know the enormous educational benefits of this building and imagination toy. Lego helps kids design and create but also enhances their hand eye co-ordination and their ability to follow instructions. Basically Lego bricks and sets help kids to think inside and outside the box.

As a parent this kind of toy is one you treasure but once your child has a collection of bricks, you can also appreciate the growing cost; continually buying sets can become expensive.

If you are in the habit of buying your child a new set each birthday or Christmas but want to cut down on the amount of bricks coming into the house or simply can't afford to keep up with new set prices there are ways you can add to and enhance Lego without having to buy a whole new set.

Road bases are small and relatively inexpensive but can add a new level of playability to a child's existing collection. If you buy a few packs of road bases you can create a town layout where kids can build different buildings and the minifigures can drive around and interact.

If you fix the road bases to a piece of wood ply with double sided tape your child can slide the layout under a bed and bring it out again at the start of a new play session. The road bases traditionally come 2 per pack in straight, T Junction and Curve variations.

Some plates have an area where buildings can be built on the edge of the road, depending on the layout of the road within the square plate. The colors of the plates can also vary with the latest releases being all gray with white markings. Earlier road base plates were green with grey roads. You can purchase the base plates at most toy or Lego outlets but also check out ebay for good deals.

We will continue to examine ways to enhance a child's Lego Collection in an affordable way in the next article.