Given the current economy, there's a high value placed on toys that last a long time. One of those products is my personal favorite: Legos. That's why I'm particularly excited for this month. To celebrate the "dynamic" nature of the toy bricks, Toys R Us is partnering with Lego to kick off Bricktober -- a month-long celebration of Lego bricks.

Bricktober starts this Sunday, with savings of 30% on select Lego kits and offers shoppers who make any Lego purchase a commemorative brick each week of October. The collectible Lego bricks piece together at the end of the month to become a Bricktober skeleton that is part of the Lego Castle series.



Much like the Thomas the Train event that Toys R Us had last month, giving away a free train, Lego fans can commemorate the event with a free Lego race car at the Bricktober 500 race at stores. On October 24 from noon to 2 p.m., kids will be able to create their own Lego race cars and go head to head with others in a racing competition. The young drivers and builders also get an "Official Bricktober Driver's License" to commemorate the event

While special Lego kits like the Star Wars Motorized Walking AT-AT can be expensive, there are a bunch of cheap Lego sets that can be played with over and over. The longevity of a Lego purchase is the reason that they've always been a cheap toy staple in my household.

To this day I still have the Lego sets I got growing up, even though my Cape Canaveral and Shuttle Transport kits are the only ones still together. After two decades of use, two suitcases and a large bucket of Legos still make it out of the closet and into the hands of nieces, nephews and neighbors on a regular basis. I wouldn't be surprised to see my Lego bricks last another 20 years, bringing their per hour cost of entertainment pretty close to zero.

In my experience, Lego bricks are also a great way for kids to learn about sharing and working together. If you can think of a better time than when three kids are all looking for a red 3x1 brick to finish their awesome Boat-a-car-copter to teach kids how to collaborate, please let me know.

Who knows? Perhaps Bricktober will inspire a youngster to build the next Full size Lego House.