Everyone loves LEGO. It’s not just for kids. Even my husband is super-excited by wandering through the racks of LEGO when we go shopping for my niece and nephew, and I know he can’t wait to play with those little colourful blocks with our daughter. That’s why I was so glad to see that there’s LEGO for the little guys, and that you can get them all at BEST BUY. Turns out, there’s DUPLO, DUPLO DISNEY, and DUPLO ZOO to name just a few—plus classic LEGO too!
We love LEGO!
Manufactured by The Lego Group, a privately held company based in Billund, Denmark, LEGO is named for the Danish phrase leg godt, which literally means “play well.” And with these little coloured bricks, plus a lot of imagination, you sure do! LEGO toys are designed specifically for kids at every age level. It can help them to learn about simple things like shapes and colours. It is also stimulates their imagination as they make up their own stories.
A guide to buying your own fun
On the LEGO Buying Guide we found LEGO products to suit every age, gender, preference, and imagination. So our little girl is bound to love them—to say nothing of her father! From princesses and ninja warriors to city workers, we discovered that there’s LEGO sets to suit our daughters likes and dislikes-whatever they may be. Here is an age breakdown of some of the types of LEGO that are available:
0-2 years old
Here’s where LEGO DUPLO sets are great! We got a DUPLO set to try out with my sister’s kids, so we’d know what we are in for. DUPLO is bigger than traditional LEGO, so it’s good for little ones and we thought we’d start there. What we found surprised us.
2-4 years old
We think themed LEGO DUPLO sets, like Princess and Town, are perfect for toddlers. They introduce them to familiar characters while helping them make sense of their feelings and the world. My niece is three, so she falls squarely in the middle of the age range, and she loved our DUPLO set. She thought the blocks were a little hard to get together, but otherwise she loved them. What a win!
4-6 years old
Older kids have more developed fine motor control skills than my inquisitive little child. LEGO sets, like LEGO City, LEGO Hero Factory, LEGO Bricks & More, and LEGO Cars, offer fantastic role-playing possibilities. My husband and I arereally looking forward to when our child reaches this stage!
6+ years old
LEGO Technic and LEGO Creator sets come with gears, axles, and even electric motors, which means my husband and I will be able to join in and explore the builder inside each of us. We want to build our own house some day, so helping our daughter build complex models like robots and movable vehicles is like training-for her and for us!
LEGO for Grown ups
My husband is the right age to have grown-up with Star Wars, and true to form he has a special place in his heart for all things related to the movie series. With the right set, and there are many Star Wars themed sets to choose from, he can have nostalgic fun himself, and teach our daughter what Daddy liked when he was her age, complete with ships and lightsabers. Grown up enjoyment: check!
LEGO games sets
Once we have a second child, these LEGO game sets will be a must. And we plan to have another baby, so it’s like LEGO read my mind! My husband loves board games, and these are built entirely out of little bricks, are tons of fun to play, and-once we’ve got more than one-also encourage our munchkins to use their imaginations to reconstruct the game board and come up with your own set of rules.
But right now, our daughter’s still tiny, so DUPLO looks like the way to go.
What is DUPLO?
Before having a baby, I didn’t even know what DUPLO was! Manufactured in Nyíregyháza, Hungary Duplo (trademarked as DUPLO) is LEGO designed for children aged 1½ to 5 years old. They were launched in 1969, and include sets with figures, cars, houses and trains. Twice the length, height and width of traditional Lego bricks, DUPLO are harder for little ones to swallow, so if you’re like me you can breathe a sigh of relief.
DUPLO My First PlayhouseWe got the My First Playhouse set and used my niece and nephew as a trial audience. The good news-they loved it! My niece, who is three years old said the bricks were a little tough to put together at first, but it got easier. The set includes two child LEGO DUPLO figures, as well as a turnable day/night brick that acts as a scene-setter, and 4 brightly coloured decorated bricks. My niece played with the set for hours!
Everyone loves princesses these days-well-except parents! But if our little girl follows the trends, DUPLO has us covered. The LEGO DUPLO Disney Sofia the First Royal Castle set helps you build actual castles! I lived in Europe, but when it comes to making a castle out of little blocks I wouldn’t know the first thing. I love that this set comes with an easy-to-build castle, a dance floor, and LEGO DUPLO figures to encourage pretend play. Accessories include golden magic wands, sleeping blankets, treasure chest, jewel brick and crest, chandelier, and window-decorated bricks. DUPLO understands about princesses and encourages spacial awareness!
DUPLO Farm SetWe have two cats, and our daughter thinks they’re hilarious! She obviously loves animals, so the DUPLO farm set is perfect. We’re so pleased that the DUPLO blocks help develop spatial awareness and fine motor skills. Our daughter is already smart, and DUPLO will put her ahead of the pack!
We found a DUPLO All-In-One set! Now that we’ve discovered DUPLO this set is perfect-it will keep us in all the bricks we need! We love that the set comes with 65 large pieces and numbered bricks are included to help children develop and practice their counting skills.
We want to encourage our little girl to be creative, and her aunt has seen her play with their dog and thinks she’s going to be a real animal lover, so this set will have her playing with a cute grin on her face. It features a giraffe, a dog, a bunny, and an elephant and comes with twenty-five pieces. It’s bound to keep her occupied!
My husband is almost more excited about these than my little girl is going to be. LEGO is a great advantage to parenthood, so sign me up!
** Cover image courtesy of www.lego.com
