Duplos by Lego

By Ariel

In which Ariel  goes on and on (and on) about how awesome Lego's Duplos are.  This post contains affiliate links. By using them you help keep Busy Nest News going strong. Thank you for your continued support!

Duplo: Everyone's Favorite Building Block

Duplos! Where do I even start?! They are everyone’s favorite building block for a reason.  Many reasons in fact. For those unfamiliar with Duplos, they are Legos more robust cousin. Legos - the tiny building blocks always featured in parental editions of the floor is lava videos on youtube. And yes – if you haven’t experienced it – stepping on Legos is roughly equivalent to walking across a field of hot coals. Are you picturing a Lego? Enlarge that image to five times it’s normal size. Now you are picturing a Duplo. Duplos are designed to be the ideal building material for young hands still learning fine motor skills. Also, they are too large to be swallowed. Though I swear Bean tests this every time she plays with them.

Duplos come in a variety of sets – ones geared towards 1-2-year-olds and ones geared toward 3-5-year-olds. Sets geared towards the younger crowd, also known as My First Sets,  focus on letter and number recognition and feature more puzzles.

While sets geared toward the older crowd, focus more on building and imaginative play. They tend to be more expensive, but they are also larger and more comprehensive. So if you are building a collection, these are the sets you want to gravitate towards.

Bean is not yet two but we have been mixing and matching with great success. If you don't want to play fast and loose choosing Duplo sets, Lego is kind enough to print the appropriate ages right on the front of the box.

But Duplos can be used for more than just free-form construction. You can build vases then makes flowers to put in them. You can build scenery for your puppets. You can build a maze for your toy cars. If you are feeling uninspired checkout Lego.com for suggestions. On their website, you will also find that they have developed Apple and Android Apps for little Duplo lovers - called Lego Duplo Town and Lego Duplo Train.

Does your little one have a current obsession? If your child has a favorite character you may be able to incorporate them into their Duplo hoopla! Duplo has several playsets dedicated to current popular characters such as Doc McStuffins, Sofia, Spiderman and the ever-classic Mickey and Minnie.

But the biggest draw for me? Because Duplos have been around since I played with them, there are numerous generic brands available. All of them are competing for your business! Don’t see exactly what you are looking for? Try a competing brand. No, they won’t have the famous Duplo name but they will be compatible with the Duplo blocks you already have. Always remember to double check the product description though, just in case. Before we owned a set of our own, our favorite toy at our local library was their Duplo building table. Bean is in love with the dinosaur set included in their collection. But when I went to look for them I couldn’t find them! Were they discontinued? Nope. Answer? They aren’t legit Duplos. They are on Beans birthday wish list though, just the same. We are not too proud to buy generic in the Bean household.

If you are looking for a more inexpensive option, with minimal digging you should be able to find inexpensive used sets. With no moving parts and sturdy hard plastic construction Duplos are an ideal toy to purchase second hand.

Not convinced yet? I bet a library in your local area has a Duplo building table. Try them out and see if they are for you. That’s what we did. Now we can’t live without them.

What are you you favorite building materials for tiny hands? As you can see, we are partial to Duplos.

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