Price Tag: $48.90
Official URL: duplo.lego.com
Age Range: 1 1/2-5 years
Rating:

Duplo blocks are LEGO’s answer to the fact that their LEGO toy itself is too small for kids under three. 

These blocks are super-sized and chunky, but still small enough to make building intricate structures. 

THE PIECES

The Large Brick Box comes with 71 pieces. A building platform, a boy with a green hat and blue overalls, a “car” base, two square blocks with eye decals, and a variety of blocks in different sizes and colors, some of which are made of transparent plastic. 

Duplo blocks function just like LEGOS, locking together with pegged tops that fit into the bottom of each other. Even the building platform allows blocks to lock onto its bottom, making it possible to use it to build a house on stilts or other fun things. 

STORAGE 

I’m a big fan of the “Duplo Large Brick Box”. It’s about the size of a half a dish pan with slightly slanted sides. At the top it’s 15 x 8 1/2″, and it is about 8″ tall with its lid in place. It contains 71 blocks and unlike other tubs-o’-bricks it has enough room for you to add a few pieces to the collection, or more importantly: To be able to stash every single brick without running out of space. 

The storage tub has two drainage holes at the bottom, and a transparent green lid. It is made out of #5 recyclable plastic. Unfortunately #5 plastic is not easy to find a recycling center for, but they do exist. 

FUN/EDUCATIONAL 

These bricks by Duplo are a playdate favorite, apparently! Three children from 10 months to 2 1/2 years were over to play with my son last week and other than the toy cars, these Duplo blocks saw the most play. The kids played with them both individually and cooperatively. 

These toys are a great free-form building toy that stimulates the imagination by allowing kids to create cars, boats, trains, planes, houses, or anything that they can dream up. Younger children will fine-tune their fine motor skills as they stack the blocks together, as they get older they can be used to discuss different colors, and as they get even older they can be used to explore structural stability and other advanced topics. 

SAFETY 

The Duplo blocks and parts are large enough to be safe for younger children who still put things in their mouth. They are very well made of rigid plastic that washes clean easily and that can be sanitized. The only safety “risk” that these items pose is their ability to be used as a projectile, but that applies to any small non-soft toy. 

BOTTOM LINE 

These play bricks are great. Durable, functional, fun, brightly colored and extensible.