10 of the best LEGO DUPLO sets
Before your child gets into LEGO, there’s a pretty high chance they’ll love LEGO DUPLO first. These bright bricks are twice the size of LEGO ones to make sure they’re super-safe for little hands – and they have some great sets going. Here’s our pick of the best…
If you have a child aged aged 1½ upwards, LEGO DUPLO is seriously fun for them to play with, as well as helping them with their motor skills, number skills, creativity and much, much more.
But there is SO much of it to choose from – how do you decide which set to go for?
Worry not, we’ve put together an edit of our favourites sets on offer, which include the simpler offerings to the bigger ones and everything in between. Take a look…
10 of the best LEGO DUPLO sets
1. Airport
Get your child ready and excited for the holidays with this lovely buildable airport set that comes complete with 3 figures: dad, child and, of course, the pilot to fly the plane!
Your toddler can let their imagination run wild with what’s on offer here, putting together the boarding gate and luggage slide, checking in the suitcase and, most importantly, deciding exactly where you’ll all be going on holiday…
Price: £17.99 Buy it now
2. Farm Animals
Little animal lovers can recreate their own Old McDonald’s farm with the calf, pig, cat and chicken in this set.
There’s an easy-to-build chicken coop with an opening and shutting door and window which your toddler will love to walk their animals through themselves.
The 5-brick construction is a straight-forward design to encourage tots to master basic construction skills themselves.
They can proudly show off the house they’ve designed, without getting frustrated at something overly complicated.
Children on the verge of speech will enjoy making the right sounds and vocalizing their animal figures, helping them reach key developmental milestones on the road to first words and sounds.
Price: £9.99 Buy it now
3. Number Train
This is a fantastically colourful introduction to numbers and counting and a firm favourite among parents and children.
The chunky number blocks help with early number recognition and there are endless building combinations to keep construction fans entertained.
On our forum, Sophie n Kevin’s mum is a huge fan. “For me as Sophie's mum, I was truly surprised at just how much she is able to play with the number train at only 18 months old,” she said.
“I like the fact that this is a toy that will keep giving in a number of ways. Firstly, that even if we lost pieces from it, we can add and change other pieces of DUPLO into it, and secondly that as she grows she will get different aspects of play and learning through the set.
“It will help with left and right brain development, right brain creativity and left brain for numbers and spatial awareness.”
Price: £12.99 Buy it now
4. My First Fun Puzzle
These 5 bright animals click together as 3-piece puzzles, so little builders can create their own quirky creatures with mismatched bricks and high-stacking animals.
Correctly identifying and matching the animals helps your toddler learn colours, and swapping round the heads, bodies and feet will fire their imaginations as they start to become creative thinkers.
How about a flamingo head, tiger body and crocodile tail? You and your child could have a race to see who can build the fastest.
Or maybe let them have a go at stacking a really tall totem pole! This puzzle helps improve hand-eye coordination among even the youngest children as they develop their fine motor skills.
Price: £12.99 Buy it now
39 fun ideas, games and activities – visit our Playzone
Promoted by LEGO DUPLO
5. Fire Station
With its own working light and siren sound effect, the DUPLO Fire Station is a brilliant way to introduce some sound and noise into your child’s playtime.
They can visit the station with 2 figures and a friendly fire station dog, then pretend to put out the campfire with a hose and fire hydrant. Your toddler will like to fit the firefighters into the truck and switch on the flashing light and siren.
And they will love to race round the living room adding their own ‘nee-nah nee-nah’ sound effects.
Price: £39.99 Buy it now
6. My First Car Creations
Four different coloured vehicles make up this set, so your little one can match the bricks to create a helicopter, taxi, rubbish truck and fire engine, or mix them up to build their own cool things that go.
Combining just a few chunky bricks will help inspire their imaginations, and once the cars are built it’s time for the sort of classic fun children have been enjoying since the invention of cars – and toy cars – more than a century ago.
Mum Alice Dixon on our forum said she and her 2 boys, aged 3-and-a-half and 18 months, loved DUPLO’s sturdiness and versatility.
“What I like best about the LEGO (DUPLO) is how well made it is,” she said. “It's really high quality. I think what my sons enjoyed best is how colourful the bricks are and how many possibilities there are when building them.”
Price: £14.99 Buy it now
7. Balancing animals
We think your toddler will fall head over heels for these oh-so friendly looking zoo animals. This lovely set comes with 4 very cheerful looking buildable characters – a lion, panda, monkey and an elephant.
You also get a seesaw so your child can practice putting these furry friends on it and holding them steady – or using the bricks to keep it balanced.
Great for imaginative play – and to build language skills as you talk about the different animals and what they’ve been up to that day!
Price: £12.99 Buy it now
8. Steam Train
It’s got sound effects, lights, and it goes by itself – the steam train is a great introduction to the concept of cause and effect for your toddler.
There are 5 action bricks to build into the train track which trigger different motions – like changing direction or sounding the horn.
Your child gets to be the train driver with the Push & Go motor, which means a gentle push either forwards or backwards sends the steam train on its way.
There’s an optional app to download which unlocks more nifty tricks, like a remote-control function, and the set can be combined with additional tracks bought separately to make it even bigger.
Price: £54.99 Buy it now
9. Pizzeria
This is small world role play-centred on a subject dear to many toddlers – food – and pizza especially.
What’s not to like? The decorated story bricks will kick-start many role play opportunities with ice creams, tomatoes, cheese, pepper, pizzas, money and a till all represented.
There’s also a DUPLO mobile phone to take orders – of course! Little hands can lift the wide oven door to cook the pizzas, then pop them on the back of the delivery bike and speed across town.
Price: £24.99 Buy it now
10. LEGO DUPLO All-in-One-Box-of-Fun
Improving fine motor skills is an essential development milestone in your little one’s life, and they’ll be as proud as you are of their buildings and creations.
The All-in-One-Box-of-Fun is filled with a variety of building bricks, a figure, a dog and a set of wheels, as well as several picture story bricks and numbers.
But equally important is the idea of destructive play too. Mum MamaAsh, whose son is 2 years and 10 months, said on our forum: “Personally, I like that LEGO DUPLO is solid as well as a great bigger-sized while not sharp-edged set.”
She explained: “When Dylan had a tantrum, he threw the train on the floor, on the wall... and none of the pieces broke at all. It came apart but that is normal!”
So just remember, what goes up must come down! Your toddler can build up high – and then smash it apart. And that’s all part of the learning fun.
Price: £24.99 Buy it now
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