Over Christmas break our playtime mainly revolved around Aidan’s new found obsession with Duplo, something I was quite happy to indulge him with. If I’m completely honest, I’d been waiting for the day he’d fall in love with those brightly coloured plastic blocks just like I did as a child. As soon as he’s old enough for Lego there will be no stopping me! I was a complete addict as a child.
I’m happy to report, six months later, they are still the toys he plays with most. Since Duplo isn’t cheap in comparison to other things on the market I found it’s way better value for money. Steve and I will also admit that we got so carried away with the obsession ourselves that many a night was spent trawling the internet for Duplo deals together.
“My First Farm” is a favourite because it came with lots of animal figurines and a “grandpa”. Watching Aidan create stories with them melts my heart. Duplo is such a freeing form of play, it lets the imagination run wild and everyone at any age can play along. Constructing also helps develop his motor skills. Educational and fun… who knew!
He scoops the imaginary poop with the tiny shovel, he force feeds the sheep a yellow cube of “hay” and the “silly pig” always eats the flowers. All the animals have to go to bed in the pen and brush their teeth.
The sets I had as a child weren’t as fancy, the colours were basic and the people weren’t as detailed, they didn’t even have arms or legs! Now Duplo is a wonderland of awesome little details.
Aidan’s “My First Fire Station“ was the first set we bought him and it’s been a firm favourite. It comes with two cars which he loves to race as well as a puppy which always seems to need rescuing from the window.
I often bring out Duplo whilst Aidan’s having his afternoon nap and build one of the sets myself or dream up my own fancy pants building so that when he wakes up and his little feet pitter patter down the hallway, he’s met with this awesome surprise activity ready to go. It also makes for a peaceful afternoon of relaxed imaginative play.
Once we started collecting sets and numerous vehicles we quickly realised we needed to figure out a storage option. I’ve seen a lot of brilliant idea on Pinterest but sometimes you can’t beat a simple affordable solution like a box.
I bought three of these foldable boxes from Aldi when they were in store a few months back but a lot of dollar shops and discount homeware stores have them too. They’re light and soft so Aidan can drag them into the living room yet big enough to keep all different sized blocks, platforms and vehicles. I stack them on top of each other next to Aidan’s bookcase in his room.
Aidan was a very happy boy when Duplo sent him a gift in the mail, “My First Zoo” especially when he saw all the different animals. The week it arrived he carried the giraffe and tiger everywhere, they even went to bed with him!
What I like about these sets is how much you get for the price you pay. I understand the longevity of Lego products, in my opinion they’re timeless and last forever. Aidan loves playing with all my “vintage” Duplo at Grandma and Grandpa’s house so forking out a little extra doesn’t bother me. Honestly the Duplo cars, tractors, trucks, trains and planes have the best wheels and construction… plus they roll so far when you race them!
To go with his sets we bought a set of Building Plates so we could build higher towers and a Large Green Plate which makes play a lot sturdier. Whilst the kits have a lot of cool people, cars and animals there never felt like there were enough bricks so during the sales at BigW we bought a Standard Brick set which meant our towers and houses could be bigger, taller and better!
Want a set for your little one?
PRIZE: 1x Duplo “My First Zoo” Set (RRP $39.99)
TO WIN: State “ZOO” in the comments below and tell me your favourite animal in the set and why.
PRIZE: 1x “My First Farm” Set (RRP $39.99)
TO WIN: State “FARM” in the comments below and tell me your favourite animal in the set and why.
PRIZE: 1x “My First Fire Station” Set (RRP $39.99)
TO WIN: State “FIRE” in the comments below and tell me one thing that you would save from a fire in your home.
Competition is open to Australian residents only. This is a game of skill. Competition closes on Thursday 7th June at 5PM AEST. You can only enter once for each “ZOO”, “FARM” or “FIRE” set so a total of three entries may be made per person. Winners will be announced in the comments section of this post and by email. Please note: I was not paid for this post and was gifted the “My First Zoo” set only. I asked to giveaway the three prize packs simply because I’m passionate about Lego Duplo products.
{ 70 comments… read them below or add one }
Farm- my favourite animal would have to be the rooster. I could just see me and my daughter miss a playing with this set all day as it reminds me of my parents house in toodyay where you awake at 5am by the lovely morning rooster “noises”. To have her own little “farm” she would absolutely love .
“FIRE” – I would save the newest addition to our family – FELIX (our new kitten) as everyone else is old enough to run for their lives but poor little Felix was saved from an unfortunate start to life and is quite the scaredy cat!
As long as we are all safe the material part of our life, although nice to have, is not essential!
“FARM”
My favorite animal is pig, its been my favorite animal in the whole wide world, and as a child i always wanted one as a pet. Now my love for farm animals has rubbed off on our 10month old, he especially loves pigs on tv or when nan calls and makes the noises, he giggles and has to catch his breath because he gets so carried away. His 1st bday is coming up soon, all ive organised in the way of presents is a horse book end and an animal farm themed party with a petting zoo. This would be a lovely keepsake to remember the special day and the theme that went with it. And as he gets older i hope he can use his imagination and experiences with animals to think up wonderous stories and adventures with his first ever lego.
Awesome post, the colours and vibrancy of happy times is great!
Steve looks like he really enjoys the adventures too!
I would enter but im sure aidan doesnt need to double up and a second set at grandmas house would hurt grandpas feet!
Oh and im guessing u rearranged the lounge room? Tv infront of fireplace?
Steve did that and yep, the room is switched around.
Zoo – My Favourite animal would be the Giraffe as my son Loves telling me all about Gerry the Giraffe at the moment. His imagination is just amazing
Zoo – I love the Elephant. We went to the Zoo for Easter and I just loved looking at the Elephants play and eat. There was a little baby Elephant and it was rubbing up against its Mum. It was so adorable!
“Farm”
The Chook! My little girl LOVES chooks! I am not sure why but every time she was seen one she gets so excited she squeals and wants to touch it. When we went to the Zoo she oohh and ahhed over all the animals but when we went to the little patting zoo part she nearly lost her mind with excitement to see a cook running around. Go figure!
How awesome are Lego and Duplo?! Thanks for this giveaway – I love the stuff!
FIRE! I often lie in bed thinking about my fire plan. Obviously it involves a round up of loved ones but closely following my children comes my external hard drive with all my photos backed up onto it. Those newborn photos of my boys and all the little milestones along the way are so wonderful to have caught on film and I’d be more that devastated if they were destroyed.
That, and perhaps my fave red corduroy overcoat. That thing is pretty sacred.
Farm! The chicken for sure! Seeing the excitement in my 2yr olds face when she saw the chickens at a city farm we took her to was priceless. She talks about going back to city farm to see the chickens and go on the tractor ride all the time. This duplo would be wonderful as she has a broken leg :( and is in a cast for six weeks and I am fast running out of things to keep her occupied!
FIRE:
Beyond saving the obvious stuff (like the kids, Mr P23 and the hard drive) I think I’d lose my shit if I didn’t save my hard copy $2 diary from The Reject Shop. Yes I’m *that* classy – and organised! – at the same time. No seriously, it has everyone’s important birthdays, a miriad of lists in it, and a list of baby names I’m considering when for when I pop in about 10 weeks time.
x Mrs P23
Zoo: The elephant as it is so cute with the big fork thing in its mouth and I love elephants and how they use their trunk!
ZOO!
The elephant is my favourite animal simply because Levi has just started saying it and it makes my heart melt. “Ele-pant”.
xo Nicky.
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FARM!
The sheep is my favourite, only because there is no goat in the set. I’d love a goat. I would hug it and love it and call it Billy. I’m not a freak, I swear.
xo Nicky.
Nicky Hughes recently posted..We did it!
ZOO: My favourite animal in the set is the Giraffe. I KNOW my Niece and Nephew will love playing with this set if I win!
and FIRE!
Oh gosh this word scares me a bit since we moved to the Hills, into a “code red” zone. The one thing (other than family members, they aren’t really things right?) I would grab is the box I have sitting at our front door. My bush fire box which contains our birth certificates, marriage certificates, fire blanket, first aid kit, etc etc. Pay to be organised right?
xo Nicky
FARM: The sheep looks so cute, or the cow, or the chicken – oh so many to choose from. I think farm animals are so much fun for kids to play with. I remember loving my farm set as a kid!
FIRE: I would save my photos and my computer. My whole life is on my computer!!
Fire!
I couldn’t imagine having to have one thing! It would have to be my hard drive though.
Lovely photo’s by the way :)
FARM: I love chickens they are so cute and I would love to own one but a duplo one is cute
FARM we love duplo here for all three kids. Fav animal is definitely sheep, something to do with my last name :P
ZOO
My little boy (also named Aidan!) is almost two. He has a pretty severe speech delay which has led to all sorts of problems for us, including a possible ASD diagnosis.
The last two months have been a major learning curve for him, and one of his favourite animals to look at is the tiger. He’s even started to say ‘meow’ and roar when we point one out. Its amazing watching him learn and grow. I know he would love the zoo set for his birthday next month!
FIRE
My children of course!!! and if any time left my Laptop, Sentimental Jewellery and Photos as everything else can be replaced!
Farm- and my little monkey twins loooove pigs. but they can’t make the ‘oink’ noise… So, in our house, pigs make a weird nightmare-ish kinda croaking noise. It’s hilarious.
FARM- The pig. My son calls every pig “Peppa”. He loves animals, especially pigs.
Fire – (ironic huh!!) I would save the computer. Mainly because all my photos are on it! I would be devastated if I lost the last 3.5 years worth of photos, the whole of my son’s life!!
ZOO – def the giraffe. Felix loves dragging the giraffe by the tail to get onto the plane in the LEGO:DUPLO app. He loves putting the bandaids on his ouchies when he falls down too, and he says “let’s make him happy” :) bless.
Farm – have to say COW because whenever Felix graces up with his rendition of Old MacDonald, he thinks he’s ever so funny saying ‘cow’ every verse.
Will I ever tire of “Ol MacDonall hasa PARM..” ?
ZOO – my adorable baby niece is a water baby so she can pretend she can swim just like one……she is only 5 months old but it would make a wonderful present for the future……
FIRE
Apart from my harddrive with all my photos on it, I’d grab three little boxes from in my wardrobe. One for each child. They contain some precious baby memories that I want to hand down.
Their christening outfit, a couple of pieces of baby clothes, a precious baby toy. Booties knitted by their late great grandmother.
I hope that one day they get to be recycled with their own love.
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Wasn’t sure if could enter more than one draw but it appears other people have so…
Farm – definently the cow! As a kid i loved these animals – i love the way the eat, so cute. On my parents farm I would slowly walk up to them talking on the time and try and get as close as possible
Fire station – definently my book collection. Accumulated over so many years, my escape from reality – i would could into melt down without it!
“ZOO” The giraffe would have to be my favourite animal. Who wouldn’t fall for a tall, leggy, graceful creature like the giraffe. Those big doe eyes framed by gorgeous long lashes- sigh- I just want to take one home. I promise my son and I would take good care of it!
“FIRE” There is only one thing that is not replaceable in my home and that would be my hard drive the thought of loosing all those wonderful memory’s makes me cringe!
& of course if I won this faboulous duplo set I would save it as well :) lol.
ZOO
My favourite is the elephant because my 2 yr old sounds so cute when she tries to pronounce it.
What a wonderful prize. My children play with the Duplo we got as kids in the UK back in 1985!! But adding to their collection would be fantastic!
FARM
The chicken- we had chickens growing up- and i so wish we could have them now but we live on a little duplex block. We grow a lot of our own veggies and herbs but that’s not the same, is it? lol.
FIRE
I would save my doona. It would be bundled up around my laptop, DSLR camera, photoalbums, our birth certificates, wallets, a change of clothes each and each of my children’s favourite toys.
Does that count as ‘one’ thing? ;o)
ZOO
It would have to be the giraffe, because I seriously don’t know what noises they make, so I always have to make something up when I’m pretending!
FARM
Chicken. Two reasons – the Chicken Man song by Evelyn Evelyn, and the chicken impressions from Arrested Development. Youtube em.
FIRE
Woof, my stuffed dog, that I got for my first Christmas and still have on my bed at nearly 30!
Zoo- My nearly 2 yr old adores animals. My fav animal in the set would have to be the cow. lachlan has starting to name all the animal on a farm but instead of saying the name he says the noise it makes ….. so MOOOOO is a favorite of his.
ZOO – I love giraffes! Can’t explain why I explain they are just so different and unique!
FARM – I’d have to say I love the chicken best mainly because my 16 month old son can now repeat “cluck cluck cluck” when you ask him what sounds does a chicken make – soooo cute!
FIRE – aside from family members the first thing I would grab is my external hard drive which has all the photos of my children on it. And if time I’d grab a few pre-digital childhood photo albums!
Zoo
Oh my gosh. That little giraffe, is the cutest thing in the world.. I just wanna eat it.
ZOO – Since birth my neice has had everything jungle themed. Nothing beats the fact that at 18month she can identify each and every one. Her favourite and therefore MY favourite in this set {she’s just that darn cute} is ‘raffe. Who doesn’t love a long neck and gorgeous lashes. ;)
FIRE – I’d save my Nana’s Piano! It’s in my care and my family treasures it so much! It holds a lot of special memories for us all.. It might be a little difficult to push but I’d give it a go!! :P
ZOO – The Polar Bear! So adorable…the little black nose is so cute!
Zoo- I love the elephant! We went to Bali for our honeymoon just so I could see real elephants. Because of this Lior has ended up with HEAPS of elephant stuff- hopefully he’ll like them too. :-)
FARM – The chicken! I’d love to have a few of those strutting around my backyard!
Farm- I like the hen, cause hens are awesome ninjas and they can fly everywhere and beat stuff.
Fire- External hard drive. Dorky, I know, but seriously, it has all our iPhoto libraries, and for my photos are to be treasured, so they’re really important to keep!
ZOO – fav animal has to be the giraffe. As soon as we get to the zoo the first thing my boys look for on the map is the little picture of the giraffe. Can’t wait to see the looks on their face when they saw this tiny one to play with!
FARM – fav animal would be the cow. How gorgeous is the little duplo cow! So lifelike!
FIRE – hmmmmm what would I save … obviously after saving my boys :) would have to be my laptop or my external hard drive or my Project Life albums. And my handbag, cause having to cancel and get new cards is a real pain lol
Farm. My favorite animal would be the chickens, useful (for eggs) and so dumb they are cute :)
Fire, think I would save my laptop, has all the photos of my family :)
Zoo- I love the elphants the most at the zoo. Watching the baby ones playing and getting up to mischief on our last zoo visit made them a fav.
Zoo – would have to be the elephant, my little girl has just learnt the elephant’s sound which is paired with a trumping arm. I think she would love that figurine!
Farm – the sheep. Is there anything cuter than this fluffy little duplo sheep???
Fire – Our little girl.
Thanks for an amazing competition. I’m sure who is every lucky enough to win will har hours d enjoyment with their kids.
ZOO – the tiger…my sons favourite zoo animal…rrraah goes the tiger he says!
FARM – the sheep…reminds me of my childhood out in the paddock rounding up the sheep
FIRE – I have to cheat & say two things…the two most precious little things in my life…my kids!
Thanks for putting up an awesome competion…& I agree…Duplo is worth every cent.
Farm – we love sheep in this household, from the green sheep to little people sheep, its the one animal all 3 of my kids know the noise of and we have endless ‘baa baas’ all day long!
zoo – elephants are king here, the elephant dance never fails to lift bad moods
fire – man: everyone loves a fireman, especially mumma and my little boy reckons he wants to be a fireman
COMPETITION CLOSED
FARM: Laura Marando
FIRE: Nicky Hughes
ZOO: Talia