Duplo Questions

[JoyNChrist]

After reading everyone's replies to my "playsets for toddlers" thread, I checked out Little People, Playmobile 123, and Duplo. And guess what...the little animals and things that DS loves at my mom's house? Pretty sure they're Duplo (although they're older than me, so maybe it's Duplo's predecessor...anyway, same concept - blocks and small people/animals/vehicles).

So I think this is what we're going to go with - DS loves blocks and animals and playsets, so I think Duplo will be great for us. I'd like to get him a few pieces (or maybe a small set) for Christmas (may get the in-laws to do this), and then if he likes them like I think he will we'll buy more for his birthday in March.

So I went to the Duplo website to get ideas. And...um...whoa. Where do I start? Are there any good, basic first sets? Or anything your kids particularly enjoy?

And where do I usually find the best prices for this stuff?

TIA!

[kayte]

I prefer the duplo sets on the Lego Education line. They have a few basic (but broad) starter sets.

http://www.legoeducation.com/store/default.aspx?KeyWords=duplo&by=20&page=1&s=32

Town Set
Wild Animal Set
Farm Set

or the more expensive XL Bulk Set

We have a set from their educational set and then added to it with basic blocks and odds and ends from consignment sales and from Craigslist.

(also you can often find the ed sets on Amazon)

[hellokitty]

We have the town set and my kids play with it EVERY day. I rotate toys, but the duplo never gets rotated out, since they play with it all of the time. It's a nice big set, enough for 2-4 kids to play with at once.

[fivi2]

There was a pretty recent thread about favorite sets... I don't have time to search now, but there were a few good answers.

We currently have some plain duplos and two of the Percy at the sheds from the Thomas line.

I plan to add the town set and maybe the tubes experiment set and maybe some people. (The tubes set may come later, because this is getting out of hand!)

I also might ask my dad to get the duplo Thomas starter set (2 of them - my girls don't share).

The Percys have been HUGE over here, but they also like just building things. Seriously Duplo gets a lot of action over here. I already have a wooden farm playset, or I'd be tempted to do that too!

eta: I feel like I should say that my girls of course share some things, but a Duplo Thomas... That would be the cause of serious problems if I only got one! (they are twins - almost 3)

[Tondi G]

I've seen the Dino Valley set at a LEGO store and my 3 year old thought it was cool!

http://duplo.lego.com/en-us/products/5598.aspx

the circus set looks like fun too

http://duplo.lego.com/en-us/products/5593.aspx

My little guy is into trucks so he would like the construction site

http://duplo.lego.com/en-us/products/4988.aspx

the farm animals are cute

http://duplo.lego.com/en-us/products/4972.aspx

http://duplo.lego.com/en-us/products/4665.aspx

[JoyNChrist]

Thank for all the input ladies...I think we may ask the in-laws to get the town set for Christmas, then if DS likes it we'll add on for his birthday.

Any idea where to get the best prices? Is the Lego store usually cheapest, or Amazon, or somewhere else?