Young girl plays with the LEGO DUPLO Cafe setThere’s a lot of good TV on at the moment but if I’m craving some real drama – with a touch of comedy – I can always just watch the kids play.

As they have grown older their games have become more imaginative, more involved and in many cases more hilarious (for me, not them – they take it all quite seriously).

But even though the WAY they play has changed, the toy they play with has not.

They’re still playing with LEGO DUPLO, and it doesn’t look like they’ll grow out of it any time soon.

And I’m relieved. LEGO DUPLO is definitely my kids’ favourite toy and my favourite kids’ toy. Here’s why …

  • My son received a big box of LEGO DUPLO when he turned one and it is the only first birthday present that he still plays with – almost every day, more than four years later.
  • I love that it is sturdy, long-lasting, safe and relatively easy to clean up after (the whole collection lives in a big storage tub).
  • I love that it is helping my kids develop skills such as problem-solving, creativity, fine-motor development, hand-eye coordination, critical thinking, planning, three-dimensional thinking, organisation, plus much more.
  • I love that it is engaging. They can play with it for hours. They can play with it by themselves or with each other. And they can even play with it when the baby is around – although she does have a tendency to “wreck the game!!”. Their words, not mine.
  • But mostly I love how engrossed they become when they play. How ‘real’ the characters are to them and how truly bizarre things can become.

Here’s how a recent situation unfolded after two new LEGO DUPLO sets – the LEGO® DUPLO® Cafe and LEGO® DUPLO® Airport – were added to their collection.

The café owner versus the airport boss – A story in LEGO DUPLO

A mother and her young daughter are eating cake at a beautiful pastel-coloured outdoor cafe. There’s a fresh loaf of bread baking in the outdoor oven, the grass, though bumpy, is a lush shade of green and a row of large bright flowers border the eating area.

A handsome waiter approaches and asks if they’d like a coffee. The mother snaps at him ‘Coffee is for mummies, not little girls’. It does seem quite undeserved but she’s a busy mum and she hasn’t had her coffee yet so who am I to judge?

The waiter doesn’t seem too worried by the sudden outburst. He pours the coffee and informs the mother that it costs one dollar.

She pays him for the world’s cheapest coffee and he heads back to the cash register. He stands there for a while but seems a bit unbalanced. He falls on his face. No one notices.

What they do notice however is that while they’ve been enjoying their morning coffee a small airport development has started right next door to the once-quiet cafe. A small red and white plane is quietly fuelling up.

Then suddenly the plane takes off. The roar of the engine drowns out all other noise and the impact of its sudden departure knocks over a few of the carefully placed flowers much to the disgust of the cafe owner. The plane circles low and noisily around the café. It is possibly celebrating the airport’s opening with a joy ride.

The events of the day have angered the café owner and soon she has entered into ferocious negotiation with the airport boss.

While negotiations continue neither party notice when an escaped criminal from a neighbouring LEGO DUPLO set climbs on to the café roof.

Soon a stray giraffe wanders through the café. Still no one notices.

They do notice however when pieces of the café start being pulled off by what they describe as “A MONSTER”!!!

The monster continues to rip apart the café and then turns her attention to the airport. The luggage carousel is torn apart and luggage is strewn everywhere. The airport customers watch in horror. Their flights will no doubt be cancelled. Their holiday plans ruined. Some of them fall over in disbelief.

The monster stomps on the flowers, picks up the fallen waiter and runs off into the distance while the café owner and airport boss call the emergency services!

“MUM!!! She’s wrecking our game!!”

 

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This blog post is sponsored by LEGO® DUPLO® 

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