This is a compensated review from BlogHer and LEGO® DUPLO®.
*Update! We have a winner!
Congratualtions Keeslermom of Keesler Chaos! I know you have a pefect kiddo in mind! Enjoy!
My 4 year old daughter, Lucy is undoubtedly a tactile/kinesthetic learner. I have learned that stopping to touch flowers and leaves and towels and clothing and toys and even cans in the canned food aisle are a huge deal to my daughter. Her favorite things to touch are soft things, and if she could go about life in her bare feet, she would. Even in at the park in 40 degree rain…
My little girl is a busy little girl… always looking for a new sensory experience.
She is an explorer and only recently has my maternal “light bulb” turned on. I am learning that I need to allow her time to touch, feel, smell and explore as we march through our day-to-day happenings.
Even something as simple as feeling the water temperature change when she gets ready to “do the dishes”. Yes, my 4 year old helps “clean” the dishes. I think she is drawn to the “slick” feeling that soap and other surfaces create. She loves the feel of the water running on her hands. Yesterday she approached me with a mushroom bouquet and squaled, “OH Mama! Feel! These are SOOOOOO soft!”
Her hands are ALWAYS moving… coloring, drawing, scribbling, building, cleaning, scratching, touching, feeling, touching…
We recently tore into our new LEGO® DUPLO® package… I made her wait a couple of days before we did, and she nearly came unglued.
Once the contents were emptied, there was no holding her back.
We worked together to build the rescue station. This was her first experience with full LEGO® freedom. Her older brother has his Star Wars collection that she is allowed very limited access to. This little project was a very big deal… “Mama! Feel this!” There were a couple times the pieces she was playing with popped apart. She cried, “It broke-ed!”
I said, “Oh honey. These don’t break. Look!” And in a snap the “broke-ed” parts were repaired and after a couple of repairs, she got it. A little while later a piece came off. She giggled and said, “It’s not broke-ed”. I can fix it Mama!”
*****
LEGO® DUPLO® wants to encourage imaginative play in children. In keeping with this theme, they are offering a LEGO® DUPLO® prize pack to one of you! To enter for a chance at this prize pack, leave me a comment below and share how you get creative and stimulate development in your kids – or you may leave a link to your post on your own blog in the comments below. The contest will begin at 9:00 a.m. (PST) November 9, 2009 and will end 8:59 a.m. (PST) November 16, 2009.. Make sure that the e-mail address you leave is correct.
Rules:
- No duplicate comments.
- You may receive an additional entry by linking on twitter and leaving a link in the comments.
- You may receive an additional entry by blogging about this contest and leaving a link in the comments.
- This giveaway is open to US Residents, aged 18 and older
- Winners will be selected via random draw, and will be notified by e-mail.
- You have 48 hours to get back to me, otherwise a new winner will be selected.
Please see the official rules here: Official rules
Winner to be chosen via the Random Number Generator.
Be sure to check out the other reviews at BlogHer! You have 8 chances to win!:
Feel free to visit the official site for more information: Duplo official site
My son loves things with wheels. He likes to roll them and build on them and then he takes the wheels apart. He builds and destroys everything. I love giveing him an outlet to so so. We have TONS of duplo and am really hoping we can add to it
Creativity in our house runneth over – literally. Out of necessity, we designated a wall – a whole wall! – to my daughter’s pictures: drawings, coloring pages, things cut out of magazines, other “projects,” etc. This wall spills over onto the chair next to the wall, her desk next to the chair, my desk next to her desk, the sliding glass doors next to my desk, and the easel next to the doors. So we’re now up to 3 sides of the room covered in pictures. And we’re out of Scotch tape. And we love every one of those pictures. (especially since I can close the door to that room
My kids are Lego maniacs! We always have some project or another being built in my son’s room. And heaven help you if you need to vacuum in there! My biggest advise in helping kids be creative is unplug! Find a way to make it work for your family and schedule, but make sure kids have time where they are not allowed to watch TV, computer, or game, then survive the whining until the playing starts.
My boys color and paint a lot.
mami2jcn at gmail dot com
My grandson is 4 and he is into Lego’s right now. He loves to build and build again everyday. He is has a great imagination and would love a set of these lego’s.
My 6 year old has always had a knack for building and putting things together. He would put his train tracks together in crazy designs all over his room. He has recently started using the Lego Mosaic blocks. Everyday he puts together 2 or 3 predesigned pictures and then works to make his own. He also loves to draw and color. Each week we change out the picture on the fridge with his latest artwork. All of the bedroom doors in our house also have a personal message with artwork taped to them. I love seeing his work all over the house. I love that he feels free to express himself.
We have a super creative bunch of kids. When we are reading aloud, they love are constantly drawing. Of course, every one of them loves Legos (although big brother has the best set but doesn’t share it readily). They also get really creative when left outside for hours to play with lots of odds and ends at their disposal, or at least things they ‘think’ are at their disposal : )
http://noggintoppers.wordpress.com/2008/11/30/enjoy-going-in-circles/
I try to encourage my children to play. Whether it is with paint or Legos, or even with empty cardboard boxes, they really enjoy the moment they are in. These Legos would be an excellent toy to explore their creativity with and to really enjoy!
OK I blogged about it….so I get another one- YAY!
http://noggintoppers.wordpress.com/2009/11/10/link-to-giveaway/
My daughter is almost 14 months … and it is wonderful to see her creativity blossoming already, even though she is still a baby. I love giving her the freedom to play with things unconventionally … among her favorite toys are her socks, my makeup, the tic tac boxes, mail, empty food containers, pens and pencils. Sometimes something in me starts to say, “put that down,” or “no, we don’t play with that,” but I hold my tongue and watch the neurons fire in her brain as she goes to work with her treasures. And I know I’ve learned more from her thus far than she from me! I can’t wait to see how her creativity continues to unfold as she approaches toddlerhood.
I think about this constantly. I am a preschool teacher and a mom of 2 preschoolers. Today the creative thing we did was to play a game of follow the leader with the additional prop of dancing scarves. Then I had them throw the scarves in the air and catch them in different silly ways, “Now on your nose!”
We ended the exercise by skipping back inside and winding down to two Dan Zanes songs.
We love to play with Legos, and even use them in schoolwork!
I encourage my kids to help in the kitchen…it’s amazing how much they can learn from cooking!
We give our kids extra wood from my husbands projects and they like to make forts and projects with it. So fun for them to create their own things!
I love it when my kids rediscover toys that have been shelved. That happened over the weekend with Legos. Our modest set coupled with a stash donated my my sister (Thank you Cheryl!) resulted in a full day of Lego play. In fact, my daughter has come home the last 5 days and resumed her lego creations. Legos Rock!
My son loves to play in th ekitchen with pots and pans, some platic spoons I let him use and water go a long way.
This weekend he also har sevearl pieces of leftover wood to play with and he loves to play outside with leaves.
He loves to build things so he will ove some legos.
I try to encourage a lot of creativity with my 4 kids, 9 and under. We have a loft stocked with beads, paints, crayons, paper, markers, stencils, puzzles, scraps of cloth, glue and other craft-y items and if my kids aren’t outside building a fort or making mud pies, you can find them upstairs making something (usually involving a big mess, but oh well!) The basement is stocked with a giant tub of legos (many left over from when my husband was a kid) and they all build together for hours!
My kids are 2, 4 and almost 6. I thought my son who is the oldest would be into blocks and legos, but he only showed a little interest in the blocks we’ve given him. He’d rather work outside on something mechanical! But my girls have taken over his blocks and they build castles and houses for their dolls and barbies-it is so fun. I would love to get them more. I haven’t tried any of the kits yet, just the basic blocks.
My 3yo uses his Duplo to build giant skyscraper construction cranes. We’ve added string & a hook to make it look like a real crane. Thrills him every time!
I buy the ends of the news print rolls from our local newspaper and let the kids color and paint on them. We roll it out across the floor and they go nuts.
We love Legos too!!
We’re into legos, unit blocks, crayons, and blanket-and-chair fort building here! Anything that involves the very basics of toys or using our imaginations to turn regular everyday things into toys is our favorite way to stimulate creativity.
As a mother of 3 kids ages – 4, 2.5 & 6 months imaginations are always in high gear! I believe “pretend play” is one of the best ways to spark development both physically and mentally in my children. Building cities, driving cars, dressing up, playing school and so much more are common in my house! Whatever my kids have on their mind that day is what we are going to do – pretend play keeps them active, deveolps fine motor skills, helps them express themselves verbally and so much more.
My son Ty just spotted that duplo rescue center in a magazine advertisement…he’s been carrying around one copy and the other he put in his nana’s purse so she would know what to get him for Christmas!!
Oh to be a kid again!
Drawing, Painting, Playdoh®, LEGOS®, Building, Forts. We are a creative family. We do arts & crafts, Build huge forts out of every pillow, blanket, mattresses (the kids small mattresses, the queen is just to heavy). I try to let me kids know its okay to be creative, It can all be cleaned up ( I have to remind my self sometimes). As long as things aren’t being destroyed or broken. Its fair game. How their minds amaze me. “Logic will take you from A – B. Imagination will take you everywhere.” A. Einstein. A Quote I have up in the house to remind us. Thanks for listening.
Hi, Great prize giveaway drawing! Our youngest son has always been able to amuse himself with his creativity and and has built with blocks, Duplo, etc., since he was two years old. Our family encourages imagination with Play-Doh, games and building indoor forts
with blankets and chairs! Please enter my name in your drawing.
I appreciate it very much…..
Thanks, Cindi
“Tweet!”
http://twitter.com/cmh512/status/5612388214.
Again, many thanks…..Cindi
My son loves anything & everything Lego! He is also autistic. He works through events in his daily life using them. He has been told often that he has a “photographic” memory. He pays attention to every little detail when he builds something. He’s created a realistic fax/printer/scanner combination, a fully functional garbage truck, & even a manger scene at Christmas complete with Mary, Joseph, Jesus, & the 3 Wise Men!
we totally love lego.star wars and indiana jones bricks are everywere,but we also noticed that my boys not need much to have fun by themselves.wood pieces,stones,sticks and sand also do the trick.
My five-year-old daughter cannot go five minutes without starting a project of some kind. Coloring, writing, building lego towers, cutting and gluing, you name it. She’s always been really into exploring how things feel, too. She especially loves finger painting and covering her whole hand with the paint.
We love drawing, coloring, puzzles, blocks (all kinds), legos, playdough and playing in box of dry noodles or rice (now that’s cheap entertainment! – they love to fill, dump, cover things up, discover them). Those are the ones that come to mind.
rkcampbell(at)sbcglobal(dot)net
My husband and I stimulate our three year old son through lots of pretend building with all different kinds of materials found in our house. We build a lot of towers and skyscrapers with Legos and wooden building blocks. We recycle cardboard boxes into robots. I’m always amazed at how creative my son can be whether he when playing. I’ve seem him line up a series of cardboard and plastic bins to be a “train” with his little sister and stuffed animals as the passengers. He also combines his different Lego sets into interesting combinations like using parts of the circus train, bob the builder machines, and dinosaur sets to build his own dinosaur train like the PBS show. He also recently decided that his Duplo fire engine was a gasoline tanker truck and used the hose to refill his cars and trucks with gasoline. Every day is a new Lego adventure at our house.
My son is 3, and I love to live vicariously through him! Every day is like his first day on earth. The same things are SO exciting to him, and new discoveries are like striking oil!
I am anxious to introduce him to the world of Legos to watch his imagination blossom even more!
Tweet!
http://twitter.com/kaseyscrazymama/status/5650177375
We homeschool and do lots of hands on activities, especially in the younger years. Our kids love Legos, K’nex, and Snap Circuits. I have a little one coming up that would definitely benefit from some Duplos!
My kids love Duplos. The big thing is how to make a super tall tower. Frankly, I want to be better at teaching my kids to explore.
my son loves playing football
My son (15) still loves Legos. He follows many creative pursuits–now that he’s a teen, I just need to make sure he has the opportunity and the tools and he needs no further guidance. Right now he is in his room recording his own music (he composes both classical and rock-type music). I do feel the parts of the brain that work on spatial relationships (building, as with Legos) also can be used for musical work and enhance musical progress. The most important thing other than giving them time and tools to be creative is to never, ever limit their creativity (e.g. “the sky has to be blue!) and to not let anyone else do that either. Sure, classes can teach techniques and skills, but if they want to then go back home and break every musical or artistic rule, why the heck not!
my children LOVE to put blocks together, I don’t think we could have too many! lol
My 5 year old nephew is always into something.Maybe not always GOOD!This would keep him busy!Thanks.
we like to take learning walks … we will do letters (find something that starts with “A”…)colors (find something red…) or numbers (find 3 of something…) and some times even do rhymes (find two things that rhyme with each other…) it’s a lot of fun and it’s a good way to get exercise
Thanks for the chance to win!!
The legos have been given a home in the living room for the past two weeks. The kids are now sitting around playing lego stories with each other rather than asking for tv. Sometimes I step on one and kill my foot but the sweet play is worth it.
My son loves artwork. He has his own rolling art cart with all of his supplies that he can bring to the kitchen table when he wants to create. He also loves to build and like to play with Legos and Tinkertoys.
We have four children – ages 5-13. They’re each at different stages of development, but they can all enjoy the same tools in different ways – art is big for everyone, and I’m pretty easy going about what they do at the kitchen table, as long as it gets cleaned up after. We daily have stencils, paper, pens, markers, tape, decorative scissors, feathers, small boxes, etc. that get turned into school projects, masks, cards, playhouses, animals. I’m especially happy when they work together, but individual creativity is good, too
I like the idea of strewing; new, interesting, weird stuff happened upon at garage sales, etc., is strewn around your home, the childeren ‘discover’ the treasures and their imagination does the rest.
I love to read to the kids and sometimes they pretend to read to me by turning the pages and making up their own versions of the stories.
My kids both love “washing dishes”. I fill the sink up with tepid water and plenty of bubbles, throw in some ladles, wisks, measuring cups, and bowls. I pull two chairs up and cover them with bath towels then the kids strip down to undies and have a grand time!
They also spend a lot of time outside. I have loved watching them grow and go from needing mommy there to play ball or push them on their swings to being so independent. They will play for hours with nothing more than a stick and a ball and each other to chase.
My boys, 7 and 3, adore their legos. When a new set comes into the house, they always build it immediately, faithfully following the directions. Usually less than 24 hours later, the set has been dismantled and turned into something original, and usually 100% more creative. The things these boys have made out of legos!!
Would love a chance to win some duplos for boy #3 who is too young for the little legos!
Our very first set of Duplo block we bought over 12 years ago have gone through three kids and are still being used today. Even our oldest son still finds them fun to play and build with. I like watching their minds decide what to make them into next. If we are having an ornery day at our house, I will ask the youngest to build mama something awesome and off he goes to find his duplos and build me something awesome. My husband and I recently talked about the toys we plan on saving for our grandkids and the duplos were on the top of the list. It will be the neatest thing watching my children play with their toys with their children one day.
I have 4 kids, and one thing that I have always found helpful is to have what I call the “feelie box’. I put silly puddy, feathers, cotton balls, paper, glue etc. in it. Whenever they feel the desire, they can go get the feelie box and play to their hearts content.
we keep an entire cabinet stocked with art supplies. I replenish the markers and the crayons frequently.
http://twitter.com/misaacmom/status/5738317825
I never knew how important it was to let children explore things with
their hands. As a recent college graduate with a degree in Child Development, I am a new fan of play dough. I had always hated for my kids to play with it. When working with young children on art projects, I am amazed at how they can not stand to get their hands gooey.
My son loves building things and taking them apart – blocks, legos, anything he can use to build, even my candles! My daughter loves play dough, crayons and markers.
http://twitter.com/S_CSR/status/5768405450
My children love to be creative, especially with their legos and play-doh. They love to use their play doh to make molds of the legos and build with both! How fun!! : ) God Bless!
My son is 6 and recently diagnosed with ADHA and ODD. Building with his legos is one thing he can do for hours at a time and love it! He builds the most amazing things! The only thing is they are so expensive. I would love to win these for him and his sister. She is 15 months old and loves to play legos with her big brother. Except, he is constantly yelling at her for breaking what he’s made or putting little pieces in her mouth. It would be nice for them to sit and play together without fighting. Not to mention, having him in his bedroom with the door closed so his sister cannot get to him, just breaks my heart! I hate that he is shut off from the rest of us! This would be a perfect gift!
i would go out side in my bare feet for hours on the grass and at parks what ever the wether!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!