As a parent I am currently filled with nostalgia. One of the main reasons for this is the appearance of LEGO Duplo in my child’s life. From her first Duplo set the creativity of pretending and building has really been a joy to watch and partake in. Hours we whittle away sleeping in Pepper Pigs house, sliding down slides and most recently visiting the zoo. Over the years LEGO has had many animal themed sets for the Duplo range. This season’s edition is a 3 in 1 (yes like the Creator sets) Animal Families themed set.
First, meet the families: The pandas, the elephants, the turtles, the tigers and the deer. All have their own large and small versions, and those baby animals are just too cute! The set comes with various scenes for the animals to inhabit. The deer have their own woodland glades to frolic with added mushrooms and hidden poo to discover. The turtles have a treasure island with sandy shores and bubbling springs. The tigers and elephants share their habitat with a flowing waterfall, sand and a impressive arch for the elephants to wander through. Finally, the pandas are never without their bamboo and beautiful blossom-coloured flowers.
The alternative sets also a use a good number of the 90 plus pieces used. One of the alternatives creates two smaller scenes using the arch as an upper layer for trees and greenery to thrive. Another set combines into a pyramid shaped waterfall which the animals can roam around. However, the expansive 20 cm set of the three different scenes is wonderful and provides so many opportunities for imagination to fly.
The set offers many skills to learn from matching and sorting to pretending to care for little animal babies. This set also is a great basis of bricks for creative building from houses to natural landscapes too. The 10 animals are the stars of the show each impressively sized and many of the larger figures like the elephant and tiger can seat Duplo minifigures on top of them too. The baby animals are as cute as can be as they make friends with other species in this LEGO Duplo world.
For a parent, this set has everything. From animals to plenty of building opportunities this set is suitable from 2 years and older. And as it is a Duplo set it will easily entertain and bring joy until the child is suitable for older sets when their 4 or 5 years old.
