Lets face it, kids LOVE Legos. And for most, their exposure and their affinity for Legos starts very young. Even in the few year that my boys have been playing with Legos, the variety of Duplo sets has exploded! Everything from Jake and the Neverland Pirates to Jungle Animals, the Duplo sized bricks are perfect for little fingers. A couple years ago, after my kids had expressed a strong interest in Legos I started looking on our local Craigslist for Duplos. I easily found someone selling a LARGE rubbermaid bin filled with pieces for around $45. With a little convincing of my hubby, we bought them and brought them home. The man that I bought them from was so happy to get them out of his garage. His kids had out grown them and he was looking to clear out the space. Win, win. As a craigslist purchase I wanted to be sure to clean them thoroughly before the kids could get their hands (or mouths) on them. I filled the bathtub with warm water, a capful for bleach, some dish soap and a cup of distilled vinegar. I swished the Duplos around and let them sit over night. In the morning I rinsed them and let them dry on a bath towel for a few hours. The kids have since had endless hours of fun with this inexpensive bucket of Duplos. Even now that they are old enough for the small Lego pieces they often prefer to build with the Duplos!
About a year ago I stumbled upon some Pintrest posts about how to use Duplos for learning. I thought what a brilliant idea! If these little blocks can captivate my kids attention for hours, why not begin incorporating some intentional learning into their play? Here are some ideas that stood out to me. You can follow the links listed to check out additional play ideas.
1. Sorting Pieces by Color, Shape, and Size: Encourage your little one to create piles of bricks that are similar. Example: Place 3-5 different colored blocks on the floor help them sort pieces by color asking to name the colors while they place them into the pile. Repeat the game while sorting bricks by shape (squares, rectangles, circles).
2. Matching Pieces: Challenge your kiddo to find matching bricks based on size, shape, and color. You can do this by tracing several Duplo bricks onto a piece of paper or cardboard. Have them find a match from a pile of mixed bricks. There are a variety of free printable downloads online as well if you don't want to make one yourself!
3. Creating Patterns: You can create endless patterns with the Duplo bricks and have your child copy the patterns, continue the patterns, or create their own patterns. Make patterned towers or simply arrange rows or mosaic patterns based on your child's age and ability.
4. Counting Numbers: You can use Duplos to help foster your child's ability to sequence and recognize numbers. Use blank label stickers, or masking tape to create a label for your bricks. Label them 1-10. Mix them up in a pile and encourage your child to build a tower with blocks in ascending (1-10) or descending (10-1) sequence. You can also ask you child to build a tower using a certain number of blocks. Example: "Jonny build me a tower of 7 blocks." Jonny then has to count out 7 blocks to build his tower.
5. Addition & Subtraction: As your child gets older and begins to progress towards practicing math skills. Legos are a great way to reinforce math concepts such as addition and subtraction. Practice adding and taking away bricks to demonstrate the concept of addition and subtraction. Make up
word problems that incorporate using the bricks as everyday objects. Example: "Jonny has 3 pieces of chewing gum, Sally eats one piece. How many does Jonny have left?" Relating numbers to actual objects that a child can physically see, will often time make it easier for them to understand the concept.
As you can see from this very short list of ideas on how to use Lego Duplo bricks, the possibilities are endless. You can see these ideas and many, many more by clicking the links below. Some of the links also provide free downloadable printables for you to use. Happy building!
http://littlebinsforlittlehands.com/ten-frame-math-printable-make-ten/
http://mominspiredlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/Lego-Duplo-Counting-and-Patterning-Cards.pdf
http://www.playdoughtoplato.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/ADDITION-LEGO-CARDS.pdf
http://frugalfun4boys.com/2016/09/24/printable-roll-write-count-mats/
http://www.amomentinourworld.com/2014/10/learning-lego.html
Check out all of our Refurbished Lego Sets at www.BrickSmarts.com!
2. Matching Pieces: Challenge your kiddo to find matching bricks based on size, shape, and color. You can do this by tracing several Duplo bricks onto a piece of paper or cardboard. Have them find a match from a pile of mixed bricks. There are a variety of free printable downloads online as well if you don't want to make one yourself!3. Creating Patterns: You can create endless patterns with the Duplo bricks and have your child copy the patterns, continue the patterns, or create their own patterns. Make patterned towers or simply arrange rows or mosaic patterns based on your child's age and ability.
4. Counting Numbers: You can use Duplos to help foster your child's ability to sequence and recognize numbers. Use blank label stickers, or masking tape to create a label for your bricks. Label them 1-10. Mix them up in a pile and encourage your child to build a tower with blocks in ascending (1-10) or descending (10-1) sequence. You can also ask you child to build a tower using a certain number of blocks. Example: "Jonny build me a tower of 7 blocks." Jonny then has to count out 7 blocks to build his tower.
5. Addition & Subtraction: As your child gets older and begins to progress towards practicing math skills. Legos are a great way to reinforce math concepts such as addition and subtraction. Practice adding and taking away bricks to demonstrate the concept of addition and subtraction. Make up
word problems that incorporate using the bricks as everyday objects. Example: "Jonny has 3 pieces of chewing gum, Sally eats one piece. How many does Jonny have left?" Relating numbers to actual objects that a child can physically see, will often time make it easier for them to understand the concept.
As you can see from this very short list of ideas on how to use Lego Duplo bricks, the possibilities are endless. You can see these ideas and many, many more by clicking the links below. Some of the links also provide free downloadable printables for you to use. Happy building!
http://littlebinsforlittlehands.com/ten-frame-math-printable-make-ten/
http://mominspiredlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/Lego-Duplo-Counting-and-Patterning-Cards.pdf
http://www.playdoughtoplato.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/ADDITION-LEGO-CARDS.pdf
http://frugalfun4boys.com/2016/09/24/printable-roll-write-count-mats/
http://www.amomentinourworld.com/2014/10/learning-lego.html
Check out all of our Refurbished Lego Sets at www.BrickSmarts.com!
I love these tips! My son LOVES Duplos and learning too - so this is a great way to combine the two things he loves!
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