At what age are they ready for lego?

[Ginger]

I've just been offered a whole heap of lego but i think ds1 (2.5yo) is a bit too young for it. At what age did your ds/dd start really getting into lego?

[*Beema*]

DD has had Duplo from very early on, but I guess the best way to judge, does he like to put things in his mouth? Perhaps you can jsut take out the large pieces and leave the smaller pieces for when her gets bigger and understands a bit better?

What an awesome offer, it is quite expensive to buy, but it is the best toy it lasts forever and is timeless and great for rainy days, and really good for creativity etc!

HTH's

[Trillian]

Well we already had it in the house, so DS2 has been playing with it for ages. All four of them can sit for hours building things. We do have some duplo/megablocs, but mostly lego and thats what he plays with the most. We haven't had any issue with him putting it in his mouth either luckily. But if I were offered some I would take it and if you don't think he's ready, or you think DS2 will just eat it, then put it away till they are older. Lego is expensive so the less you have to buy the better

[BhoysGirl]

I'm with Trillian - if I were offered lego, I'd definitely accept, even if I had to put it away for another couple of years - it's expensive, and you can never have enough

[mrsmac]

I'd grab it with both hands!!! My dad has a bucket of lego at home that was my brothers and it is still in mint condition so it lasts forever.
Usually they start getting into real lego at about 5ish.

[Visitor7]

We have lego here and both my girls love it. Both build things with it, DD1 obviously builds a lot more than DD2 due to their ages.
I would grab it while the offer is there!

[Ca Plane Pour Moi]

DS has duplo now, but when we get out the Lego (DH's and mine: we kept ours from childhood/Uni... we like lego LOL) DS likes to play with it and has for a few months. So at two and a half, he can enjoy lego... just make sure he doesn't put it in his mouth.

I'd accept and get it out now... so I could play with it!

[Ginger]

Thanks ladies. tbh, we don't really have anywhere appropriate here atm to store it...so if i bring it here, it's going to get used iykwim? that's why i was asking, as i can leave it with the owner for a bit longer if i like and take it in a year or two. it's just that we were at playgroup last week and i noticed ds1 was really enjoying building with some blocks (not lego) and i wondered if maybe he was ready now. i'm also thinking it could be a total nightmare having it here though and i can see it getting spread all over the house and driving me crazy iykwim?

[alioops]

A queen size flat sheet is great for the lego mess. Set him up on the sheet and when he is finished pick up the sheet by the corners and tip it all back into the bucket. At the age he is I would say go for it but only while you are able to play with him. Maybe hide it in your wardrobe or something to keep it safe.

We have stacks of Duplo and the girls all love it. We have even had it touching the ceiling. Do make sure you pack it all up as soon as he moves on to the next activity though, I have a lovely scar on my heel from discovering a piece with my full weight on the wrong angle. took 2 years to get that though.

[Trillian]

G could you leave it at your Dads? Might be an easy way to let him get used to it if it is something he only has at your Dad's place.

LZ, DH still has all his lego at his parents place too and I'm hanging for MIL to let him have it to bring over here LOL

[aussienic]

with our first we decided on 4 or older before we bought lego. My other 3 children have played with lego since they could walk and have thouroughly enjoyed it. I would say now looking back 2 is fine but supervision is needed if they tend to put things in their mouth

[Frangipani]

Just out of interest- what is the age recommendation of lego anyway?

Though I don't think we'd have a problem if we had it for our 21month old son, he isn't one to put things in his mouth (matchbox cars and hot wheels say 3 years, but our son has them and loves them, but we do supervise too).

Oh, and Thanks for the bedsheet tip Alioops- will definitely be doing that when we do get lego eventually.

[AnyDream]

I like Trill's suggestion of leaving it at your dad's - L & granddad will have a great time building things together !

In the meantime, get your hands on some duplo. You might have seen my other thread about getting rid of the little people stuff - it's being moved along to my new little nieces - and I'm basically happy with that cos we have such a great set of duplo which all packs away into the one tub but is played with endlessly. Even the primary school aged kids who visit all play with it - there's something very appealing about those big blocks. You can buy a bulk lot on ebay and then just add a few small sets for variety pieces (vehicles, people, animals, etc).

[*TripleJ*]

the age reccomendation for duplo is 2 to 5 but DS is playing with it now and hes 9 and a half months he puts that in his mouth but its not quite small enough to swallow hes starting to get that it goes together but he cant quite work it out lol

so i'd say go for it if u want just supervise while hes using it

[SammyRo]

the age reccomendation for duplo is 2 to 5

Its funny, but I've noticed different sets of duplo with different ages - some say 1.5, others say 2 :shrug:

I love lego, so encourage anyone to buy her duplo/lego for her birthday, but def. agree that you need to clean it up as soon as they are finished playing! DD is getting really good at putting them away when I ask.

I've never thought to look at ebay - shall check it out. I picked up a good amount of duplo at a 2nd hand baby store for $5 which I thought was a bargain.

[Erin_25]

I would take anything I was offered of that value..it's great stuff.

My DS1 was offered an entire tub of Duplo, we love it...he's is also given the Thomas lego for Christmas each year by his Granny. He loves it & so does his unlce & father LOL! But the bits are not too tiny....might have to watch when DS2 starts to crawl.

But you can always put it away til later. Some lego parts are very small, I went to a wiggles concert in Brisbane with DS1 when he was not far off being 2 & we stayed at a friends place. They had downstairs area the kids could go to play whilst we were upstairs & there was massive tub of Lego with no lid down there....it stressed me the enitre time we stayed there but he didn't once put any in his mouth.