4 Ways to Make Learning Fun for Toddlers with LEGO DUPLO

4 creative and exciting ways to make learning fun for toddlers featuring LEGO DUPLO! Great ideas for tot school and preschool moms!

Ever since we started doing Tot School with my kids last year, I’ve been on the lookout for toys that my kids love and that can be used in different ways to make learning fun for toddlers. Usually the kids get bored with them after playing with them once, or they are too expensive for me to even invest in.

One toy that we have found that has really helped make learning fun and worked for a variety of different themes and activities are LEGO DUPLO products. There are so many different sets, they are big enough that you don’t have to worry about losing the pieces or having younger kids eat them (they are twice the size of standard LEGO bricks), and they can be used to teach toddlers in lots of different ways!

Since we got our first set two years ago, our whole family has enjoyed playing together with them. Yes, they are geared towards kids 1 1/2-5 years, but they are also fun for parents to play with! A lot of toys for young kids aren’t super interesting to me, but I could sit and play with my kids and their DUPLO products for hours! Whether I plan an actual activity with a theme (like colors or transportation) or we just sit together and build, my kids have fun and have no idea the are actually learning!

Here are four specific ways to make learning fun for toddlers with LEGO DUPLO:

1. Encourage creativity. There’s basically no limit to what you and your kids can build with your LEGO DUPLO products. Whether it’s what’s on the instructions, a big tower, or a tunnel, you and your kids can get creative and build anything you want. You can also combine the sets and build even bigger structures. Your toddlers learn how to be creative without even knowing they are learning!

2. Encourage independence. While I love playing with my kids, I also like to step back and let them be independent sometimes. When we got our newest LEGO DUPLO set, I handed my 3-year-old the instructions and we went step-by-step through them. I just showed him each step and he built them all by himself! I was so proud, and he learned that he could follow instructions and be independent if he needed to. And he just thought he was playing!

3. Encourage imagination. My son has been doing pretend-play for a while now, and my daughter has seen him do it and is now learning how to use her imagination and make the toys come to life, too. And LEGO DUPLO products offer open-ended play for every stage. Even though my kids are 18 months apart, they both love playing with their DUPLO sets. And I’m sure they will keep playing with them for several more years, too! I love racing trains and cars around our playroom with my son, and I love playing with the minifigures with my daughter. And the best part is, every LEGO DUPLO product can be used for pretend-play!

4. Educational learning. One thing we’ve loved doing with our LEGO DUPLO products are using them to learn colors and counting. We have sorted them by color, put them in rainbow order, counted them, and built towers a certain number-high. Plus, depending on your set, you can incorporate them into learning about transportation, homes, animals, food, and even holidays. If you needed a reason to get a LEGO DUPLO set, I think this would be the most persuasive!

We love our LEGO DUPLO sets at our house, and I 100% recommend them to any parent looking for a fun toy for their toddlers that will last a long time! Besides providing ways to make learning fun for toddlers, they are a great toy for partnering in play. Play is essential for early learning – it IS the way young children learn about their world, and LEGO DUPLO will always be there to keep kids’ minds active and their hands busy!