10 of the best LEGO DUPLO sets, according to Mumsnetters

This deluxe brick box is a brilliant introduction to LEGO DUPLO and would also make a perfect addition to an existing collection. With 85 bricks in a rainbow of vibrant and pastel shades the set offers loads of scope for creativity and because it has no set theme your child is free to build almost anything they can think of. The blocks can be combined with other DUPLO sets as well for endless play possibilities.

With accessories including a car, window, slide, swing, and flowers, and even a pair of people and an adorable dog, your little one can enjoy creative, role-playing games once they’ve finished building. And best of all, when they’ve finished playing with their colourful creations the bricks can be easily tidied away into the sturdy storage box.

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We love this colourful, budget-friendly, DUPLO set, where toddlers can 'grow' their own carrot by using a watering can and harnessing the sun's rays.

The Growing Carrot set is designed to gently introduce toddlers to self-sufficient living as they care for the carrot and stack the bricks to make it grow. It's fun and educational, helping develop fine motor skills and hand-to-eye coordination to boot. The only downside is the limited number of pieces, but the chances are your little one will be too busy stacking and unstacking the carrot to notice.

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All aboard! Parents of tiny train enthusiasts will be on the right track with this rail-inspired toy. Introducing toddlers to counting and the basics of how to click DUPLO pieces together, it’s the perfect set for newcomers to the world of DUPLO and comes recommended by parents in the Mumsnet forums.

There are moving wheels on the carriages and on the engine itself, which has a removable roof so that one of the three friendly figures included can drive the train. We particularly love the rainbow colour sequence that will help kids put the numbers in the correct order. The only concern is that there’s no number 10 in the set, just a one and a zero, which might be confusing for little learners. Nevertheless, next stop: quiet contentment.

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Little animal lovers will adore this DUPLO set with an elephant, tiger, giraffe, and panda to build and play with. The tiger and panda come in two pieces, while the giraffe has three pieces and the elephant has four, and these different levels of complexity will help one year olds develop their building skills.

This set is perfect for younger toddlers as it helps them explore creative and imaginative play as they build and rebuild the animals, stack them on top of each other, and line them up on the push-along carriages to make a train. We love the building cards that come with the set and have life-sized images of the animal models to help little ones learn how to put them together and toddlers will love the colourful figures, especially the giraffe with its fun, wobbly neck.

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The impressive DUPLO Town Modular Playhouse Set offers triple the fun of a regular dollhouse as it can be rebuilt into three different dwellings: a large family home, single-level house or multi-storey tower block. Budding builders or architects will enjoy building something different every time.

While this toddler-friendly toy may be the priciest in our roundup, it’s also one of the most versatile. It’ll delight both boys and girls with its big neutral-coloured blocks and small but realistic details – such as opening drawers, a well-equipped kitchen and diminutive rocking horse – and teaches little ones about everyday life at home. Easily accessible and provided with Mum, Dad and child figures, there’s also a pet dog and sweet teddy bear to play with. The only real drawback is the lack of a storage container.

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Frozen fans will fall head over heels in love with this gorgeous DUPLO playset with an icy castle to build and Elsa, Anna, and Olaf characters to play with. The blocks can be used in different ways to create endless imaginative play opportunities and there are fun extras like a slide to push the characters down and a button-operated light brick to add to the magic.

Young children will develop their building and fine motor skills as they put the blocks together and also enjoy imaginative role-playing as they act out their favourite parts of the Frozen films with the character figures.

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Make learning ABCs engaging and fun with the alphabet town playset. With 87 bright and colourful blocks including all the letters of the alphabet and fun, interesting shapes, toddlers can build the town in a whole host of ways and learn as they go. Meanwhile the car base and the boy, girl, and dog figures let them enjoy open-ended, creative play.

We love how many opportunities there are to learn with this playset, as you discuss letters, colours, and shapes with your child as you build together. The best way for toddlers to learn is through play and the fun just goes on and on with this DUPLO set with endless potential for play and for learning.

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With its colourful steam train, fun accessories, and engaging lights and sounds, this LEGO DUPLO train set takes the humble train set and adds in so many extra layers of fun. The track is easy for toddlers to put together and the locomotive is simple to build too, then you just press the push and go motor and off it goes.

There are five fun action blocks in the set that can be placed down on the tracks to instruct the train to stop, reverse, and refuel, as well as set off sounds and lights. We love this fun early introduction to coding as well as cause and effect! You can also download an app that lets you control the train remotely and offers extra play opportunities.

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The perfect addition to the townhouse or alphabet town playsets, this set will be a real hit with animal-loving little ones. It comes with a puppy and kitten that make realistic (ish) sounds, as well as some fun accessories like a pet food, toys and a birthday cake.

There’s not a huge amount to build with this set but it does offer lots of play value and opportunities for creative role-playing games and is amazing for promoting caring, nurturing skills in toddlers.

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Why should the fun stop at bathtime? With this DUPLO bath time fun set you can keep the fun going and keep your toddler engaged as they bathe. The set includes hippo, duck, and polar bear figures which are super easy to build, and colourful floating rings for them to sit in. There’s also a little bucket and raincloud for pouring and sprinkling water on the animals.

The floating rings open up for easy cleaning and they can be connected together to make a fun, floating train for the animal figures. A perfect introduction to building with DUPLO, the animals are a great size for small hands and connect together really easily as toddlers develop their fine motor skills.

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