To think this is a perfectly reasonable amount of legos?

I agree with this. These are the sorts of toys I had when my two were quite young and they then started to gravitating to certain things.

Dinosaurs for example became a favourite so we expanded the few they had.

Then superhero’s started creeping in and we have most avengers and dc hero’s… Bluey, Peppa etc.

We found that the more figures we had the more imaginative play they did and they can now spend hours building a game with story and narrative

Duplo is available by the bucket on Facebook marketplace. We have an enormous underbed plastic tub full of it and all bought from eBay and marketplace for not very much.

i agree with other posters to stick with Duplo before moving to Lego. My 6 year old still bulbs zoos and buildings with Duplo and it’s given him a great foundation to only just start moving to Lego.

It is always used to have lots of the same. So lots of Lego is better than some Lego and some playmobil and some knex etc.

for an autistic kid (and all kids) it can help to model how to play. So sit down with the LEGO and build a car. Then race it down the table. Then ask dc to build another car. Then race both. Then add animals on the cars. Etc. model once or twice and then they get the idea and can go for it independently.

This is the amount we had when our kids were 2.5 and 1. Since we have built up the stock a lot, they build much bigger constructions. I think we have about 5 sets (mostly Xmas and birthdays), and then I got a big boxe of basic bricks from Vinted.
They also combiné them with playmobils and magnetic tiles to build cities or farms etc.

So I agree this sounds quite a small set to do anything significant. It could be that Lego isn't their thing, but if it's replicated across all the other type of toys it could be limiting.

My son never played with Lego. Even the sets he just watched me build, would never do it himself.

Duplo he just build towers to see how high he could get them before falling over.

He enjoyed Playmobil sets, things like a fire station with truck, characters , pole, hose, etc. He loved Thomas the tank engine Tomy train sets. He loved dinosaurs, more for fact based knowledge than play, but he had loads of them as well as books.

All the things he was interested in I indulged and bought more of on FB and also added to Christmas and birthday lists.

He's also autistic and didn't really do freestyle imaginative play, he liked the structure the sets gave him, and he liked vertical and horizontal movement .

I think OP must be American as she also mentions a dollhouse, soda machine and “a couple”.

OP I would agree with others that you need to visit a toy shop and see what they are really interested in. What do you enjoy playing with them? I could make train sets for hours so we’d all get involved in that.

It’s Lego, not ‘Legos’. It’s a brand name not a description of the individual pieces, they are Lego bricks/ figures, etc.
Nor is it a regional choice, they might say ‘Legos’ in the US, but they’ve just got it wrong.

And, yes, probably not enough to do much building with.

There’s so much fantastic Duplo on Vinted. My 2.5 year old DGD loves it. I also got her the Duplo train set when it was a really good offer on Amazon for her birthday in a couple of months.
Do you have Brio and play dough? I couldn’t have been without those plus Duplo when mine were little.

My kids would play with any toy as long as it included enough “people “( eg sylvanians, Lego figures of various descriptions, noddy , bob the builder etc).

It’s not enough to build very much with. You can pick up mixed boxes of lego secondhand very cheaply so I’d get some of that with lots of different bricks.

Things like magnet tiles, marble runs (for the older one), smart max, mobili are all really great for imagination.

Do they have lots of books, paints, pencils, craft materials?

Sorry just seen your list. It looks fine. Just add some more magnet tiles, more lego, maybe look at mobilo or a marble run for the older one. Puzzle games and things are good. Science experiments/ crystal making kits etc.

In my experience, one can never have too much Lego.

Dont get more Lego.
Get magnet tiles, sticky bricks, jenga, play dough other things they can be creative with

We have two kallaxes of duplo 😂 A 3 and 5 yo. We do often use it all or nearly if we’re all joining in and building together. We also have a couple of the large green boards.

You really need the basic bricks in decent quantities imo to do anything interesting. You can get tubs just of those rather than sets. They have leaflets of ideas but mine will say things like let’s build a zoo or a hotel or a ocean or whatever and you need basics plus some animals which can be duplo or regular animal models

As you have three children, you can probably get more than those with just one or two children who will bore of them more quickly. Don’t forget to cycle through them - my DS rediscovered his magnetiles at 10yo! They were a huge hit younger, then he got bored and we put them away. He found the box and is back playing with them making far more imaginative stuff. Can’t really tire of things like magnatiles, lego, train sets etc.

Get Duplo for younger DC. You can often buy large sets of a zoo etc on Facebook Marketplace or eBay for under half price of a new set. I put them through the dishwasher and they are fine. You can buy Lego pre used too. Again put it through dishwasher or maybe washing machine in a garment bag to make sure it's clean. If there is a Lego set with a piece or 2 missing Lego will replace the missing bits for you for a few pence. You can also print off instructions from internet if you don't have them. You don't have much Lego for sharing between 3 DC but I know I had far too much.