to hate Lego Duplo with a passion?!

[suddenlycupishalffull]

DD is 4. She had the Lego Duplo farm for her birthday. I hate it. I hate it so much. It takes bloody ages to put together. I need the instructions for the simplest bits even though it says ages 2-5. We keep losing bricks. She can't click certain bits together that well, and inevitably it falls apart in her hands. She gets cross, I'm secretly seething. We start again with me trying to model patience which I don't have We re-build, needing the bloody instructions again. She attempts to put the little people in to play with it and the whole thing falls apart again. Cue more tears mainly mine Where is the pleasure in this? Where's the joy? It's like an instrument of mental torture. I want to throw it all out of the window.

Aged 4 i think she have moved on to proper lego.... Duplo is limited my sister two out grow it by age 2. Try some proper lego op. Your dd might find that better...

I'm searching for baseplates on eBay right now...I never had anything like Lego as a child, so I have no idea what to do with it to be honest. Yes she loved Happyland but has happily passed these sets onto her little sister now because she's so fascinated by this Lego farm even though I nearly threw it out of the window! Ok so baseplate, anything else essential or a good buy? She likes the little people and animals...I must say the batman set looks really cool :)

Get the cake set. My dc all love it, and it works well with the toy kitchen too, so win-win.

Yes, Duplo falls apart. But its ok - it's just a chance to rebuild and have more fun

Don't be tempted to move on to real lego too fast. My dc all still use the duplo lots (they are 10, 8 and 3 - the 3 year old is most likely to shun it as he wants the 'grown up' stuff . They obviously do real,lego too, but the duplo gets dragged out an incorporated as well.

The duplo circus set is good. Also, there are book/activity packs - you read the story and each page it outlines some bricks (included in pack) to put together. There's an aeroplane one, and a farm one (really good - lots of bricks with eyes to make animals) and another one (maybe bugs?). Again, my dc have really loved those.

Stay with Duplo as long as you can, it builds quicker and you are far less likely to stand on it - however you do need a lot of it IMHO - buy some more 2nd hand bundles/sets on ebay whilst you're at it

We've got duplo and Lego on the go for the 2 and 4 year olds. The 2 year old is beginning to make towers with the duplo. The 4 year old still uses it a lot in conjunction with the train set making buildings and elevated tracks. The Lego is more focused on vehicles. He's begining to take more of a small world interest in creating scenarios. I suspect Lego will be a significant feature of our family life for some time to come...

Baseplate £11.99 toysrus or john lewis. Probably argos too but website down until new catalogue update tomorrow. I love lego and have quite a bit but never bothered with duplo as thought too expensive to last such a short time. Just got tub of mega bloks instead. At least you can pass the duplo to your younger child. Also depends on child. My daughter got disney princess/lego friends sets for her 4th birthday and can build and follow instructions just fine. She would of dismissed duplo as babyish.

I played with Duplo until I was at least 14. I had a much younger sibling though who was not at all involved in my Duplo constructions.

You definitely need a base plate, probably two so each DC can have one. Once you have a base plate, the things stay together more. I always think DD must be about to grow out of Duplo (almost 6) but she loves it and DS just does what she does.

There's a new set of marble runs that are completely duplo compatible (Huebelino? Available on Amazon) which could extend the life a bit, if needed, but my 3 all switch between the two very happily (or combine).

How is lego duplo fiddly? Four was the age that I bought my older two proper lego for their birthdays. Definitely ditch the instructions and just let her play. My three year old can click small lego blocks together so I'm sure a four year old can be independent with duplo. Is the issue that you both think there's a'right'way of doing it?

Re the small pieces in proper lego - I have 4 dc ranging from baby to 8. Can hardly avoid having toys with small pieces so just have to supervise the baby.

Sylvanians definitely aren't a solution - a nightmare to set up, fiddly, tiny bits and easily lost or broken.

I'd look for vintage duplo on ebay - sold all mine on there last year and made a fortune :)

DS (nearly 4) has tons of duplo and I've bought him some of the lego juniors sets for his upcoming birthday (castle, vehicle suitcase and fire suitcase) plus a box of just regular pieces with windows ect. It's supposed to be a good bridge between duplo and 'proper' lego in that it introduces model building with easy to build models and instructions that a 4 yr old can follow...we'll see!
I was thinking of selling the duplo on but considering what some of the posters are saying I may keep it for a bit longer to see if DS still plays with it.
Oh and a base plate was the first item I bought!

We have LOADS of duplo - the farm, number train, mini zoo, fire station and police station with jail and a big box of extras which our DS used to make "towers" with or we had to make them so he could knock them down.
Now he's 4 he has them ready built in his room so he can play with them in the sets (which he does and incorporates his imaginext characters too into his play.
As long as they are happy and build things to their own imagination there's no harm in what they do.
I used to feel frustrated if it wasn't right and learned to loosen up about it maybe this will help you.

The cake set is brilliant. The candles make great chimneys and the swirly cupcake tops make kind of minarets!

I think it depends on your child's personality. My son loves taking things apart so I hate Playmobil as I spend ages putting the kits together and he just pulls them straight apart. He loves lego and Duplo though as he can build loads of cool stuff using his imagination.

My daughter loves Sylvanian families. I have the house and then a box with all the furniture and characters in it. My daughter loves to set them up and role play with them. She's 4 so perhaps similar tastes.

My 3yo plays with Duplo in his room by himself for hours - it's an absolute lifesaver at 4.30am! Sometimes he follows the instructions, sometimes freestyles. Definitely get the base plates if you're playing on carpet, it can be difficult for little hands to push down firmly enough to click on a soft surface.

Re moving on too fast - there are no prizes for ditching the Duplo by a certain age. Both my 5yo and 3yo have masses of little Lego too, 5yo will happily still play with both. There are things you can do with Duplo that you can't with little Lego, like use it to build enclosures for soft toys... Or build your own shop when your horrible mother has taken away your play shop for fighting... Or build some steps to reach the top of a chest of drawers where your horrible mother has placed a confiscated toy... Etc.

Basically, Duplo are the necessary building blocks of childhood subversion and defiance. Don't deny your DC!