Duplo or pre-built imaginative play toy for nearly 3yo

[SantasOtherElf]

I have namechanged.

I was chatting with MIL the other day about presents and she was saying in her experience, boys tended to play less with imaginative play toys than girls. Now it may be because my DH has not an artistic bone in his body and is very mathematical/sciencey and my DNeph looks same way inclined, but it got me thinking about a toy I was going to get DS.

It is a big toy rocket (wooden, topically) with bits and bobs to play with, that we both liked the look of when I showed him a brochure. I'd suggested it to MIL for a present but they weren't sure, so they are now getting DS what I had intended to buy.

Link here

She suggested and I agreed when I was talking with her about this that they should get him some Duplo for birthday (soon afterwards) but since looking about I have seen some good 'bigger' sets that would provide the imaginative play aspect of the rocket and a bit of construction on the side. I'm now wondering whether I should ditch the rocket in favour of one of these sets (I don't think PILs could complain, since they've bought what I had lined up).

Do any of your 3/4yos have one of these wooden constructions and are they well played with, or do you think Duplo is a better bet? BTW other GPs are buying a Playmobil set.

Depends entirely on the child. Both mine would prefer Duplo.

Anyway, in what way is Duplo not imaginative play?

My 3 year olds never took to Duplo, but loved Lego.

They also like wooden farms, and dolls houses, and castles (Plan Toy type ones).

The rocket you linked to looks nice, and you'll probably find that Lego aliens and minifigs and Playmobil people find their way in there over time.

Yeah it is a lot. It would be the main present then a cheaper one for birthday.

I wasn't saying Duplo wasn't imaginative play; I wasn't clear really. I just meant it's not wholly imaginative; provides another dimension (construction).

Thanks for thoughts though - I will await to hear (hopefully) from others.

Duplo would be the winner in this house. 3 kids under 7 able to play with it and baby likes chewing it so all happy.

My DS (3.7) didn't bother with the Duplo we bought him last Christmas. Since then, we have bought him several small Lego City sets and now he is totally obsessed with the stuff.

We love Duplo in this house and have loads and loads of it. You need lots of basic bricks though to really be able to let loose and build and imagine with it and my dcs went onto lego by 4 years old so if you have not already started to build up a duplo collection I wouldn't bother at this stage unless you have younger ones who will benefit too.

That is a very cool rocket!

I find DS gets bored of wooden toys - compared to playmobil or duplo.

Duplo is the most imaginative, open ended toy you can buy! It can be anything. A rocket is always a rocket.

We have lots if playset type sets they are played with but nothing gets played with as much or for as long as duplo.

My children get very giddy with huge excitment ask what shall we build today??

Don't just buy blocks buy a massive bundle of ebay inc base boards. You can sell it on when your done.

Can the posters who said they may be interested in my castle let me know if they still are?? If you look on eBay the one for sale is at £74 plus £13 postage - if not I'll stick it on there on weekend thansk

My 6 year old has asked for duplo (because she likes the duplo zoo) but loves any lego. I think both are very good. I think Duplo is great for a 3 year old, you can always buy the smaller lego as he gets older (and sell the duplo on e-bay and get most of your money back). Dd2 loved the kidz knex too before moving on to the smaller knex.