Lego or Duplo?

[Witch25]

My DS will be 3 at the start of January. I'm debating whether to get him a box of Lego or Duplo. I want to get which ever one he will play with for longer and I am afraid he will grow out of Duplo before long. He likes to play with lego at grannies and can manage the small pieces.

What would you recommend for longevity?

Duplo is lovely but if he is already playing with lego it seems a bit pointless.

I had exactly this thought recently with my DS (also playing with Lego supervised at grandparents). There is a Lego juniors range that doesn't seem to have as small pieces in and not as simple as Duplo. So I've bought a couple of Lego juniors set for Christmas as they had 10% off on iwoot.com this weekend.

Not sure if the code still works, think it was just 'LEGO10'.

The only reason to get duplo at that age is if he is likely to eat (choke on) lego.
If he's already playing fine with lego, then I'd stick with that.

Lego. Lego. Lego.

We had blocks, they went years ago. However, vehicles and animals still get used. DS is nearly 6yo and loves Lego.

Lego is best in the long term, but DD is 5 and still gets out her duplo now and then and makes amazing complex constructions that she would never attempt with lego. She only gets frustrated that the blocks don't stick together tight enough for her liking, and things fall over when they get taller than she is, but then that has taught her a lot about engineering for strength

I had a similar issue when my son was younger
Firstly be sure he doesn't put things in his mouth.
I would either go do just a classic box that has a variety of pieces or the do Lego junior sets for 4-7 which are not super complicated
Also the longer Lego pieces fit the duplo pieces

I'm going to go against the majority here and say Duplo. I think it's much more satisfying for a small child to be able to build something substantial, which you can do with the larger bricks. There are also ready-made items like vehicles, animals and people which can be played with as-is or used as part of something bigger.
My 2.5yo will play about with the 10yo's Lego but it's not the same sort of playing as with his Duplo.

Obviously lego will last longer but I think Duplo is a better toy for this age range. My ds will be 4 soon and he loves lego. Loves it. He can follow the simple instructions with heavy supervision but mainly likes the mini figures. He builds amazing stuff with his duplo though, and all by himself. A three year old with lego needs constant supervision and vigilance. I say this as someone who spent an evening last week in a&e having a piece of lego removed from her toddlers nose!

I think at that age Duplo would be better. Modern Lego, even the Juniors range, has a lot of small pieces.

Lego used to do Basic 3+ sets, which were standard Lego bricks but just the bigger ones, not the little fiddly bits. That's what I had at your DS's age. But they don't do those any more. Shame.

Thanks everyone for all your advice. I'll have a think over all the posts. Thanks

My DS3 is playing with lego. He plays with duplo too but like lego more.

We have a lot of both, my 3 year old does play with the duplo but Lego is the hands down winner. Every day, several times a day, he will go and have a play with Lego. He's not particularly interested in proper sets, he likes inventing little machines and vehicles, so all of the little interesting bits are perfect for that. Buying a job lot on eBay is a great way of starting off a collection with lots of different bits

Lego juniors! There is a really nice set which is about putting out fires in a red box. It has a motorbike and helicopter.

My daughter also has the frozen Lego juniors. (Will be 3 years old in November) it's very nice with a slide and some jewels. My son thinks it's cool. (6 years old). It has some nice features in it.

Both my kids still play with the duplo but I have no intention of buying anymore.

The only problem with Lego juniors is that there aren't that many sets to choose from.

My boys love lego and have different sets they regular play with. They also have several Dulpo and they had it as birthday presents.