LEGO aptly describes their construction play sets as catalysts for ideas, and I couldn’t agree more. Like many of you, we’ve sat for hours playing LEGOs, building architectural masterpieces, crazy vehicles and pretend food, among other whatchamacalits… The possibilities are endless, but one thing’s for sure: creative play and LEGO go hand in hand.
At Toy Fair, LEGO once again invited bloggers to their booth for an after-hours party where we had the chance to check out all of the upcoming sets and more. Aside from their beloved bricks, LEGO gave us a peek at their latest foray into the creative play space: Duplo Jams.
LEGO launched Duplo Jams as a new dimension to encourage and inspire creative play for toddlers and preschoolers. The three songs that are currently available are all written and performed by a preschool dad that everyone listen to for free. Duplo Jams has a dedicated iTunes channel and Facebook Page where the free songs can be accessed and are also hubs for future anticipated releases. To encourage further creativity, LEGO says they plan to release a new song every month.
We found the British Pop inspired-songs, “Sort Out the Blues,” “Build with Letters,” and “Stick Together,” to be catchy and cool, and a funky musical backdrop while we play in the playroom. As more parents are realizing the importance of limiting screentime, musical outlets such as Duplo Jams are a fun way to shift the kids’ eyeballs to hands-on play and complement with good kid tunes, where copious sing-a-longs and dance parities are expected.
Many families already engage their kids in kiddie music classes, so I think Duplo Jams is such a great way to reinforce many kids’ natural love of music. We’re a musical family, so we can usually be found jamming out one way or another, and it goes without saying, Duplo Jams is perfect complement to our eclectic playlist.
Be sure to check out Duplo Jams’ latest releases on their iTunes channel—for free!
New Duplo Sets
And speaking of Duplo, have you seen the latest playsets? Here are just a few:
Duplo Play with Letters
LEGO has quite a few new sets, but among my favorites for preschoolers and toddlers are the DUPLO Play with Letters.
We’re in our alphabet learning phase, and this set has been a great way to reinforce our lessons. Alphabet-learning aside, letter bricks can go on to be used as a way to promote reading, spelling, not to mention good ol’ sorting and stacking fun. This set includes 16 letter bricks, a cat, accessories and 1 figure.
Duplo My First sets
Ever wonder what to give a 2-year old for a birthday gift? Duplo’s new collection of “My First” sets are worth checking out.
Not only are they affordable toys that encourage creativity, but they’re one of those toys that both boys and girls love so much that they’re “pass-down”-worthy. (My kind of toy!) My First Duplo sets include: My First LEGO DUPLO Set, My First Supermarket, My First Zoo (above) and My First Fire Station.
Duplo Winnie the Pooh sets
And I’m sure you’ve heard the buzz about the upcoming Winnie the Pooh movie, so what better way to celebrate this storybook classic than with Winnie the Pooh-themed Duplo sets. LEGO recently introduced two Winnie the Pooh Duplo Sets, Winnie’s Picnic and Winnie’s House (below.)
Winnie’s Picnic is a smaller, 13-piece set that includes Winnie the Pooh-inspired bricks that give a nod to Pooh favorites like a pot of honey and trees. Winnie’s House is a 40-piece set that features bricks to re-create Pooh’s house and a few pals, too.
Full disclosure: as an attendee of LEGO’s Toy Fair Blogger Party, I received a lovely gift bag. But as always, all opinions on NKT are my own.
