I’m a Lego Duplo Play Agent (sounds fancy, no?)

This fall, I was selected to be a Lego Duplo Play Agent – a title that sounds pretty important (at least according to my kids!) and knowing how much they love their Lego and Lego Duplo, I promise to uphold that title with much reverence.

Over the next 7 months I’ll be sharing Lego Duplo toys and information with my readers along with some extra treats along the way, so stayed tuned for that (I get surprises too, so I honestly don’t know what’s in store but I know it’s going to be awesome with Lego Duplo and Mom Central Canada involved!)

This month, we received a  huge box of Lego Duplo, which I saved especially for the Thanksgiving long weekend – giving the kids something new and fun to play with.  I didn’t need to give them any building ideas, they were on their way to building masterpieces as soon as the boxes were opened.

Lego Duplo Preschool Building Toys are specially designed for the small hands and super huge imaginations of little ones ages 18 months to 5 years old.  My girls are both in that age range so these are the perfect toys for them right now.  Their big brother, at 8, loves Lego so he was more than happy to help build projects with them which was awesome to see.

Playing with LEGO® DUPLO® builds key developmental areas including:

o Social development
o Ideas & creativity
o Counting numbers
o Shapes and colors
o Fine motor skills

Don’t you just love when your kids are playing, but as you watch them, you can see that they are learning crucial skills without them realizing it? That’s the best way to learn – through play!  Over the weekend, as I watched the girls playing, I noticed that Nevaeh was focusing strongly on patterns in her building.

This is just a simple block that Nevaeh made using a color pattern of green and red, and while she likely thought she was creating a colorful block she didn’t realize she was learning patterns.

One of the building toy kits we received was Lego Duplo Play With Letters which gives kids an excellent way to learn their letters as each block has a letter and corresponding picture.  In Nevaeh’s case, she also learned matching and patterns by creating a “hotel”with matching blocks (well, on the base anyway!)

Adding to the fun of letters and blocks, Lego Duplo Bricks and Books sets are an excellent way to teach children how to follow simple step by step visual instructions in a hard cover book to build creations and role play them in the story.  These are going to be an excellent stocking stuffer/gift this holiday season – make a point to find these in stores, parents!

When playing with Lego Duplo with the kids, and anytime really, check out the Lego Duplo Jams App!  It gives kids a fun way to have control over their music and have some fun while playing with Lego Duplo.

Did you know…

According to research conducted by Harris Interactive for LEGO Systems:
55% of children are happier when music is coupled with play
50% are more excited to play when they hear music
43% of children act sillier when music is coupled with play

I have one more piece of info to share with readers this month, and it’s about how Lego Duplo is helping out in the community in The Learn Through Play Project!

LEGO DUPLO and the Canadian Library Association (CLA) have decided to join forces and celebrate and support local libraries. Since LEGO DUPLO strongly believes in learning through play and libraries are a home base for learning, literacy and active imaginations and minds, it seems fitting that together, they support the development of literacy in children!

Together, starting on October 3rd, LEGO DUPLO and the Canadian Library Association (CLA) will be hosting The Great Learn Through Play Project where you can nominate your favorite / local library, and win! 13 libraries across this great country of ours will win $500 in LEGO DUPLO products to help promote learning through play, and 13 lucky people will win $350 in LEGO DUPLO products, simply for nominating a library. Check out www.todaysparent.com/duploplayproject for more information and to nominate your favorite library, and WIN!

Stay tuned for more Lego Duplo info in the months to come!

Disclosure: I am a LEGO DUPLO Play Agent and I receive special perks as part of my affiliation with this group. The opinions on this blog, as always, are my own.