From Duplo to Lego – our little one has upped her building block game
22/1/2024
Translation: Jessica Johnson-Ferguson
Duplo’s lost its appeal for our daughter ever since she was gifted a huge pile of Lego bricks. But the small bricks are proving a bit of a challenge for her and us parents. At the same time, we’re celebrating our first successful constructions.
Can I tell you a secret? I shouldn’t be writing about Lego. Why? Because I was a total Playmobil kid! I never really played with those small plastic bricks. It was only when our daughter started playing with Duplo that I started to take a serious interest in building with bricks. Having said that, constructing towers, houses and animal enclosures isn’t a particularly serious past time. Will this change with the smaller Lego bricks we now own? Time for me, the overgrown Playmobil kid, to take stock.
A mountain of Lego
We owe the shift from Duplo to Lego to our former neighbour’s son. He heard that we were looking for Lego for Zoe and insisted on bringing over the collection he used to play with when he was younger. The amount he lugged over was nothing short of mountainous. A box was full to the brim with a jumble of Lego bricks in all colours, shapes and sizes.
Source: Patrick Vogt
Overwhelm in three acts
We started to sort out the bricks that same day. We only did a rough job of it, but the laborious task seemed to go on forever. Zoe briefly gave me a hand at the start but was soon busy doing something else. Sorting seems to bore her. I get it.
The day after our sorting job was done, Lego appealed to her again. She wanted to play with the bricks and construct something. But what? The aeroplane set contained in the box is incomplete. We find this out after downloading the official instructions from the Lego website (page in German). Although we improvise and get the plane to work pretty decently with other bricks, we’ve lost Zoe. She’s soon fed up with the laborious search for suitable bricks in the large pile of Lego.
The same thing happens when my wife suggests building a dinosaur. Our dinosaur fan Zoe’s totally up for it, before being disillusioned shortly after. Looking for a brick in a Lego stack frustrates her. She’s overwhelmed by the sheer number of bricks. But against all odds, we now still have a dinosaur. My wife built it all by herself. I’m proud of her.
Source: Patrick Vogt
Step by step towards a unicorn
Before Zoe gets too frustrated with Lego, I try to fix the situation. I buy her a new set and reel her in with one of her passions: unicorns. I choose to ignore the 7+ age recommended on the box. I’m pretty confident I’ll be able to help if she’s struggling. Even if I’m a Playmobil kid at heart.
My plan works. Zoe’s engaged and focussed from the get-go. The step-by-step instructions are a great help and make her search for the right bricks much easier. My job’s limited to checking that the bricks are put firmly together and that she doesn’t miss a step. Ta-dah! Zoe’s assembled her first Lego set.
Source: Patrick Vogt
The main takeaways
Zoe and Lego are a match. That much can be said. This makes me feel confident that she’ll soon venture into the mainly unsorted pile of Lego. What she definitely needs in this early phase are instructions like the ones she had for the unicorn. There are various books on the subject:
At the moment, Zoe can’t see the Lego house for the bricks. We help make things easier for her by pre-sorting the bricks needed to make a building. This makes looking for the right brick easier and keeps frustration at bay.
All we’re missing now, despite the huge box of Lego, is building boards – the foundation of any Lego house. We’ve found Zoe struggles less if she can place the bricks on a board right from the start. In view of this, I’m definitely going to invest in some boards.
There’s another lesson to be learned from watching my wife. Unlike me, she’s definitely a Lego kid at heart. Turns out she engaged in some Lego activity unbeknownst to us all. The result? A number made of Lego bricks ready for our daughter’s birthday photo shoot. Here’s another «happy birthday» to you, Zoe!
Source: Sofia Vogt
How’s your child handling Lego? Got any tips on how to keep them motivated? Let me know in the comments.
Header image: Patrick Vogt
I'm a full-blooded dad and husband, part-time nerd and chicken farmer, cat tamer and animal lover. I would like to know everything and yet I know nothing. I know even less, but I learn something new every day. What I am good at is dealing with words, spoken and written. And I get to prove that here.
