We got the chance to review this LEGO DUPLO Read & Build set this week, and what a fun toy it is! It’s designed to help children engage with books by building with the DUPLO blocks as they go through the story. This deeper level of engagement with the story will theoretically help the kids learn to read.
I was excited about reviewing this because Anneliese already LOVES books, but her patience with blocks wears thin relatively quickly. So I hoped it would help her engage more with the building/bricks aspect.
I love that the packaging was EASY TO OPEN. I saw the plastic box and thought I might have to get out the scissors… but I was pleasantly surprised. I ripped through two sticker tabs, and the whole box popped open easily. Fuss-free packaging is a huge plus, especially when your toddler is SUPER EXCITED about the new toy, and is dancing around, waiting for you to free it from its plastic clutches.
Please excuse the potty… yes, she wanted to play with it on the potty. I think it’s because we often read her new books while she potties. ANYway…here she is, signing “thank you” because… well… it’s a BOOK. And she LOVES books. So she was already way into it. We read through the story once without using the blocks, then again, while I showed her how to build the animals on each page.
After the introduction, I read it to her again, and she tried to build the animals. She came fairly close on some of them, but I’m sure with practice she’ll get better at it. She was very excited when she made the blocks click together, and held up her creations excitedly to show me. “FROG!” she announced, when she clicked the green and yellow pieces together. Really? The DUPLO “animals” hardly look like the real-life animals they represent, but because of the storyline, she knew what they were supposed to be.
Throughout the afternoon, Anneliese played with the animals and looked through the book. The snail sat on the dining room table and watched her eat dinner, while the book actually ended up in bed with her tonight. I’m excited to see her build more, and to see where her imagination leads her with the LEGOs.
Would you like to win a $100 LEGO Gift Card? Answer in the comments, “How do you think LEGO DUPLO Read & Build will help your child learn to read?” Leave a comment below and you will be entered into a sweepstakes to win a $100 LEGO gift card!
Visit LEGO.com to see other Read & Build sets and order online. Check out BlogHer.com to find other reviews and more ways you can enter to win.
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Hi! I'm Emily. I'm a Navy wife and stay at home mom of two beautiful children. I cook simple, delicious, grain-free recipes, do crafts, decorate my home on a budget, and keep a happy household. I tandem breastfeed, babywear, cloth diaper, practice elimination communication, homebirth, and co-sleep, but I'm not a hippie.
My son (34 months) absolutely adores our Duplo sets and reading books with Mommy and I. I like the idea of tying a dexterous activity to a story and would just love to try it out with him. My daughter (15 months) is also fascinated with books and getting more and more into toys.
I haven’t heard of Lego books like these. We love playing with Legos. This would add a fun step for my toddler.
tweet:
https://twitter.com/syytta/status/229753411732639744
songyueyu at gmail
I tweeted this giveaway: https://twitter.com/emily5277/status/229225626240958464
my daughter already loves the books but we don’t have any legos for her to play with. i think she would love following the story and trying to put the animals together!
This is great…it’ll keep my son engaged. Reading and playing together is a great combination!
alittlenosh AT gmail.com
I tweeted. https://twitter.com/heatherlaverne1/status/228440947225145344
My son absolutely LOVES legos. I think the key to learning is engaging the child, capturing their attention, working with their imagination. I think the Lego Duplo Read and Build, would be fun for my son. And when your having fun, learning is easy. Incorporating something he loves, likes legos, and adding in books (which he loves), would be a great tool to helping my son polish up his reading skills. This would be wonderful!
Love that it encourages reading and following directions in one activity!
I think the Lego activity will help encourage them to work on their reading skills to complete the story and activity.
My boys LOVE Legos and this makes learning to read so much fun. I think the Lego activity will help encourage them to work on their reading skills to complete the story and activity.
it will add extra incentive and excitement to reading
I like that this make reading a tactile experience, which I think is very important (especially for my boys). They’ll naturally want to read the books, so they can play with their Legos!
Reading and playing with Lego blocks are 2 of my 6 year old son’s favorite activities and I know that he’ll be more than willing to help read and play with his baby brother when the time comes!
2 of my 6 year old’s favorite activities is reading and playing with his Lego blocks. I know that this will also help my 3 month old when he gets older and I can have my 6 year old help me read to him and help him build!
We are hoping to homeschool, and I think this would be a fun addition to our daily schedule!
chamabanachik@gmail.com
This would encourage fine motor skills as well as early reading. They will win at something!
Tweeted:
https://twitter.com/anashct3/status/225927178024525824
Thanks for the chance to win!
email: anashct1 [at] yahoo [dot] com
it helps them to learn to build on what they already know! Thanks for a super giveaway!
https://twitter.com/HappyTina0115/status/225765493909364736
I think it would help them to think and read
I tweeted https://twitter.com/teamshoemaker/status/225641920209223680
I love that there’s a pink block included in this set! It helps make it a bit more girly, although I love that legos in general are very neutral! They appeal to everyone! I think this would help my daughter feel like reading was more entertainment and less of something that requires work, because reading is hard for a kid!
This could help my child learn to read by engaging them in an activity that helps them truly interact with the text, by way of the building blocks. Very cool product!
That is a great idea. We have 9 boxes of toys to choose from in our living room, 2 of the 9 are just Duplo’s. We love them.
I would hope that the more we read the book and put together the blocks it would help with word association. My son loves both Lego’s and books, so great to see them together!
I would hope that the more we read the book and put together the blocks it would help with work association. My son loves both Lego’s and books, so great to see them together!
I apologize for the duplicate, I tried to fix a typo and it posted both and now I see no way to delete.
My boy is engaged by stories with activities! This looks promising.
i think it would help because she loves interactive stories
thismomwins@gmail.com
Anytime there is something interactive (No lights and sounds PLEASE!!) it keeps Coop’s attention longer. Blocks are a HUGE hit my him too. I have to keep a look out for this!
https://twitter.com/tcarolinep/status/224735989476757504
DDs love LEGO, this combination is such a great motivation to them in reading while playing with LEGO.
tcarolinep at gmail dot com
tweeted about this giveaway: https://twitter.com/uTry_it/status/224413703318147072
Amy [at] utry [dot] it
Thanks for sharing about your experience. I didn’t know about this product until now. I believe the LEGO DUPLO Read & Build will help my kids learn to read with all those fun colors block building and interaction. For sure this is a lot more fun than just reading the book.
Amy [at] utry [dot] it
Wow what a fantastic new reading tool! Having the Lego Duplos in hand while reading the story just makes it more inter-active and my son will really be excited to read the story and build at the same time.
Thank you Lego Duplo! This is awesome!
https://twitter.com/aithyne/status/224331016523874306
Oh, definitely because it encourages my son to FOLLOW DIRECTIONS.
I believe when it comes to reading at an early age, it’s all about memorization of an image. Combine that with an action (building Legos) and it will help the information sink in even more!
I love legos and I’m so excited to try these new sets with my daughters!
Read & Build will help because it’s interactive. He’ll love building the animals from the book and seeing them take shape as he goes!
It remind me of colorforms-a picture/building/creating connection AND a story! I would love this f/my godson. I have a 4yo who has done so well with tanagrams-and now-goldfish. The pictures with building/remembering is so vital to child dev.
How cute is A.! I can’t believe she is potty training, all three of mine were challenging-(boys)
Thanks f/the contest
elizabeth
I believe that any time you had a kinetic activity with reading and learning that it is more meaningful and therefore more likely to be remembered! Thanks for a chance to win and have a great day!
kmassmanATgmailDOTcom
I’d love this for my daughter – she loves reading books, but I’d like for her to get more involved with blocks, so this is perfect.
My son loves books and Legos – he likes to point to the words and pretend he knows what they are. Maybe it would help him recognize some of the words!
My son would love this! He loves blocks and books. Combining the two would make for a really fun activity.
just started on twitter recently so I tweeted!
https://twitter.com/NicholeCorless/status/223549868856197120
Sounds like a great way to keep an acitve toddler engaged in a generally stationary activity!
We love legos and i love the skills that they teach my kids.
What a great concept! This would teach my daughter how to interact and stay engaged with a book! Great way to develop reading comprehension!
Looks like fun! Any activity that goes along with a book just makes the book that much more appealing, so I’m sure adding Duplos works to get kids involved!