Review: LEGO Duplo Photo Safari 6156

When our new LEGO Duplo Photo Safari set arrived, we didn't even bother to finish getting dressed before we opened the box and every bag inside. A new Duplo set is always exciting.

Having freed all the animals (and the plane, jeep, trees and bridges) both boys started to build the set using the instructions and the picture on the box as a guide.

Presley and Cash are 5 and 4, and can now make models from the LEGO City and Creator ranges, but they still love Duplo. Sets like the Photo Safari one fuel their imagination. There is so much to play with.

They particularly loved the crocodile with its working jaws. They laughed their heads off as they made it eat everything in sight, including my dressing gown. 

When they finally grew tired of this (about two hours later) they asked to play with their stash of Duplo. We have quite a collection now and they used it to make other animals.

Presley said 'Look, Mummy, I made Elmer.'

They then moved on to make a family of robots:

The Photo Safari set is a welcome addition to our Duplo stash. Yes, the RRP is quite steep at £49.99, but you can keep an eye out for offers. In the run up to Christmas I took advantage of the Sainsbury's toy sale, the 20% off weekend at Toys R Us and the 3-for-2 on toys at Argos.

Duplo, as with all LEGO, is such a well-made toy. It is as versatile as a child's imagination. Although we are moving over to LEGO now, I hope it will be a little while before the boys stop playing with Duplo altogether. The bricks are compatible after all.

We have had Duplo in our house for almost four years and it is played with all the time. I've watched my boys go from putting bricks in their mouths, to stacking them, to making simple models, to building complex villages. I love it.


Disclosure: We were sent a LEGO Duplo Photo Safari set to review.

Review: LEGO Duplo Photo Safari 6156

Cars 2 LEGO Duplo: Review and Competition

We are proud to be LEGO Duplo Experts in the Calico household. 

Presley and Cash play with Duplo every day. We were lucky enough to be sent a selection from the Cars 2 range and it has been a massive hit.

As well as getting the vehicles (Lightning McQueen, Mater, Finn McMissile, Carla, Luigi and Guido) you get plenty of basic bricks and specialised pieces too.

Of course once you have built the sets a few times you can add the Cars 2 Duplo to the rest of your stash as it all fits together. It even fits together with LEGO, so it can be used for years.

Duplo is so well made. There are never any rough edges and it doesn't break when you tread on it - and we all know how much it hurts to tread on it!

You can see from the photographs that my boys are playing together happily and there is plenty of imaginative play.

The only thing I didn't like was this:

Call me old-fashioned, but I don't want the boys to know what missiles are just yet. Fortunately they don't know what it is or what it does in real life. In fact, from the photograph you may imagine that it's a pepper shaker... or something else!



Now onto details of an lovely special offer and the fabulous competition.

At Toys R Us now there is a special offer. Spend £30 on LEGO Duplo and you get this cute bear (worth £10) free:

There are some amazing prizes up for grabs in a new competition:

First Prize (2 winners will get this)

·         1 x Cars ‘The Pit Stop’: http://duplo.lego.com/en-us/Products/The+Pit+Stop/5829.aspx

·         1 x Cars ‘Tokyo Racing’: http://duplo.lego.com/en-us/Products/The+Pit+Stop/5819.aspx

·         1 x Cars ‘Agent Mater’: http://duplo.lego.com/en-us/Products/The+Pit+Stop/5817.aspx

·         1 x Cars ‘Luigi’s Italian Place’: http://duplo.lego.com/en-us/Products/The+Pit+Stop/5818.aspx

·         1 x My First LEGO DUPLO Set: http://duplo.lego.com/en-us/Products/Default.aspx#5931

·         1 x DUPLO Brick Box: http://duplo.lego.com/en-us/Products/Default.aspx#5416

Second Prize (3 winners will get this)

·         1 x Cars ‘Tokyo Racing’: http://duplo.lego.com/en-us/Products/The+Pit+Stop/5819.aspx

·         1 x Cars ‘Luigi’s Italian Place’: http://duplo.lego.com/en-us/Products/The+Pit+Stop/5818.aspx

·         1 x DUPLO Brick Box: http://duplo.lego.com/en-us/Products/Default.aspx#5416

Third Prize (10 winners will get this)

·         1 x My First LEGO DUPLO Set: http://duplo.lego.com/en-us/Products/Default.aspx#5931

·         1 x DUPLO Brick Box: http://duplo.lego.com/en-us/Products/Default.aspx#5416

This competition is running over a few other LEGO Duplo expert blogs, but I'd love a Baby Baby reader to win something!

How to enter the competition:

• Send an email to duplocompetition@digital-outlook.com
• Put Baby Baby in the subject line.
• In the body of the email put your full name and postal address.

Competition closes on November 6th.

Winners will be picked and prizes will be send out by Digital Outlook.


Good luck!!

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Cars 2 LEGO Duplo: Review and Competition

Thank you LEGO Duplo

I've got a lot of reason be grateful to LEGO Duplo.

Firstly we are LEGO Duplo experts. This means the boys will be testing Duplo - it's a tough job, but someone's got to do it. They will also be having LEGO themed birthday parties. On top of that LEGO Duplo are sponsoring me to go to Cybermummy. They have bought my ticket and will be covering my travel and hotel costs.  

Secondly, if I want to boys to tidy up their toys I offer them the tub of Duplo as a reward. This always works.

Finally, they love playing with their Duplo. We were sent the Fishing Trip Set. This wasn't a huge hit as we're not a fishing family, but it is still played with. The boys mostly put the bear in the boat!

We were also sent the garbage truck and this is very popular. My boys like nothing more than 'something to brum', 'it's got a man in it' and 'you can put things in the back'. This ticks all the boxes. Luckily they were also given the ambulance for Christmas so they both have a similar toy. They both play imaginatively for long periods with their Duplo.

Here they have made a park with a swing and a slide. They're even playing together quite nicely. So thank you LEGO Duplo!

Thank you LEGO Duplo