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DUPLO Animal House with a String Lake

Aug 13, 20124,369 views
Construction
DUPLO CREATIONS Save
lego duplo kids creation Save
Lego Duplo kids creation Save

by TurkeyMom in Construction

Ages2–5 yrs
Prep5 min
Activity30 min
Leveleasy
MessLow
Works for1:1 · Small group · Class

Open-ended DUPLO building: make a house for toy animals, then outline a lake beside it with string and add blue construction paper your child labels. It works as a simple pretend-play and early-writing activity.

⚠️ Safety first

  • Supervise young children around string or ribbon, and put it away after play.
  • Keep small toy figures and accessories away from children who still mouth toys.

Before the kids arrive

  • Clear a stretch of floor and set out the DUPLO bricks and animals.

Steps

  1. Pour the DUPLO bricks out on the floor.

  2. Build a house for all the animals.

  3. Move the animals into their new house. They can all live in the same place!

  4. Lay string on the floor to make a lake next to the house.

  5. Put blue construction paper inside the lake to make it blue.

  6. Write the word LAKE on the paper.

  7. Take a picture of your creation before it gets put away.

  8. If it gets knocked down, sing 'We are builders, we are fixers!' and build it again.

Tips

  • Please catalog your kid's creations. It would be amazing to see them after years. I sure wish I had cataloged ours since she was about 14 months old.from the author
  • 'We are builders, we are fixers!' can be sung to the tune of any catchy TV jingle. We sing it when a little sibling wrecks a creation. It calms her and reminds her that she can rebuild it.from the author
  • Let them make the extras themselves. The blue construction paper and the writing were all her (well, she spelled it 'LAK'), and I was grinning ear to ear.from the author
  • Go along with the pretending: 'I'm just pretending that the polar bear and the elephant live in the same place, ok?'from the author

Make it your own

  • Build towers, walls, cities or castles instead of a house.
  • Make a hanging zoo or forest full of wild animals.

The story behind it

By TurkeyMom · August 2012
DUPLO CREATIONS
We love to build houses, towers and castles, but most of all zoos and forests. A house for all the animals. "I'm just pretending that the polar bear and the elephant live in the same place, ok?"
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DUPLO Animal House with a String Lake: the original post

This is a place to share all of our LEGO DUPLO creations, which by the way comes by pretty often in our household. We love to build houses, towers, walls, cities, castles, most of all, we love hanging zoos and forests. So you will always see wild animals hanging out in our lego creations. I sure wish I had cataloged Big A’s block creations since she was about 14 months old. It would have been awesome to see the progress! Any DUPLO loving moms/dads reading this, please catalog your kid’s creations. It would be amazing to see them after years. We are builders.. We are fixers! sung to the tune of any catchy jingle you see on TV. This is the song we sing to Big A to stop her from throwing a fit when Baby A completely wrecks her creations. Seems to calm her and remind her that she can re build it. A house for all the animals. Mommy “I’m just pretending that the polar bear and the elephant live in the same place, ok?”

DUPLO CREATIONS A lake adjacent to the house for all the animals.

lego duplo kids creation The string lake needed some blue. The blue construction paper and the writing was all her ( well, she spelled it “LAK”). I was grinning ear to ear after she was done :)

Lego Duplo kids creation Shared on Little Builders

What readers say

💬 2 comments

Tried it?

Reviewed before it appears. No links, and please no children's names.

Read all 2 comments

  1. Emma @mummymummymum · Aug 2012

    Awww, that is fantastic! I love the Elephant and Polar bear living together! Thanks for linking up. xx

  2. Gayathri · Aug 2012

    Good job! I love your lake idea.

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