Well I absolutely love this, I think it is such a fab idea! Basically the Read & Build set comes with a story book and enough Duplo bricks to be able to make the characters in the story. The set we received to review was 'Busy Farm' and the book is a simple rhyming farm story about a rooster waking up the farm and then falling asleep himself. From the packaging it looks like you can get other sets with different stories and I'm sure it would be lovely to collect a few but we really enjoyed this one.
Each page has a part of the story about one of the animals and a simple illustrative picture of how to make that animal from the bricks. They are just very simple (3 or 4 chunky bricks each) but great for little ones to get the idea of following instructions themselves. This is the part that made my little one pleased as punch, she could do it ALL BY HERSELF!!
At nearly 3 years old (and an experienced Duplo player) I expected my little girl to find it a bit too basic but she loved it. She always loves pretending to follow instructions (or constructions as she calls them) but this time she could actually do it. She was holding the pieces up to the book to check them and was really proud of herself when she made the animals. They were a bit back to front the first few times but that doesn't matter!
Although aimed at slightly younger children she enjoyed the story, and once she built the animals they were busy making all their sounds and reenacting the story.
It would be fantastic if they also did a slightly older version of this, I'm going to have to check as I would buy it for her for Christmas in a flash! I would say this set would make a perfect stocking filler for a one or early two year old. It's a great first step into the wonderful world of Lego.
The Duplo will be available at Toys R Is soon hurray!!
