The 10 Best Lego Duplo Sets

Editor's Notes

December 11, 2020:

Here's the deal with Duplo: Every year, Lego releases multiple new sets with various themes, sizes, and prices. As each set becomes sold out and more difficult to find, its price increases. This can happen slowly over several years, or very quickly - in a matter of hours - for highly coveted Lego releases. So unlike most toys, for Duplo, newer releases are often less expensive and a better value than older sets. Unless you just have your heart set on the princess castle released in 2015, for example, you'll get a better deal with the princess castle released last year. While its theme and pieces will be different, it's doubtful that your toddler will ever notice.

With that in mind, we've made numerous updates this time around to give parents the best toys at the best value that are available right now. None of the older sets we removed are faulty; their prices have just increased too much in comparison to newer releases that are just as cool (if not more so). We've removed the Princess Cinderella's Carriage for this reason, but pint-sized royalty will find something even better with the Disney Frozen Ice Castle - it's a quarter of the price and has three times as many pieces. For superhero fans, the Batman Batcave is a much better value than the now-removed DC Comics Super Heroes. We've also replaced the Big Construction Site with the Construction Tower, a similar option with almost twice as many pieces for about the same price.

More newcomers include the top-ranked World Animals and the Modular Dollhouse, two larger collections with more than 100 pieces each. If you're looking for something much smaller, the Mini Bulldozer Truck is an entertaining set that's affordable to most. There's also a new listing in the Special Honors section, and finally, we've edited the information for several items, including the Cafe 10587, the Mickey & Minnie Birthday Parade, and the My First Number Train.

November 13, 2019:

When your toddler isn’t yet ready for classic Lego sets, you can still introduce him or her to the fun of brick building with a fun, colorful set of Duplo blocks. These are such great toys because they touch on many developmental and learning concepts, such as role-play, counting, problem-solving, sharing, and following directions.

Joining our list of best Duplo sets today is the Big Construction Site, which is perfect for little ones who get excited every time they pass by a real-life construction site. Now, they can act out scenarios once they’ve built the bulldozer, dump truck (with a tipping bucket), and crane (with a rotating cabin, movable arm, and working claw). The three worker figurines are equipped with safety helmets and tools like a shovel, wheelbarrow, jackhammer, and construction cones. This 67-piece set comes with enough blocks (including some see-through, bright blue ones) to make a realistic-looking construction site. Blocks from another set can be added in if your tot wants to make the new buildings larger scale.

Making its departure from our selection is the Backyard Clinic, which has relatively few pieces, so you may find yourself having to buy more sets just to keep your child interested in it.

For safety’s sake, always abide by a manufacturer’s age guidelines, and be sure to keep an eye on little ones when they’re playing with their toys.