# Getting my kid (4) started with Legos. **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 21, 2008, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-my-kid-4-started-with-legos/473892 "2008-11-21T19:41:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Sapo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@Sapo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sapo)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2008, 9:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-my-kid-4-started-with-legos/473892/21 "2008-11-23T09:40:36Z")
> [@wunderkammer](#): > > Well, there’s no such thing as too many wheels. Wheels, sloping bricks, and clear blocks were absolutely coveted when I was a kid. > > Duplo was fun, too. Even after my brother and I graduated to Legos, we still broke out the Duplo bucket when we needed to build something that reached the ceiling. 😃 Wheels, sloping bricks and clear blocks were the currency of my childhood. Inverted slopes could have just as easily be made of platinum for all we wanted them. I think it would be great if they made duplo-lego interface blocks that allowed you to build gigantic things with duplo and then add detail with lego. (are you hearing, lego designers?). ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2008, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-my-kid-4-started-with-legos/473892/22 "2008-11-23T12:35:18Z")
There’s no ‘S’ in ‘Lego’. ---
**Author:** ![Sapo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@Sapo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sapo)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2008, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-my-kid-4-started-with-legos/473892/23 "2008-11-23T16:34:00Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > There’s no ‘S’ in ‘Lego’. Well, that’s the whole point of Lego, you don’t need to have an S, you can build one yourself. ---
**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2008, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-my-kid-4-started-with-legos/473892/24 "2008-11-23T23:15:03Z")
> [@Sapo](#): > > I think it would be great if they made duplo-lego interface blocks that allowed you to build gigantic things with duplo and then add detail with lego. (are you hearing, lego designers?). I always thought they did. I have none to hand and the Duplo back at my parents I was going to pull out for my daughter has gone missing, but I thought the big hole under the Lego block fitted into the big hole on top of the Duplo base. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2008, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-my-kid-4-started-with-legos/473892/25 "2008-11-23T23:58:28Z")
FTR, I’ve already seen a couple of post-thanksgiving sales (K-Mart and I forget who else) for next Friday and Saturday that have discounted lego sets. This week might be a good time to pick some up 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2008, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-my-kid-4-started-with-legos/473892/26 "2008-11-24T14:12:34Z")
> [@Sapo](#): > > I think it would be great if they made duplo-lego interface blocks that allowed you to build gigantic things with duplo and then add detail with lego. (are you hearing, lego designers?). Any block that’s a multiple of the basic 2x2 block (e.g., 4x2, 10x2, 6x4) will interface with Duplo, so it’s easy to build things combining both. ---
**Author:** ![Sapo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@Sapo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sapo)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2008, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-my-kid-4-started-with-legos/473892/27 "2008-11-25T00:35:15Z")
> [@Giles](#): > > Any block that’s a multiple of the basic 2x2 block (e.g., 4x2, 10x2, 6x4) will interface with Duplo, so it’s easy to build things combining both. So much for my path to fame and fortune. (and sucky that there are very few Duplo bricks at home, it is mostly Mega Block) ---
**Author:** ![lizardling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f4b2a3/32.png) [@lizardling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lizardling)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2008, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-my-kid-4-started-with-legos/473892/28 "2008-11-25T02:11:09Z")
Piling on. Basic Bucket O Lego supplemented with the occasional kit or two was the menu of entertainment when I and my siblings were kids. We built the heck out of the basic bricks even if the Special Sets were an Occasion. I still remember trying to do a bit of stop motion animation with my dad’s video camera and a small Lego background. 😃 Unfortunately the double-clicking required for the framing was a bit of a pain so that didn’t get too far off the ground, but it was cool. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2008, 8:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-my-kid-4-started-with-legos/473892/29 "2008-11-25T08:01:25Z")
Whenever my brothers got another Lego box, the procedure was: 1. rip box open, 2. dump contents into the Lego drum (an empty soap drum that had been upgraded to hold Lego; another one held Famobil Clicks), 3. call Nava to build “houses” (since they never wanted the whole house, more like a layout of a town, it tended to look like a Fallout battleground) 4. play toy soldiers with the Lego figures. That definitely didn’t make “fancy” pieces like wheels necessary at all 😃 ---
**Author:** ![ShelliBean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f9ae1b/32.png) [@ShelliBean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShelliBean)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2008, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-my-kid-4-started-with-legos/473892/30 "2008-11-25T14:28:29Z")
> [@Sapo](#): > > So, if I went to buy separate pieces, besides 2x4 and wheels, what should I get? You should pick one set at random and see which pieces your kid gravitates towards. Then buy more of those. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2008, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-my-kid-4-started-with-legos/473892/31 "2008-11-25T17:01:53Z")
[Start them off with a scale model of a Nimitz class aircraft carrier along with its air wing and work up from there.](http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/Weebleleezer/Aircraftcarrier/11111111jan01.jpg) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-my-kid-4-started-with-legos/473892.md?page=1)