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In a couple of months, my wife and I will welcome our first child, and we cannot be more excited. Among the million things I can think of to share with my future child, my passion for Lego bricks ain't ever far. However, there is a catch: it might take a little while before we can sit around the table and put some robotic sets in motion together. So I started looking at our options for an early GeekDad/kid session around some Lego bricks.
The regular Lego bricks are unfortunately out of the question, with safety coming at the top of the list of reasons. My first guess was to get some Lego Duplo bricks, which are by definition twice the size of the regular Lego bricks and therefore not considered subject to choking hazard. But I think these bricks are not yet practical enough before two years old, mainly due to their size and stiffness, therefore a little too advanced for a one-year old busy shaping some teeth.
Very much by accident while browsing the Dutch version of Ebay, Marktplaats, I became aware of the existence of the Lego Quatro. You could guess where the name comes from; these bricks are four times larger than regular Lego bricks, hence twice larger than Duplo ones. These bricks are reputed "vampire teeth" proof, therefore should be able to contribute to developing the baby ones. Their size makes them very much accessible for younger kids from age one and some decent works of art can be built by stacking them on top of one another. Here is the bonus: just as Duplo is compatible with Lego bricks, Quatro are compatible with Duplo, making the possibilities endless, as well as bringing continuity in the child learning process.
As always, there is a flip side to every story, the Quatro have been discontinued since 2006 and can only be found in the secondary market, therefore in rather small volumes. Even though there was probably a well thought reason for taking these sets out of the market at the time, this gap in the Lego education curriculum is quite a pity for parents wishing to introduce this smart toy early on in the development of their children.
There are obviously competing options out there such as Mega Bloks providing equally large size items for younger geeks, but they are certainly not compatible with Lego, making it quite a show-stopper in my case.
So please, Lego Group, if you read this, point me out to the abandoned warehouse where I can find the remaining Quatro boxes and I will send my kid to pick them up... in a couple of months.
