Lego Blocks

The reason Lego's have 4 and up on them is because many child care facilities can't allow them due to state regulations regarding choke hazards and any toy fitting through the tube of the toilet paper. Lego's fall through, hot wheels cars fall through, marbles, raisins, grapes, some puzzle pieces, so many different toys they just can't be named/listed here.

If he is ready for them and doesn't chew on toys then let him have them for special time play for dad and son. They can be put up except when dad and son are going to play together.

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I agree with the other mamas that 4 is a great age to start with regular Legos, not Duplo. One additional piece of advice I might add is to pay close attention to the age range of the set. My son will be 5 in August, and we tried giving him a set for ages 6 and up, and it did nothing but frustrate him--he couldn't quite grasp some of the instructions without a lot of help. The sets labeled 4+ were perfect, though, so I think Lego really knows what they are doing with the age ranges for sets. Enjoy the Legos--they are truly an awesome toy!

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Since my oldest got his first Lego set at about 6 the younger ones have always had them. By three they were not eating them.
So 4 is a prefect age unless he still eats small things.
Now my youngest never really enjoyed the Lego's until about 7. THen he couldnt' leave them and we have since had elaborate structures that we are not allowed to tear down, he is now 10.
Lego's stay in his room, if they are in the living room they become dogfood. :o) I have a Beagle who chews everything.

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I think my son was 4 years old when we started giving him regular legos. My daughter has been playing with regular legos with her brother since she was 3 years old. She will still play with the duplos too.

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As long as he isn't still putting things in his mouth all the time he will be fine. My now 4 yr old was using legos at 3 because of his big brothers.

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My son, has never used Duplo blocks, nor liked it.
He just liked the regular Legos.
Since he was 2-3, he has played with regular Legos. Partly as well, because my daughter who is currently 8, has the regular Legos and they play with it together.

But with my son, I do not have to worry about him mouthing it.
My son would just construct things with it. Anything in his imagination.
He just would need help sometimes, pulling some apart.

He also has the sets, that build like Star Wars ships, or vehicles, etc. And I put it together for him, since it is complicated to put together. But as I construct it, I glue it together with super glue. Then it does not come apart and the pieces do not get lost.

My son, is currently 4 years old.

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They have to say 4 + by federal law because some 3 year olds (like my son) still try to eat everything. If he is past the "lets see what THAT tastes like" thing, it is likely safe.

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He is absolutely ready now! My son was building the real models at that age with a little help from me. Once he got the hang of it he quickly progressed to the ones for the much older kids. I would start out with a mosel that says 5 or 6 years and up. Maybe one of the toy story ones-they seem a little more straightforward.

Legos are one of the best, if not THE best toys out there for kids. It teaches so much -everything from following directions to hand eye coordination to creativity. Even though they are expensive this is one thing I never said no to.

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For your sake try something else to entertain! They are such a pain! Not to mention annoying to pick up. I still step on little lego pieces when I go to my mothers house and they are from my brother 4 years ago. She is a clean freak and vacuums at least 4 times a week but the little bitty pieces for the people attachments get stuck down deep in carpet.

I don't think it matters what the package says, you need to buy based on your child. What is difficult for one will not be the same for all. Does he have good dexterity? Can he play with small pieces without getting easily frustrated? I bought a small Lego set for our nephew for his fourth birthday, and according to his mom, he was having a wonderful time with it. Of course, he's always been very mechanically minded and patient (and pretty brilliant, too). Even my 2-year old plays with regular Legos (mostly already built into trucks or houses though, he doesn't build much himself yet).
Of course, you could always buy the blocks, and if they are too difficult for him or cause him to get upset, couldn't you just put them away and bring them back out when he's older?

My son has used regular legos since he was 2.5 and played with them at a cousin's house. I knew I had to buy some for home, because they build lego houses for about 6 hours straight. As long as your son doesn't eat them, it'll be fine. It's more of a brain builder anyway!

As long as he is not apt to stick things in his mouth, he should be okay. My daughter was never prone to putting things in her mouth that didn't belong so at a younger age for her I would not have been too worried. We still waited because there was no reason not to but she's always been really good about stuff like that. Her same-age cousin on the other hand would put anything and everything in her mouth so her parents had to be a lot more careful with her and what she was allowed to have.

My daughter was a few months shy of 4 years when my hubby brought out HIS legos and played with her. For my daughter's 4th birthday she got her own regular lego blocks. My daughter was ready for it, not putting things in her mouth at this point and she really enjoys building with them. At first it was just matching colors, stacking them, but around 4 1/2 years she started to build things. I think it helps if an adult or older child is also playing because you can show what can be done with them, then again I think it starts to come naturally after awhile.

Love your name, D.. (I've never seen it before!) My kids loved Legos and still have them in the basement. Once in a while they are down there doing something with them and fussing to high heaven that I gave away a huge tub of single pieces. (My kids are 16 and 18 and I am tired of Legos in my house!)

I would buy a small box of the Legos and see if he can construct it. Let that be your template. You pick the box until he gets good at it. Bionicles are also great for kids around 5 or so - I'm sure he'll start begging for those as soon as he realizes they are Legos too.

I would get a lego table as soon as he starts playing with a lot of them. They can really make a mess and you don't want his Lego universe to take over his entire playroom. My sister-in-law had a table in the bedroom and any Legos that were in the floor before bedtime were thrown in a bucket. If my nephew wanted to keep his "creation", it had to be on his table.

Enjoy!

D.