Lego Play Board

Our boys love their Lego Duplos that Grandma and Grandpa got for them the last time they were here for a visit. I think the original plan was that the Duplos were supposed to be the boys' holiday gift, but Sawyer discovered the bright green Lego box hiding behind the bed in the guest room, and there was no way he was going to wait several months to play with them. Luckily for him, Grandma and Grandpa are good sports, so they let him have the Legos months too early for Christmas. Since then not a day has gone by where we haven't spent a considerable amount of time building castles, parking garages, trains and bridges.

The only problem with Duplos is that they're so big that it takes a lot of staggering and offsetting of bricks to hold a building together without having a base plate for the foundation, which can be really frustrating for a 2 and 3 year old. Fortunately for us Grandma and Grandpa came to the rescue again, and Grandma ordered the boys two 15"x15" base plates to build their creations on. The plates are awesome, but they're incredibly thin and flimsy, and I knew that they were going to get cracked and broken immediately without something stronger to back them up. Mitch picked up some wood at Home Depot, I grabbed some acrylic paint, sealer and paintbrushes, and we got to work creating a Legoville play board for the boys to build on.

Mitch rounded the edges on a piece of pine board, and we spaced the base plates with just enough room in between them that they can be clearly defined when the boys want their own work space, but close enough that the gap can be spanned with a standard size block. We filled in the gap to make it look like a waterway since the boys are so fond of building bridges (this picture was taken before I painted a bridge over the water and outlined it).

Sawyer's first reaction to the board was "Wow! You painted this road for me? You've got to be kidding me!" and immediately started driving his Hot Wheels cars around the road.

Mitch stepped in to demonstrate that the green parts were for Lego building...

...and he pretty much forgot all about the road and started building a "dinosaur train"

Sutton woke up from his nap and couldn't wait to get in on the fun too. The board is such a perfect size for both of them to play together without being too close for comfort.

Sutton kept calling this creation a carwash and sending the Hot Wheels school bus through it over and over again.

The base plates and play board are definitely a HUGE hit - thanks Grandma and Grandpa!!! They didn't want to play with anything else for the rest of the night!

Wow, now that's a BIG bridge!