Customer Reviews

LEGO DUPLO Tech Machines Set

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This set is the LEGO Education 9206 Tech Machines set.

Our son loves this set, even more than the regular Duplo bricks he has. This is a very good set for pre-kindergarten boys.
First, it is Duplo, so LEGO has made sure that the dimensions of all the pieces work perfectly with your Duplo bricks and vehicles. The pieces are very high quality injection molded resin plastic with the usual colors: red, blue, yellow, orange, black, and gray. The description says it has about a hundred Duplo pieces including many unique pieces only available with the Tech Machines set: special triangle-shaped screwdrivers (four!), integrated screws that click into place, reels, crane hooks, scoops, and large and small propellers, wings, wheels, tracked-wheel sets, and windshields and cages for the cabs/cockpits of the vehicles.

I don't know how to explain the way this set is different from LEGO Duplo -- it is so many ways, and yet it is still Duplo. The bricks still push together just as LEGO Duplos do, but there are integrated plastic screws that can be used with the included screw drivers to lock the bricks together so more complex things can be assembled. This is really a key educational feature, because the assembly and disassembly activity requires planning and observation to determine which of these screws should go where, or which must be loosened to make a change. This is fun for our son, and consumes much more play time. Kids are fascinated by the options and challenges, and our son is still learning how to put things together into new kinds of devices. The four included screwdrivers allow group play (and misplaced screwdrivers) and have a great torque-limit release feature that prevents over-tightening of the plastic screws. They are much more interesting because he has to work harder to figure out how to make things -- complex structures compared to what can be done with regular Duplo -- with these much more advanced pieces. It also has a very rugged plastic tub with lid to store these.

This type of Duplo is not available in stores, possibly because it is too expensive to be profitable in retail markets. The designs for the parts were released as LEGO Duplo Toolo in the 1990s. You can look up detailed pictures of the kinds of parts in this set by google searches for LEGO Duplo Toolo, such as the detailed parts and set catalogs at brickset.com.

I highly recommend this set for boys age 3.5 and up through perhaps 6. This is probably not suitable for kids so young that they have not mastered Duplos. It is excellent for boys who are interested in vehicles like cranes, bulldozers, backhoes, helicopters, space vehicles, and anything else that can be built from imagination and this box of 100 pieces.

This set contains the most useful Duplo/Lego pieces I have ever seen or played with.
The screw mechanism is perfect for small children.
It is set in the piece, so it can not come out. It then easily screws into another piece with an easy to use tool, allowing for a much stronger connection than one gets just using the usual stud/hole method of connection.
This design also allows one to connect the pieces in ways that can do any of the following:
- create a hinge
- increase the number of faces with bumps (allowing one to then add bricks to multiple faces).
- Change bump orientation.
- Create reasonably strong structures for use as bridges, draw bridges, supports for taller buildings with large open spaces inside, carnival rides and more.

This set will increase the versatility of a Duplo collection more than any other set currently on the market.

The one negative might be that the screw driver tool is sometimes not as easy as I would have expected, to align with the screw. Sometimes if I am trying to get to a screw where I do not have a good direct line of sight, and going by feel, I have a bit of trouble getting it to align as needed.

I purchased two sets of the Lego Duplo Tech machines for my preschool. The children love to construct and use the tools. They've been very creative with the materials and the screwdriver tool helps them to develop the small muscles that are essential to writing and drawing. Three through five year olds can manipulate the materials. Thumbs way up!!

Wow!! The Lego "Simple Machines" set we bought previously for our grandsons was amazing and a smash hit with both the children and adults "working" with them. This Tech Machines set is the natural step up from this, and has amazed us all with its endless creative posssibilities. It solves all the problems of Lego creations falling apart when the youngsters try to play with them, and teaches the use of basic tools. Even the three year is able to grasp the concept and use the tools properly, and the 2 year loves playing with the machines that his 5 year old brother builds. The story cards are a great way to encourage creative thinking in young children. Grandpa is having a ball and Daddy thinks it's awesome. Satisfaction all round, and I cannot recommend this Lego set more highly!
It will be used by our family for years to come.
Grandma Val

My son received this set from his grandmother as his six birthday gift. It was such a wonderful gift. Very educational and easy to use. He is able to play with his sister, 3, and his brother, 1, without me worried about they breaking his creation or ate something that is too small. It also can be a wonderful play date idea for preschool kids.

Great toy for children ages 3 and up. My son likes it a lot. Very good quality. Detailed building description / examples would be helpful.

I highly recommended this set for boys or girls as early as 1.5 or 2. Great for teaching problem solving and dexterity. The set is pricy but very worth the money. There is so much you can make with it, and due to the fact that the pieces lock, kids can actually play with the things we build without them falling apart. Hours of family fun from this set