Guide to Lubulona

Lubulona’s unique modular buildings and trees are the perfect accompaniment to vehicle and small world play. 

Engrossing play

There’s something about creating small world scenes that draws you in. With just a handful of buildings (or cardboard boxes!) you can imagine an entire town and all the lives within it.

Here is the doctor’s and here is the shop. And this is the mother taking her son to the park. Builders build, policemen chase and traffic flows through the streets. 

How many scenarios could your child imagine? Enough for a year’s worth of play? Enough for five?

Lubulona shown here with Way to Play road.

Great for language development

When a child plays with a doll’s house, they explore themes from everyday life. They work through difficult issues and try to make sense of relationships. Take a drive round Lubu Town and you’ll see that small world play is no different. Even a single car offers many ways to improve thinking and speech. Over, under, through, behind, between. These prepositions get a regular workout. And how about ideas like stop and go, fast and slow, up and down, left and right? So much to learn from such a simple activity! 

Heuristic play is built in

Heuristic play, also known as discovery play, is central to how young children learn about the forces that shape our world. It’s the trial-and-error process that they go through as they attempt to understand the laws of physics. Vehicles allow children to test their hypotheses about many of these concepts.

Watching a preschooler with a toy car is a study in how to investigate gravity and trajectory, friction and acceleration. See how they build ramps for rolling down and launching upwards, marvel at the myriad ways they find to crash a car or derail a train.  

Why I love Lubulona

Wooden houses and cars look like something you’d buy a three-year-old. That’s true, but what’s often forgotten is how many years of play you’ll get out of them. The children in the 100 Toys house are now 7, 6, 5 and almost 3. The two eldest are boys and approaching an age when they are too old for toys but they still find uses for blocks, buildings and cars. Lubu Town has featured in the Battle of the Somme and The Great Fire of London and it’s currently deputising as Bethlehem.

Lubulona toys have become familiar friends, reached for in the same way an artist reaches for just the right brush without a moment’s thought. They are a tool, a means to an end, but they also bring play to life. They add context, develop language – and are brilliant fun.

We used to sell toys

Once upon a time we sold toys but now we focus on play. You can still read our popular guides and product reviews and there’s a treasure trove of information on the blog.

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