Lego has launched a new interactive skill on Amazon Alexa called Lego Duplo Stories, an interactive experience that combines storytelling with the brick toys. The skill is available on devices that support Alexa, like the Amazon Echo or Echo Dot, and gives parents and kids a selection of stories with audio prompts that guide physical play.

Duplo Stories involve getting participants to build things with the brick pieces as they go through the story. There are multiple scenarios to choose from, involving animals like rabbits, cows, cats, and dogs, and transportation like trucks, planes, cars, and trains. One story for instance, involves a plane going on vacation. The plane will go to a warm or cold place, depending on what you choose to pack. Lego says the stories are designed to develop skills including social and cognitive skills, roleplaying, color recognition, choosing directions, and identifying characters. 

Users can just say “Alexa, open Lego Duplo Stories,” and follow the voice prompts to start the experience. Lego Duplo Stories covers ten themes and work with new and existing Duplo sets. Lego notes that children and parents can still interact with the skill even if they don’t have all the necessary Lego pieces.

“Voice is such a powerful tool for play as it is one of the most human ways of interacting. Long before we can type, read or control a device, we listen and speak,” said James Poulter, Head of Emerging Platforms & Partnerships at Lego in a statement. Lego said its Amazon skill is a “direct response” to the feedback it gets from parents.

As a child I always loved getting my parents read to me, but sometimes they’d be too busy to. I imagine I would have loved having a skill like this as a child, especially given that you control the story through choices, kind of like a modern version of those choose-your-own-adventure novels popular in the 80s and 90s.

The Lego Duplo Stories skill is intended for children aged between 2 and 5, and it’s available now.