Playmobil wwyd? Assemble before giving or not?

[Notso]

Have bought quite a lot for my almost 5 and 3 year olds.

We haven't really had any before only a Campervan which took ages to build.
So a busy Christmas Day probably isn't the best time to be building it which might be disappointing as it's mostly all they have got.
However now they are older is part of the fun building it?

TIA

[attheendoftheday]

Assemble beforehand for small kids.

Bigger kids might like assembling it themselves, but my 2 and 4 yos just want to play with it.

[SometimesItRains]

I don't think 3 and 5 year olds will have fun building it tbh, playmobil can be quite intricate and is not really designed for them to put together. Lego, yes, but playmobil, no. They will want to play with it straight away and if it's anything like the fire station I had to put together for DS1 a couple of years ago it will take you a good two hours and there will be much swearing along the way, add in two children desperate to play and it won't end well .

[Jo4040]

Bloody good question! I'm going to wait for many responses here.

Iv bought lots of second hand toys which I will just set up with a bow on, butI don't k kW what to do about the okay mobile stuff!

[LikeASoulWithoutAMind]

Definitely assemble Playmobil in advance, and in advance of Christmas Eve too if you can. The pirate ship took us 2 evenings!

Thankfully I was tipped off by my friend after her dh spent the whole of Christmas Day assembling the doll's house.

[ShanghaiDiva]

In advance - voice of experience here - took me two evenings to put the dolls house together.

[moveon]

Assemble Playmobil. Unlike Lego, Playmobil is all about the playing and not the putting together.

I pre-built the hotel last year, took me hours. Very glad I did it.

My dd is 7 and just wants to get on with the playing of Playmobil.

What Playmobil did you buy?

[bonzo77]

Definitely assemble first. Far easier than doing it while an over excited child nags and helps, and then same extremely bored child wanders off and doesn't play with it.

[WeAllHaveWings]

for that age assemble before, but make sure you time it right and do a few days before if you've got space to hide it. when ds had the big knights castle we assembled xmas eve.

ds was too excited and didn't get to bed/sleep until after 11. I was up until 3am assembling the bloody castle as dh didn't understand the instructions (he's crap at flat packs too )!! Ds was up for Xmas day at 5:30am and I had 12 people to prepare Xmas dinner for!

[sleepyhead]

Assemble first definitely. Playmobil comes unassembled for convenience/to save packaging space - putting it together is definitely not part of the play value.

[curriegirl]

It took DH 2 hours to build the castle for DS a couple of years ago.

[MsGee]

Assemble definitely. But as everyone says, not on Xmas Eve... We have been there too many times. Luckily DD is now 7, so she gets it unassembled :)

[Fairylea]

Assemble first. Otherwise you'll spend an hour or so just setting it all up before they can even play with it.

[Musidora]

I was the recipient of Playmobil at many Christmases, and I would have been gutted if my parents had pre-assembled it! Putting it together was definitely part of the fun. But that said, I think I was 5+. Perhaps if I'd have been 3 it would have been frustrating...

[Nearlyadoctor]

I would if you have any big sets castle / pony farm / hotel etc but leave the smaller sets for them to unwrap in boxes.

As above DD would have been gutted if we had built hers and she couldn't help but we didn't really discover Playmobil until she 6 yrs.

[Notso]

Oooh! Loads of replies, thank you all.

My nearly 5 year old is still finding Lego a little frustrating and tends to stick to Duplo still so I will pre-build.

With a Fire station and vehicles, a police station and vehicles, a funfair and a vets it looks like my evenings are sorted for the foreseeable future

[Cressandra]

Definitely prebuild. With wine.

[Partybugs]

Damn good question!

Depends on the size and how many hours it'll take to build and whether if you, like me, bloody love assembling construction toys.
I've got the wolfs Knights castle and the wedding chapel.
I'm planning on assembling for them on Xmas day whilst they play in the lounge. It'll keep me very happy for an hour maybe building in the kitchen and cooking the dinner.
I think if it was a large item, I would pre assemble.

[cuntycowfacemonkey]

Ahh I remember the three hours it took to build the bastarding pirate ship. Pre build alway prebuild

[Notso]

I love building things.

Christmas Eve and Christmas Day are going to be hectic though. We are hosting at least 16 but probably 18 on Christmas Eve and definitely 14 on Christmas Day.

I curse the day I persuaded DH to buy a giant table.

[Pigeonpost]

Yes, assemble. I lost what felt like most of Christmas Day assembling a Playmobil castle when DS1 was 3/4.

[IHeartKingThistle]

It depends on your child. DS would be OUTRAGED if I assembled anything for him.

[INeedACheeseSlicer]

Absolutely build it beforehand.

And remember: It will take longer than you could ever have believed possible might think. Especially if it is the pirate ship.

[parrotonmyshoulder]

Fairy castle took a long time last Christmas Eve. Second hand, pristine, but no instructions (and no broadband at my parents!)