I am a Playmobil virgin

[MavisEnderby]

But am considering getting some for the children for Christmas.

dd the carry along house (The bigger houses are lovely but waay expensive)

ds has asked for the pyramid but as we have got him a wii I think that would be excessive given cost.Am looking at some less costly dinosaur stuff.

Can anyone reccomend what Playmobil their children have enjoyed the most?TIA.

[moodlum]

DD loves her carry along house. DS loves the pirate stuff and the dinosaur stuff. This year I'm getting them playmats to put it all on so they can have it out, otherwise they don't really play with it as much as I think they could.

Prepare to become completely OCD about the storage of the sets, keeping them complete and spending your life looking for the most minuscule bit of plastic. Not for their benefit, but for yours. Its an obsession.

[LadyOfTheFlowers]

DS1 (4) got the pirate ship for his birthday in July - he loves it!

He is now hankering after the castle which is mega bucks...

[MavisEnderby]

Ah ,thank you

Am now a tad worried.Are minute bits smaller than very small Lego.I have a tendency to accidentally hoover this up!

Additionally wondering if some bits will be too small for dd as she has some difficulty with fine motor skills but will be happy just playing with the people in the house in her own little way (has sn)

I have heard such rave reviews about Playmobil though and hope it will be a good investment.

[Slubberdegullion]

Campervan, without out a doubt is the most beloved and played with playmobil item in our house. I'd get it rather than the house if I were you as it has, you know, wheels and can therefore be used to transport people, woodland animals, dinosaurs etc.

We've got

Pretty much all the woodland set which I like

Some of the princess stuff and its hateful tiny little flowers

A good effort for the pony stuff (pretty good)

The dolphin arena (mostly used for staged pony events)

and the goddamned bastard plane which is HUGE and a frigging nightmare to store.

This year dd2 is getting the crocodile arena and that is it. We have too much playmobil.

[ZacharyQuack]

Another vote for the Campervan. It's the only Playmobil we've got and both DDs (6 & 4) play with it lots.

[ginnny]

Oooh I love Playmobil but my dc are too old for it now.
Agree that the campervan is great, my dc also loved the police station.
Don't buy the shop - I bought this for ds1, spent all day making it and filling all the tiny little shelves with tiny little tins and cartons ...
He ramraided it with a lorry! I was gutted!

[Bucharest]

We have the goddamn bastard plane, and I agree with Slubber, t'is fab but a bugger to keep tripping over....the airport, the supermarket and the modern house...there is not a day goes by that all 3 are not played with (dd is now 6 and her Big Present every Christmas has been Playmobil since she was 3)

This Christmas we are getting the hospital, but as she's also sea-mad I managed to get hold of a boat thing (and the ambulance) in the recent Sainsbury's 50% sale.

Everyone says the campervan is fab.

The farm is half price in loads of places at the mo.

[nighbynight]

The pirate ships have been the most played with in our house, I think. You can make scenes with islands and forts.

We have also got the campervan, a dolls house, complete egyptians, cargo plane, cargo boat, hospital, zoo, and copious amounts of fire engines, cars, horses and figures.

A lot of it comes from car boot sales.

Welcome to the wonderful world...using the hoover will never be the same again

(but you can order spare parts over the internet)

[moodlum]

@ "are the bits smaller than small bits of lego" - pieces of playmobil are MINUSCULE. Take for example the shotgun cartridges for the pirate - smaller than the smallest thing you can imagine. I can't even think of something small enough to compare it too.

The house though, is fine for the most part. Apart from, as slubber says, hateful flower heads.

Seriously, though, prepare to bin all your decent interesting catalogues in favour of drooling over adding more bits to your dcs PM collection.

[nighbynight]

when my sons got the plane, they started out with passengers on a flight, but soon the passengers were being sick with their heads down the lavatory.

[nighbynight]

Mavis - the fantastic thing about Playmobil is how it lends itself to different play. you may find that your dd evolves her own ways to deal with the small bits.

[Clary]

Aaaah we lurve playmobil

TBH the small sets are fun - DD loves a little one with family and a pushchair and dog.

We have a smallish castle and a lot of knights from various sets that all enjoy, esp DS2. Also some roman soldiers who seem to muck in.

OOOh also the paddlign pool is great - you fill it with water (put down a towel first) and the shower works it's fab.

Also have pirate ship which is popular. Camper van (at a friend's house) is good too.

Also had fun with helicopter and rescue boat. We too have too much (also have aeroplane...)

Actually we have just had a bedroom sort-out and put all Playmobil in one giant box and rediscovered lots, including reassembling the castle. Now just need to find one set of tiny tiny hunges to fit the last bit of door...

YY the minute bits are very small. much smaller than small Lego.

LOL at ginny's son's ramraid!

[Clary]

rofl @ moodlum's post about the small bits.

For example, the hinges I need to find are the size of.... a currant. As opposed to a raisin (much bigger).

[MmeGuisingt]

Are my DC the only one who do not like Playmobile?

My SIL's DC loved it so we get Playmobile EVERY year for Xmas and birthdays and they just don't play with it.

If we had not last half of the buggering bits then I would flog it on eBay.

I am going to sort it out and give it to charity shops or somewhere.

[deepdarkwood]

We have a knight's castle with dragons etc and some dinosaur stuff - both good. Dinosaur stuff has relatively few little bits, I'd say, so less stressful on the hoovering front.

[Slubberdegullion]

Mavis, as all the old playmobil hands will confirm they never play with it as they are meant to.

As soon as you get some stuff from another set (so for you it might be the house and the dinosaurs) then inappropriate play will commence with triceratops visiting the bathroom and the child from the house being consumed in the flames of the volcano.

I started a thread about it last year but if you have even the tiniest smidgen of control freakery issues then prepare for your nerves to be torn to shreds.

Of course it is all excellent wholesome imaginary play for them [rolls eyes]

[Bucharest]

Mme G- sell it on ebay if you can be arsed- it almost reaches its new price!

[MmeGuisingt]

Really, Bucharest?

Off to sort through the boxes this afternoon then. Don't imagine we will get as much for them though, there are bound to be lots of pieces missing.

[Slubberdegullion]

Clary, you are a better mother than I. I have never filled up the dolphin arena or the princess fountain water feature.

Teeny tiny pieces AND water all over the shop, my nerves would never stand it. If they want wet playmobil they can take the BIG animals into the bath.

I'm trying to think of the smallest thing we have. its probably a shite-house flower. God I hate them.

[moodlum]

I was going to start a thread the other day after putting together a PM pirate, spending 15 arsing minutes using my banana hands to insert shot gun cartridges into an over the shoulder cartridge holder for the wretched pirate to use when he sits in the house and rocks the baby to sleep.

The thread was going to be a competition to find the smallest piece of PM.

You see Mavis, this is the kind of OCDness that will come your way on December 26th...

[feetheart]

One of the bonuses (in my eyes) of buying on ebay is that you don't get all the tiny stuff

What have you got MmeG? - might be worth listing it here and letting all the addicted ones know.

[moodlum]

I couldn't do that though feetheart, because that would mean a set was incomplete, which I could not deal with.

Am I alone in keeping the leaflets they come with so I can, later, re-order the tiny bits?

[Slubberdegullion]

yeah, lolol, good luck with setting up all the bits on Christmas day with your dc simultaneosly nagging you to hurry up and also trying to help .

I'd say do it drunk and then it would be fun but you wouldn't have a hope in hell.

You have to be sober, well rested and in a loving benevolent mood ime.

[clayre]

My ds has mostly police and construction playmobil, he loves it, spends hours playing with it, we have got him the police station for xmas but i do agree it does bring out the OCD in you!

[Slubberdegullion]

Oh YES

we have the advent calendars too.

I love the advent calendars (princess and woodland scenes).