Playmobil for a 7 year old? Too old?

[JustEatenTooMuch]

7 year old DS has quite a variety of interests and has asked for a surprise for Christmas.

He does love Lego and we have loads of that, plus his grandparents have bought him more.

I'm really not sure what to get him tbh.

Its not too old. People who try to rush their children through childhood and make their 7 year olds into mini adolescents aren't doing anyone - least of all their children - any favours.

Left to their own devices most children with a scrap of imagination and some screen time limits will play with Playmobil until at least 9 or 10.

My 9 year old still plsys with his, and in lockdown my 13 year old (and occasionally even my 15 year old) played with him voluntarily, though they wouldn't be caught playing with it without their little brother of course

7 is still little. Not too old for playmobil.

There are some brilliant playmobil sets that would frankly be wasted on younger kids. Go for it.

Oh, good. I wasn't sure if it is the stage before Lego, iykwim? It seems quite dear too.

Do you need a collection, so to speak? What's a good set to start with?

7 is the right age to start. Younger children won’t get much out of it. My 9yr old has it on the Christmas list.

Depends what he’s into. Police or farm sets are good. Farm sets have more scope for additional sets.

My dds are 10 and 8 and still love it. There are sets like the camper and a tent that might be nice, or the swimming pool sets seem to be big hits. My dds have farm and vet sets as well as fairy sets. I'm thinking of getting dd some of the mermaid sets for the bath this christmas.

There is so much choice! I like the look of the City type sets, and I think he'd like the rescue vehicles.

The historical type ones look interesting too.

JustEatenTooMuch definitely not a phase before lego - its more creative and imaginative "small world" play where lego is a construction toy.

Of course lego has bridged the gap and tried to become both, and children who only have Lego do the imaginative small world play with lego figures. There's more scope with Playmobil imo but you tend to get lego families and Playmobil families - like apple or android, Netflix or Amazon prime... Lits have both but tend more towards one than the other depending on children and adult's preferences.

My kids mix kapla (kind of plain wood domino size bricks) with Playmobil for some reason and can take or leave Lego. They build lego kits once then lose interest, so there was always far more play per pond/ euro value in Playmobil.

I recently caught the 13 year old and 9 year old dismantling and rebuilding the Playmobil house, but to give them credit they did it well and faster than DH did the Christmas we bought it, before the 9 year old was even born...

A house is a good basic to start with. The police station has also survived a long time. Figures are the best investment tjough, and vehicles. My boys built a kapla brick mansion and prison inhabited by about 40 Playmobil figures a week or so ago...

My son has the police car, plus a couple of the motorbikes with riders..he got it quite a few years ago, he's 11 now and still enjoys it now and again.

My ds has been Lego mad for the last few years. He is 7 now.

I picked up the playmobil space rocket set on earlier this year and was so impressed with it that we have bought a few more sets since then.

I cant get over the detail in all of them, it's so good. As an eg, he got the police station set for his birthday and they actually think of everything - toilets in the cells, handcuffs, treasure that the robbers steal, a breakout wall in the side of the prison cells for the robbers to break out... he has the garage set which is also very good with everything a mechanic would need to fix cars.

He is getting the fire station for Christmas.

Still a great age for playmobil! eBay and gumtree are great for sets. People seem to have collected lots of the little bits and sell them all in one set. We have the pirate ship, the Egyptian pyramid and they’re both great, came with loads of people and accessories :)

Have a look and see what set might spark his interest. My daughters absolutely loved playmobil, and I read your post to my daughter who said she sometimes played with hers when she was 13. Obviously she wouldn’t have told her friends!

Mine had loads of playmobil, but some sets they particularly liked, that your son might, were the pyramid, a Roman boat or a skateboard park. They also had a huge farm set, a house, hospital, school, fire engine, camper van, plane etc etc. We sold it all this summer (took most of lockdown to sort it out) and it went for a lot of money.

It’s something you can add to, and easy to get addicted to (my husband and I certainly did), but if you buy a large set it’s a complete toy. It might be worth checking how many people are included (very clear pictures on the box) and buying a couple more, as they’re very inexpensive.

My daughters suggestion is the skateboard park. If you look on amazon there are lots of photos

I don’t know how you feel about gifting second hand stuff but it’s definitely worth checking out eBay if you wanted to get multiple sets.

He does like little details which is why I think he might like it!

I think 7 is the perfect age. DS stopped playing with it at about 12/13 and its all now in storage waiting for grandchildren. He still plays with lego all the time at 14 and said if he's still alive at 99 he'll be campaigning to have the age range on the box changed

Which sets you buy depends on what he likes imo. DS's favourite set was the bin lorry because he was totally obsessed with them. He also loved the pyramid and played with that a lot.

No loved it at that age.

My 10 and 12 year olds have it on their Christmas list. They have recently roped me into playing with it too. It's actually quite good fun!

It's the one toy that they both still.play with regularly.