To dislike playmobile

[Willabywallaby]

Because of all the fiddly bits, and it doesn't do anything. On the other hand Lego is great, the little bits fit together.

[5Foot5]

I think both Playmobil and lego are fantastic toys. True you tend to only build the Playmobil once - but I don't think they market it as a construction toy do they? DD had the fairy tale castle and got a HUGE amount of fun with it.

Similarly with Lego. We bought her the Hogwarts castle and had to help her build it. At first she tried to keep it intact, but it was only when it came to bits and she started to put it together in her own way that it really came in to its own.

She played hours and hours with a combination of Playmobil, lego, dolls house things and the bendy Polly Pockets - all that plastic on the floor!!

[Ithinkitsjustme]

I absolutely love Playmobil, we have loads of it in our house. I think the problem is often that parents buy it for their children when they are too young for it. We used to give the basic bits to the younger children but kept all the tiny bits for when they were a bit older. WE have all the Roman stuff, the Egyptian set, the pirates (3 ships and the island), 3 castles, the school, the hospital, 2 police stations, the fire station, the building set etc, etc, etc. My DS3 and DDs love it. We also have more lego than we know what to do with, the biggest challenge is keeping the pieces seperately so they can actually rebuild the original model without stopping them from using their imagination. My DH however, hates all of it and is fed up with finding pieces everywhere. He has placed a ban on me buying my DC's anymore this year for Christmas little does he know

[WasLostNowAmFound]

fuzzpig TkMaxx had the Lego ideas book very recently, in more than one store

[JenaiMarrHePlaysGuitar]

Playmobil is fantastic stuff. Whilst I can't deny that Lego is great for building (and thus creating), some children prefer to get straight to the small world play (as they called it - I assume they still do); making up stories, acting out scenarios.

It is dear, but it's durable. Prior to about 5, Brio-style stuff is easier to handle - a lot of children will play with it for years and years though (ds was still playing with it at almost 12).

[bbface]

Not a word against playmobil please!

My 2.3 will play for. Couple of hours a day within his playmobil fire engine nd police van. Wonderful wonderful stuff. And so sturdy,

[Willabywallaby]

Lego ideas book, sound like a Christmas pressie!

I don't like the girls Lego friends stuff, thin it's a real shame they felt they had to create it.

[Alisvolatpropiis]

YABU - Playmobil is amazing! Have many a happy memory of setting it all up and then imagining games. Because once it was set up,nobody could touch it. Might have been a slightly odd child in retrospect.

[Meglet]

fuzzpig I DS has the Lego ideas book. I have been known to read it on the sofa in the evenings . It's brilliant.

[fuzzpig]

I have AS too, outraged. I never really 'got' all the dolls etc I was given, and I still find it incredibly hard to play small world stuff with my DCs.

My one exception as a child was puppy in my pocket (old school, not the modern crap version :o) - but I didn't actually play with them, I set up 'scenes' instead. My table was their village, and I just put them in their places. I guess I would've done the same with playmobil if I'd had it.

I really wanted stuff like Lego/Duplo, wooden train set and marble run but wasn't allowed it (too boyish maybe?) so as a consequence my DCs have ridiculous amounts of those sorts of toys :o

[Meglet]

Yanbu.

We have a few bits of Playmobile but it strikes me as very restrictive (unless maybe you have everything). The DC's play with Lego nearly all the time and make hundreds of different things out of it.

Playmobile looks nice but personally it ends there. Lego wins hands down IMO.

[fuzzpig]

I really don't like the look of the Lego Friends stuff. Not that I object to pink bricks etc but the girl-specific sets are so patronising. Ugh.

Has anyone here got the Lego Ideas book? I was drooling over looking at it in a shop the other day, WOW it is wonderful - have put it on my wishlist to remind me to get it along with actual Lego bricks next year.

[OutragedAtThePriceOfFreddos]

YANBU!

I never understood the hype over playmobil, I seemed to be the only one who didn't think it was brilliant. But then my ds has AS so doesn't have a huge imagination. Lego is much better for children that don't have much imagination because they still enjoy following the instructions to build something.

[fuzzpig]

I don't really like the look of SF as it seems very overpriced and possibly not as durable - eg the plush fur would get grubby perhaps. I may be wrong about that, but thankfully DD hasn't shown any interest in it anyway (and those adverts for it are annoying, no?)

[ChessieFL]

I loved Playmobil myself as a kid! My brother and I would play with it for hours. DD has a box full of the 'toddler' playmobil and I have started buying bits of 'proper' playmobil for when she's older. She does play with it a lot. She doesn't have any lego but she does have megabloks. Occasionally she will build a tower with megabloks and make it fall over but then she gets bored, but she will play with the playmobil for ages and tells me what the people are doing. I like it as it makes her use her imagination whereas the megabloks don't (although of course that may change as she gets older and learns to do more with the bloks/Lego - she's not quite 3 atm).

[AbuseHamzaMousseCake]

We have playmobil, lego, sylvanians and other stuff that all gets played with together by girls. Some Happyland stuff and McD's toys all join in the mix!
They mix it all up as their imagination takes them and don't just play with 'pink and girly' stuff.

They make ships, planes, car, shops, whatever.
I think people that don't let the kids play as they want to are missing the point a bit.

[fuzzpig]

DCs (5&3) are getting some at Xmas and I can't wait. I think they'll really love it as they love 'small world' stuff. It just seems like the natural next step from happyland, which is also fabulous and gets played with every day.

I love Lego too - they have some Duplo ATM but will probably get Lego next Xmas. Knowing my DCs they will use the Lego to build some buildings for the playmobil people to play in.

[StarsGhostTail]

Lego hurts even more when you stand on it than Playmobil,

The worst though ate the old happy street roadwork barriers, Oooooooohhhhhhhcccchhhhhh!!!!!!!

[StarsGhostTail]

The plane is the one truly disappointing bit of playmobil we have.

The tail fin and wheeled fall off even when played with by a careful 8-10 year old.

We have lots of vehicles that have done really well, but the plane is a pain. It is also huge.

[freddiefrog]

My kids loved it.

All the little bits used to give me the rage when I trod on them with bare feet.

We've moved on to Moshi Monsters now, which hurt just as much when trodden on

[MrsBovary]

I agree that Lego is more creative.

Playmobil is ugly, and plastic, and I feel similarly about Sylvanian products. The children haven't been much interested in either. The Playmobil they did have (a gift from a family member) disintegrated slowly into tiny pieces.

[plantsitter]

It's not the same though is it? I don't know why you have to choose one or the other (apart from the £££). You could even play with them together, couldn't you?

[germyrabbit]

i remember getting playmobil when i was little, the knights and cavalry, the tiny bits were what maked it so much fun

[soorploom]

my dcs love playmobil and lego and now all the boxes of stuff are mixed together.
i hate the mess
the dcs create whole new worlds
epic battles-- harry potter v darth vader and the dinosaurs etc
i can hear them now in the other room now
bliss

[Everythingsgoingtitsup]

I'm really disappointed with playmobil. Got some for ds last Xmas, he was 3.5. Got the plane and the pirate ship. I built them for him and they then fell apart every time he tried to play with them. The wings won't stay on the plane ffs! In my opinion it's overpriced plastic tat. The happy land stuff is much much more durable and allows imaginative play without needing to constantly repair things. We have a huge box of Lego now, which is brilliant. The sets were made and put in the box where they have sort of disintegrated and now ds makes a million different things. We have had a supermarket, park, hotel, house, etc - all out of the Lego city police and fire sets and a few packs of building bricks doors and windows. It's his best toy and I don't mind joining in either!

[HGAFC]

giggles at witchface and legislation being a completely different kind of play