to feel paralysed choosing between Playmobil & Lego?!

[suddenlycupishalffull]

DD1 is 3.5. She played with HappyLand but has outgrown it, so DD2 (nearly 1) is happily chewing on those. So I'm looking for a new small world set for DD1 as she loves that sort of stuff, but it all seems so much more complicated than when I was little!! There are so many different sets and I don't get the difference between Paymobil & Lego... and what on earth is Lego Friends?! I'd like something small for her stocking to start her new small world collection off - what should I get? And should I be getting the baby Duplo?! pours self large glass of wine before hitting google again!

The answer is you need both so the only question is which order to get them in! I'd get Playmobil now and remove the fiddly bits until your youngest is past the chewing stage. We have stacks of Lego, oldest started to get sets at 4 and has been v good at patiently following the instructions to build it (now on Technic lego at 8 and still plays with Playmobil castle/Knights) my middle one loves Playmobil and at 4.5 would not be able to build a Lego set (meaning an adult would have to do it which is missing the point of lego) but is starting to build his own models so we've got him a basics set.

I like both, my 2yo is really into his duplo at the moment and can build his own little creations with it. he has the playmobil bin lorry which he loves and doesn't have many small parts so is safe. duplo probably best for them both to play with, playmobil more for the older one.

DS1 is nearly 5 and DTs are 2. We have duplo and playmobile. you can get playmobile 123 which is the equivalent of duplo to lego IYSWIM? DS1 does have 2 proper lego kits but is a bit to young for them really as I have to make them and then he keeps breaking bits. plus the swallowing risk with younger DC around. we have asked for more duplo and playmobile for Christmas for them all as they love both - duplo for building, playmobile for ready made small world play. they also mix and match - so build a duplo train and drive it to the playmobile zoo.

really recommend duplo sets with wheels that makes trains/cars, the dc love seeing how tall a tower they can make and still drive without it toppling!

also, with regular playmobile (rather than the 123 version) there are little shoes/hats etc which I have removed from our sets while the DTs are small enough want to eat them!!

Dont bother with duplo. ' its for babies' according to my researchers. Age 3and 6 play with playmobil after happyland. Lego ok but small and falls apart. Duplo was a 2 min wonder. My vote is playmobil. Every child is different though. They got playmobil from age 2.5 plus. (Dn and dnef)

I agree that Duplo is brilliant at this age I love the Duplo Farm.

We had both.

DCs were very lucky as DBiL gave them a load of little sets of Play Mobil, all sorts of different themes, for Christmas. Eventually it was DS who loved them the most. We ended up with enough Play Mobil Romans to re-stage the invasion of Britain!

Lego came along a bit later.

Funnily enough I have used both the lego and the playmobil when developing web based training material!

Anyone remember Bayko? It was the best construction kit of them all but it had metal rods which would make it "unsafe" nowadays - funny that it wasn't in the early Sixties but there you go, I suppose that's progress!

I dislike play mobile, it's too small and fiddly. Duplo or sylvanian families are far better with the smaller lego once they and five plus.

I've just binned our only bit of playmobil. It was no good for my 3 and 2 year old. They love Duplo and can play with it totally independently where as I was always having to pop bits of the PlayMobil back on or glue the poor people back together after they had been trodden on.
They love the Imaginext stuff too which seems indestructible. I just wish they did a house type set as at the moment DS3 is having a tea party with Bane, a knight and Happyland Grandpa in Gotham city jail.

You binned it!?

Madness!

Hate Playmobil. We are a Lego house. :o

I'd go for some basic lego blocks.

Mine have played with their playmobil for all of about 2hrs since they were given it 4yrs ago. I need to get off my backside and sell it.

Whereas Lego is played with hourly.

Playmobile is awful, I'm about to ditch all my kids' Playmobile as it's all tiny pieces without much play value. Happyland is brilliant because the pieces don't move so it's all about imaginative play, Lego is brilliant because it's imaginative and creative, Playmobile combines the worse features of both IMO.

Personally I think 3.5 is too young for proper lego (as opposed to Duplo) or proper playmbobil (as opposed to playmobil 123)
One of the reasons children get poor play value from toys, is that they are given them too young.

If you look at the age recommendations a 3 year old is recommended lego Duplo or playmobil 123. Those are suitable for their age group and they will enjoy them.
I would wait a year or two before getting the other stuff.

I have had 4 year olds come round and break our playmobil, trying to separate the bits, and lacking the dexterity and gentleness to do it without breaking it. That is why playmobil 123 was invented. And it is very good and won't seem babyish in to couple of years.

There are some very basic lego sets aged from 4+ I think - perhaps for 4-7s. Look at the lego website and you will be able to search by age.

Often parents get excited about the toys - you might want playmobil etc, but better to wait.

Our children love both although they tend to use Lego as 3D jigsaw puzzle so will stop playing when they finish the last piece.

At 9,7,5 they will sometimes spend hours playing Playmobile. In our case I found they only really got interested once they were 6 ish - and it's never been a solitary activity but one they do together.

Yes agree that playmobil is a lot of fun for groups, especially of older kids.
We had a party her for daughter's 10th party last year .... They did some activities and then it was all quiet and I found them all making an elaborate playmobil scene together - quite sophisticated scene, with some lovely story telling going on too......and after half an hour, back to the more 'grown-up' stuff.
Son will play lego with his Dad still at age 12. Dad loves it as much as he does and if it is left out, can sometimes be spotted having a bit of a build whilst supposedly clearing it up!

I suppose you could say children play with the stuff on different levels according g to age. The reason playmobil and lego are great is because they can span a wide age range. However, you can be too young....and perhaps then, those toys are never as good for you, as if you had them at the right age.

Sylvanians are also good.
For a 3 year old, I would get a family, but not the kits with all the very tiny fiddle bits of cutlery etc. wait until a bit older for those. However a small child could enjoy the figures themselves, as long as they didn't want to constantly undress them,which would probably result in ripped clothes as they are diddly for this age.

We have both - and they still play with both (8 and 11 - although my 11 year old pretends she is humouring her brother ). They even combine lego and playmobil, by building rooms for the Playmobil figures etc.

This is our cheap 7 nights holiday for August next year if this helps anyone. Badvoc - sorry if this isnt your thing just a thought.

www.cottages4you.co.uk/cottages/kingfisher-e4659?adult=2&nights=7&range=3

I had too ThinkI'veBeenHacked it was good to no one. I donated all the tiny bits that were still in the bags to the after school club and the people and accessories that weren't broken. It was a wheel-less campervan shell with a broken roof that was binned.

Sorry wrong thread

we have not found playmobil buildings very resilient.best here have been camper van, any vehicles.total waste of money mini hospital and school the buildings fall sorry too easily.people always popular never wasted. the carry and go sets are very good for little ones and harder to total.swimming pool was somewhere in the middle.we too made the mistake of starting too early.I would not get Lego at this age and certainly not Lego friends.

Playmobil customer service is fantastic if you break bits - if you have the instructions and can email the part numbers of the broken bits they will email you back the price and they will post it out. Ds2 is playing with Ds1playmobil and had broken bits of the paramedic helicopter. DH emailed and all the bits arrived really quickly and reasonable price too