Playmobil help

[FingandJeffing]

I have 2 young playmobil fans.

Ds nearing 3 would like a fire something I think. I can't decide between the ladder unit engine or the regular fire engine. Any tips? He definitely would prefer any sort of vehicle.

Dd, 5 says she would like the swimming pool. Does anyone know if this packs away easily? How much of a nightmare would the water aspect to this be? I'm less sure of the success of this as a present as she changes her mind often as what she would like and again, the mess. Any playmobil help out there?

I'd recommend regular fire engine at that age as the ladder one can be a little frustrating to get ladder back in place when you have pulled it up and at nearly 3 my DS's (now 17 an 13) would have smacked it and broken it!! Mind you they may have changed that design. With any luck he'll stay into these for many years and you'll be able to get both :-))
Never experienced pool, but DD's(10 and 6) both played endlessly with all their big brothers' bits and bobs and loved (and still play with) the pirate ship

you might be better with the Imaginex fire station for your ds - its definately more sturdy than playmobil and comes with a fire engine, firemen and lots of wee accessories and it's quite narrow but tall so doen't take up tons of space. my ds is 7 and still loves it - in fact he's getting the imaginex batcave this year. No ide about the wimming pool - sorry:)

I bought the ladder fire engine from Ebay for my dd - but my ds who is now nearly 4 has loved playing with it since before he was 2. The ladder seems really sturdy (am amazed it hasn't broken!) and it has been great fun for carrying out daring rescues, so I'd definitely recommend it.

We also have the swimming pool (Playmobil addicts ) and it's a bit of a pain to pack away as it's quite large, although it would be easy to take it apart and store. Amazingly my dcs have been happy to play with it without water, although adding water does make it a lot more fun! It has a shower that works with a little pump. If we put water in, I tend to set it up on the kitchen table with teatowels underneath to soak up the spillage and it hasn't been too messy.

I also think the ladder truck is a bit more versatile, although the other fire engine is perfectly good - you can't go too far wrong with either of them.

We don't have the new swimming pool (yet!) but our experience of the older swimming pool is that ds will happily play with it most of the time without water, but then uses it with water either in the bath or in the gardeb in the summer.

We don't have the swimming pool but we do have the dolphin tank and the penguin one for the zoo. I have to say they are the most played with part of the zoo. I generally set it on a tray or towel so it doesn't matter if it splashes a bit. We did catch the dog drinking out of it once though so if you have pets you might want to factor that into your decision

Ds has the fire engine with the ladder and it has survived quite robust play from him so far.

ladder unit is great but be prepared to be very confused as to where the hose unit is supposed to go (or maybe that was just me).

Thanks for all the advice. We have a bit of playmobil already, ambulance, camper and vets and Ds has been pretty good with it so far. He loves it, so I think I will go with the ladder unit. Still undecided about the pool, I think I may try to go and look at it in a shop to get an idea of the size.

Thanks all :)