Playmobil Rcommendations please

[BeaLola]

Hi

I'm new to this all & am buying for a 5 year old. One of my neighbours said that I need to get Playmobile as it is" brilliant" & her girls played with it all the time when little.

I have had a quiz look and there is loads of it (!). Am thinking of getting large piece & then adding to it ffrom GP's etc. Therefore any suggestions for the best bits for a 5 year old boy IYHO?

Vehicles - dustcart, camper van, motorbikes.
Plus any other figures that take your fancy.

My DS is coveting the playmobil dinosaur sets atm. I've just bought DD the school for Christmas, it was half price in Argos.

Personally I think it is good but it goes into so much detail, you end up with tons and tons of little pieces which get lost easily.

That said, my DS 6 has the Police car and has since he was about 3 - loves it and the police bike. He also has the hospital which is good but again too much details, it comes with an ambulance. My nephew has the ambulance and a pirate ship and loves both.

I noticed in ELC the other day the police station at half price for £25 which looked good. I was almost temped but with a 10 month old the little bits we have are hard enough to keep out his reach without adding more.

I hope that helps.
Andrea

Oh yeah we had the dustbin but it is no in loft for DS 2 - it was very good.

Camper van is fab - keeps my two occupied for ages, or the swimming pool slide park is good too.

Ds has lots of it - zoo, vets, dustbin lorry, police station, dolphin trainer set. The Pirate ship is his favourite and most played with.

We have the castle for DS 4 but he much prefers the Imaginext stuff as it is more interactive- trap doors, turny things. I nearly cried when he saw the Imaginext castle in the shop and asked to swap it for the Playmobil one which cost us a fortune. The Imaginext stuff you can add to as well- we have the Batcave and now the Jail and the funhouse etc.
If you still want Playmobil I think the police station looks good. There are a lot of fiddly bits with the characters and DS has started using his Imaginext figures instead.

Ds loves his playmobil, has had most of it since he was 2/3 and still plays with it regularly (he's now 6). He has a helicopter, a castle and some diver stuff. He had serious pirate ship envy when a friend got it for their dc.

I think longevity is the difference between playmobil and imaginext though so playmobil makes for better value. Ds is 7 next week and still plays with his playmobil regularly. He gave his imaginext stuff away about a year ago. My 12 year old niece will still play with his playmobil.

What kind of things does your DS like? DS (4) got a pirate ship this year and loves it - definitely his most played with toy. He really likes playing pirates though. He's also got some zoo bits that he likes, especially the dolphin trainer set.

Ebay is your best bet. You can often get whole collections for a very reasonable price. I would also get a plastic box of some sort to keep them all in. We use a washing up bowl that everything can be swept into at the end of the day and then bowl can go under the bed. My 10 yr old and my 4 yr old still enjoy them at least 1x week.

My DD (4) got the Noah's Ark for Christmas and has played with it very nearly every day since then. I really like Playmobil actually: it's very durable and unlike so many other toys (Lego for example) it's not divided into 'boys' and 'girls' sets.

We have the ferry and are getting the pirate ship for Christmas this year. Fab toys.

My DS (3) has the campervan, swimming pool and recycling truck. We bought the hospital when it was half price last year and were planning on giving it this xmas however we are waiting another year so my dd can have the use too (dd is 1 at the moment). So we are getting him the pirate ship. Good too see good reviews on here!!

I reaaaaally want a castle for ds, but were going to Australia for Xmas and can't take it there :(

Ds (3) loves his campervan, fire engine, police car, ambulance, motorbikes, boats ( so vehicles basically) and swimming pool. The only miss has been the children's zoo, but I think he may like it when he gets a bit older.

Ooh he'd love a pirate ship too but again it's too big to take :(

Remove all the small bits and keep them for when they are older.
And I have been known to superglue some bits together.

Dd3 has the camper van and a sort of mini zoo thing plus koalas and ostrichs and meer cats. She is getting (so far) the ferry (grandparents) and a whale watching boat (uncle and aunt) for Christmas. She plays beautifully with it. The camper van is great imo.