Playmobil 2012

[ObiWan]

Last night a kind MNer directed me to a half price pyramid on Toys R Us. They have a special offer running, you spend £45 on Playmobil, and they throw in a free Playmobil Advent calendar, so I ordered a random sperm whale with boat (£10) thinking it would make a good stocking filler.

After googling, I've discovered the whale is 30cm long , so it has become one of the 'big' presents for my two year old . And you can buy a motor for the boat

I'm sure that last year there was a Playmobil thread, where long suffering people who know all about Playmobil could have their brains picked about things like how long the school takes to build.

So here is this years.

(I think the school took hours by the way.)

There are lots of great sets, but I think maybe something in the "vacation" theme might be good, such as the camper van. You can then add to it with other sets from the same theme, then they all work well together.

Other good themes might be the zoo or farm (if she likes animals).

The Playmobil website is very good for browsing all the themes and sets. It's one of our favourite websites!

Thank you Norman, I have personally fallen in love with the stone age set! She did see the swimming pool in a catalogue for Smyths or somewhere and seemed keen, so the vacation themed sets might be a good idea! Thank you :)

I can recommend the swimming pool, I have swum in it myself (and had a holiday in the camper van). Don't have the stone age set, but we do have a large posse of police, and enough fire personnel/appliances to extinguish the Great Fire of London...

My favourite is the playground one. I'm not sure what it's called but it has swings, seesaws, loads of kids, bikes, all kinds. Dd adores it.

THink the things like the rescue boat / camper van / ambulance etc are best for younger ones as there are fewer bits to break off and it is all more self contained. The cargo ship is also quite good as apart from all the bits of coal it is more or less one piece. (Ours doubles up as a ferry to take everyone on holiday to the holiday house / swimming pool)
Hospital and school are great - both roughly the same size but allow 3 + hours for each to build. And then do not attempt to pick them up by the roof or you'll be starting again...
dd got both the hospital and the school - but different Christmases. Built both at work and then had to carefully transport them into the house on Christmas Eve after kids asleep.

My DD1 is just over four and I have got her (after much research) the camper van and the swimming pool as I think they have lots of good scenarios and go well together. Come with a good selection of people etc.

I also fancied the ambulance to add another play scenario, but I think just having the two pieces to concentrate on will be better to start with.

Oh also love the playground and am tempted to ask rellies to get her that one.

I am avoiding the animal ones for now as we already have Duplo Zoo and lots of schliech (sp) dinos and animals taking over the house

Also getting the forest animals advent calendar for me excited!!

Another family that loves Playmobil. Eldest DD1 (nearly 7) and DD2 (5) both play with it for hours. Agree Playmobil website is very good and you can click on it to request a catalogue - it alone can keep them quiet for ages. DS (nearly 3) can play with the things he just isn't interested in the really tiny bits. The fire engine and ambulance are very very robust!

Thank you for all the advice, I have now ordered the camper van and swimming pool for Christmas for DD, and the little beach compact set and the girl in the rubber ring for stocking fillers

Fresh01 - if you're on the playmobil site then it's worth joining their birthday club.

You get the catalogue when you join, plus other bits and bobs like badges and colouring in sheets and a competition, then when the catlogue came this year (about a month ago - and yes, both my dc will happily sit and pore over it for hours too!) but it also came with a dvd with a 15 minute dvd of an animated playmobil adventure. DC loved it - as it basically showed their toys come to life. I think that Playmobil have finally spotted quite what a big earner all the lego people games and dvds have become with a life of their own beyond lego per se, so they are playing catch up.

Anyhow, definitely worth doing for each dc if they like playmobil.

And at the moment they seem to be running a 12 weeks of christmas offer, something different on offer every week. This week - coast guard boat for £17 instead of £24, so again worth checking weekly if looking for something in particular.

izzywhizzyisbizzy just wondered if you ever found the details of the maltese lady that sold playmobil stuff cheaply.

Sorry to trouble you, I'm sure that you have plenty of better things to be doing!

We have the swimming pool and I often set it up at the kitchen table (with lots of towels underneath) for DD to play with while I am cooking. We also have the harbour set and she is getting the farm set and bus for Christmas from relatives.

We also love going to Playmobil World in Germany. Costs a fortune in the shop though as they have all the new stuff in.

We have bought DS (4 in Feb) the Pirate Island and my mum and dad are giving him the Pirate boat. He already has the campervan, recycling truck and swimming pool, plus a few bits of pirate related stuff I picked up from home bargans.

I have the hosiptal hidding up the loft. I bought it last year when it was reduced in Hamleys - got it half price and got the recycling truck free! Was going to give him it this year but we are waiting another year so that DD (1) will benefit from it next year.

He really likes the look of the fire station and engine so will see how he plays with the pirate stuff might get the fire stuff (some of!) for his birthday.

DD really enjoys the swiming pool, I let her have the people and a few other things but take away all the small stuff. She loves splashing the people in the water and putting them down the slide.

I did find her and she didnt have any listed, Ill give you her seller ID so you can add her to your fav sellers.

671833 this is her seller ID, she has lots on again at the moment.

DS2 is currently obsessed with playmobil. He loves the dragon land stuff. We got him the dragon's dungeon for his birthday, and he's got a couple of other bits too. He really wants the great dragon castle for Christmas. Is it a nightmare to build? It certainly isn't cheap!

The PILs have got him the giant dragon (with LED fire, which he'll love) AND the giant catapult. My mum got him the knights advent calendar too. So it's going to be a playmobil Christmas in this house.

I could rent my DS2 out... He's unbelievably good at picking knights out of the single figure lucky dip packets. I have no idea how he does it.

Ooh I'm all inspired! I love playmobil, and DS was asking for a pirate ship...

When you lot all say build the night before, how do you then wrap it? Or do you not?

He's 4 so not that dextrous at putting things together, but he likes little lego sets etc that you build by following the instructions and can do it with some help... or would you still say build it in advance?

I've just realised DP lives about a 2 hour train ride from Playmobil land too I will so be taking DS going!

Ah, we are also now quite good at picking the Fi?ures from the packets. You just have to know which identifying element to feel for! We very rarely get duplicates these days....

We don't build the night before, but ds is a lot older, and enjoys constructing the stuff himself. Even when he was younger (5 or 6) his mum enjoyed constructing it with him on the day. But I guess it depends how much patience you have, and how much time (if you are cooking Christmas lunch it might not be that easy!)

We have the pirate ship, and it's huge - I should imagine it would be quite a challenge to wrap once it has been built!

I am getting ver excited about DS2's fast approaching birthday! Can't wait to build the school for me him!

BertieBotts, DS is 4 and got the pirate ship earlier in the year. It took a while to build - there's not much he could have actually helped build, and he's pretty good with fiddly lego (for his age). For Christmas I would have built it tbh. The GPs are buying him the redcoat ship for Christmas and I'm hoping he'll be too distracted by batman toys to harass me to build it immediately!!!

Excited that I placed an order online last night for DD1's first playmobil!
I got 20% off too (but I am in north america so prob not any use to anyone else).

She is getting the Motorhome and Harbour Cafe from us and the Pool from my parents.

The harbour cafe is a new one, it is meant to go with the Harbour scene but I think it works well as a stand alone item and the playmobil people will be hungry after all their swimming

Now should I pre-build or not?

Does anyone have any advice about getting a playmobil 'plane'

I've heard the large jet falls apart? What about the leisure jet?

TIA

Just discovered the playmobil website - thank you!!