Playmobil Virgin - what should I buy?!

[tryhard]

Looking for 2 very girly girls, a 3 year old & 5 year old. Both find Lego frustrating, they don't really enjoy the building process, they enjoy the small world play, hoping we'll have more success with Playmobil but don't know what to buy?!

www.amazon.co.uk/Playmobil-5492-Christmas-Calendar-Fairyland/dp/B00B3QT7JU/ref=sr_1_6/252-0006326-6033554?s=kids&ie=UTF8&qid=1479331022&sr=1-6&keywords=playmobil+advent

Fairy sets are great for girly girls

i love the advent calendars (I have boys though!) They both loved them and now do the lego ones now they are older!

I'd buy second hand to see if they like it.

One Christmas I kitted out a whole Playmobil house for £350ish as I thought it would be a great investment and it's never been looked at! It's gathering dust in a cupboard. I'm loathe to sell it as I'd get a fraction of what I paid.

Loving the ark here.
And I had the galleon as a child.
Gutted my mum didn't stash that in the loft

I think the carry along sets are a good starter buy. We have the house and it comes with lots of furniture, accessories and a few people. Plus it packs away inside itself.

I've got my eye on the camping set - comes with tent, coolbox and BBQ.. I might even let ds2 share it with me

Most of the buildings and things are fiddly and bits fall off all the time so steer clear.

The people are great though. I'd stick to simple stuff, lots of people, maybe some horses. Camper van is ok. It does have little bits of food and stuff you could just hide until they are bigger but once put together it doesn't fall apart.

The dinosaurs are great if they have any interest in dinosaurs and the woolly mammoths too.

We have loads of Knights, they get a lot of play.

Something with animals? I used to have one which was a farmer with weeny little rabbits in a little hutch.

I have two very 'girly girly' girls and alas, they are not great Playmobil fans (nor Lego) despite me assuming they would love the unicorn/fairy/princess stuff.....

They are however very into Barbies. That said, they have a 4yo friend who loves her Playmobil in particular the ice-cream stand, tent, swimming pool, camper van. She is getting the creche (nursery? kindergarten?) for her Christmas present.

I would buy one kit (not too pricey, not too big) with enough bits to play around with and see how they get on. You will soon know if they are Playmobil addicts or not!

Have a browse through the categories on their website. www.playmobil.co.uk

I love playmobil So many tiny details!! DS doesn't do small world play despite my efforts :(

I think the camper van is great

The Playground might be fun?
www.playmobil.co.uk/children%C2%B4s-playground/5568.html

Or the Dog Park
www.playmobil.co.uk/dog-park-superset/6145.html

I think the large zoo would be a good first purchase and will also lend itself to being played with by 2 children together at the same time. You can get add ons for it too - more animals, enclosures and a petting zoo.

The swimming pool is popular in our house

My youngest is 5 and a big playmobile and lego friends fan. The sets work rather well scale wise played together.

The take along house is good - available for about £15 second hand. The advent calendars are great fun for scene building. We had the woodland one last year and a royalty one before that. The camper van is lovely.

DD loves the swimming pool with shower and whale fountain. I had to make mini towels (cut up flannels) to dry off the characters and we keep it on a big plastic tray for when wet play gets a bit too enthusiastic.

My boys, who are older, had various boats which we keep in the bathroom and these go down well at bath time with DD too.

Word of warning. Some of the bigger sets are really big. We don't have masses of big storage spaces and so moved on some big sets and stick with the stuff that can be stored in cupboards and drawers.

We have lots of police stuff (boat, small station, vehicles) the campervan, tractor, the boy with rabbits and guinea pig, bin lorry, tent and have just invested in a secret agent set. The toys are great everything fits together nicely, excellent quality. There is something for everyone! I always think.the playground and the mall look good. What do you like op you will spend ages setting it all up!!!

We have the Victorian doll's house, I got it for my 2nd Christmas, almost 30 years ago; it has never been put away my brother and I got an extra set to go with it every birthday and Christmas so we have tonnes of stuff. It gets played with by any visitors to the house and I still "tidy it up" from time to time (when someone doesn't put the bunk beds back together in the right bedroom)

I DC have a nativity set. I They spend hours rearranging it to perfection playing with it or at least they would if I let them.

Dd 4 plays with the fairy sets and swimming pool the most. There are quite a few good deals around at the moment.

My two are 4 and 6 and they particularly like the horses (country- I think the range is called), they play for ages with the stables, trailer and paddocks. We'be also got the start to a zoo which will add to for Christmas.

We started with second hand and added on. DD has the large princess castle but we knew she would play with it. She also has some pirate and knights to add action to the girly-ness.

Most series go well together, you may need to take tiny things away or be prepared to loose them.

I would try to get some 3for2 sets, ideally a series which goes together. The take along ones are nice as a basis.

Ebay is great for sets of people or other items to go with a set.

Playmobil 5167 £29.99 (amazon uk)
Take Along Dolls House

Is the best value for money for what you get to play with.

My daughter is 3 1/2 and she loves the playground one from the City Life range as well as the water park. She has the dog agility and the showjumping set too. She loves to send them down the slides, swing them on the swings etc on the playground set. However they do come apart really easily and are generally just a nightmare because as much as we try and look after them and put them away after play they just fall apart so easily.
How about the Sylvannian Families, her 4 year old cousin has those and loves them and I think my DD would have preferred over playmobil.

We have loads of playmobil and I'd recommend loads but best starter sets I think are camper van and swimming pool - all kids I know LOVE those!