Yet another garage or Playmobil fire station-help me decide.

[MilaMae]

DP took our 4 year old twin boys into ELC (seemed a good idea at the time) and one is now stuck on the huge plastic garage in there. I should add we had the bubble car garage(rarely used) and an old ELC garage from a charity shop also rarely used.

I would rather he had Playmobil fire station to go with the engine he already has but feeling mean. This is the 1st Xmas they've actually shown an interest in what Santa may or may not bring so a bit clueless on the ethics of it all.

What have you done in the past???? Same dilemma with Shake and Go thingy (see other thread). Can't believe I'm getting stressed already and it's only October but it's a lot of money and want to get it right.

Get the Playmobil! They will play with it for far longer. First you have all the fun of putting it together, then there are all those hoses and connectors to play with, and as they already have the fire engine it's a ready-made playset.

Of course, I'm totally biased because my ds (now 6, nearly 7) is Playmobil mad, and plays with his fire crew endlessly.

playmobil is great. Get it.

Get the Playmobil - we recommend it!

I would say GET THE PLAYMOBIL!

Playmobil! Playmobil!

Sorry about that - I think ds's Playmobil firemen have been posting messages!

Get the fire station!

We'd recommend the Playmobil

Playmobil fire station it is.

Dt's firemen have spent the afternoon winching Playmobil police car out of a lake of mud (apparantly)-Duck and the Truck so feel they need somewhere to rest their weary heads.

Have you seen the hospital? I spent many a happy hour playing with my one Playmobil hospital bed and a shoe box as a child-oh how times have changed.

Dp is still in raptures over the diver with his lead boots that came with the fire boat.

Oooh, we love the diver too - we have called ours Dennis!

Sorry about all those PlaymoPosts - I name-changed like mad to convince you about Playmobil!

The hospital looks brill btw, though very expensive!

Ds's Playmobil men have been scrubbing down the fire boat with brushes today. The construction crew wern't allowed their cup of tea until they had finished!

Can I jump in and put something to the Playmobil contingent? DS is coming up to 3 and has no Playmobil but is a good imaginative player so it's the next step I guess.

Is the firestation the best initial buy? Any other recommendations?

I'm a bit overwhelmed with all the options.

My boys adored the police car and now the fire engine. I'd start off with vehicles as they know what to do with them. My boys are 4 but just starting to work out what the police station is for.

The farm and zoo look good but we had Duplo zoo, wooden farm etc. I've heard the construction site is very good too but we had Duplo Bob so went for the emergency stuff instead.

Bats sounds like the expert so she may have some good tips.

OOooohhh - an expert!!!

Well, I'm not sure about that, but here goes:-

Ds had his first Playmobil experience at almost 5 years old - fire stuff. Since then he has continued to collect fire rescue sets and construction sets, and more recently Cargo harbour sets. He has also developed an interest in lifeboats, so some of his firemen have become lifeboat men LOL, and he now also wants some Leisure (beach) sets for his men to rescue!

The great thing about Playmobil is that there are so many bits and pieces you can put together, and your child can become very imaginative with it. You can also add stuff when you want to, including buying sets from ebay etc.

Anyway ds and I thoroughly recommend it!

I think the best thing to do is work out what your dcs like in terms of themes, and go from there - e.g. ds likes fire stuff, construction, and harbour/trains/airport, but his girlfriend (also aged 6) likes City life Flower shop and Princess Palace type stuff, and the next -door neighbour likes zoo and Knights castle things. So find out what is best for your own children!

thanks for that, we will go for an emergency vehicle of some description

I should add they love going on missions out of Playmobil land. We've got the ELC wooden dino world thing and our firemen love going on missions so make sure you stock up on the figures.