We have lots of Kapla/Keva planks and I would like to add something similar for my DS (who is 11) for Christmas. I am considering either the trebuchet or the catapult, but am not sure which one to go for... Does anyone here have experience of either or both, and could you recommend them in terms of sturdiness/longevity/fun?

Thank you, this is very helpful!

Thank you for the links and for sharing your daughter's experience with the Ferbys. They are indeed amazing and it's good to hear about their longevity! Still wavering between the Ferbys and a set of artist's grade pencils such as the Lyra Rembrandts or perhaps the Faber Castell Polychromos...part of this is probably about my own desire for a beautiful tin of 24 colored pencils though...:-))

Just wondering if someone here has experience of both the Lyra Ferbys and the Lyra Rembrandt Polycolors? My 7yo dd just received a set of Lyra Ferbys for her birthday, and her older brother, who loves drawing (on and off), finds them "FANTASTIC!" :-). I think that what he likes is especially the strong pigment. I want to get him a nice set of colored pencils for his upcoming 10th birthday, ideally a set that would last him a good few years. I was thinking of getting him a set of 24 or 36 Lyra Rembrandt Polycolours, with the idea that they would be better for drawing details and thus have better longevity. Just not sure how they compare with the Ferbys in terms of pigment and "feeling"? Perhaps a large set of Ferbys would actually be a better/more appreciated gift for a 10yo? Would anyone with insights in the world of colored pencils be able to enlighten me? Or, if you have other favorite colored pencils for older kids, I would be interested in hearing about those too...

Not at all only a girl game, possibly the packaging at first glance, but not the actual game play. There are 8 characters (guard, priest, baron, handmaid, prince, king, countess, princess) and they each have different powers which means that you need different tactics depending on which 2 cards you have to choose from and which cards you think that your opponents might have. I think that the reason my dd loves it while my ds likes it is that she is actually slightly better at it. She is more of an intuitive/tactical/bluffing/push your luck type "gamer", whereas he is more of a strategic thinker which isn't necessarily rewarded in this game. So it's a personality thing I would say. But that said, he does enjoy it too.

Sleeping Queens is wonderful , but I agree that it may be outgrown at 9. We played it heavily between ages 5 and 8 or so and it was a huge family favourite, maybe we just wore it out. Of the many Gamewright games we own, we thought Moose in the House was quite fun but rather pointless and it hasn't been brought out a lot. Zeus on the Loose has had more staying power and would be fun for a 9yo I think. Agree also with Forbidden Island, lots of suspense and beautiful artwork. It is my 9yo son's favourite game, along with King of Tokyo. Both of these have a certain amount of rules to learn at first, but are actually quite easy to play once you've learned them. But for a 9yo girl, I simply HAVE to recommend Love Letter! http://www.amazon.com/Alderac-Entertainment-Group-5104AEG-Letter/dp/B00AGJ4HC2/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1418514544&sr=8-1&keywords=love+letter. Very cheap, small, quick, easy and fun bluffing/deduction game, my 6yo daughter loves it as do I. And my 9yo son will happily play it too, although he prefers slightly more complex games.

This is how my children play too. They love horses and figures (Playmobil in our case), but would always prefer to set up their own temporary stable/paddock made by Magnatiles, blocks or Kapla planks over a ready-made building. That said, I would have LOVED a stable like that as a child :-)!!

Sounds promising! And I had to look up shaduf, thanks for pointing it out! Details like that will definitely appeal to my DD who went to school wearing a huge anch-necklace today!

Well, we will certainly take it into consideration :-).

No worries, I've read the whole history of your posts on this topic, all of which were very enlightening :-) Actually... I AM still considering adding the sound staircase as well, but think what I have already got may be more than enough to start with...

Just a little update: I thought I would browse through some Playmobil catalogues with DD again just to double-check her preferences. I hadn't intended to for fear of ruining the surprise factor, but it turned out to be a VERY good idea. She flipped past the page with the pool as if she hadn't seen it and when I casually mentioned that she used to really like it, she was completely uninterested :huh:. Whereas she ooohed and aahed when she reached the Egyptian pages. And she payed lots of attention to the safari sets too. So problem solved, Egypt and wildlife it is :hurray: ! Anyway, thanks for great advice from all you fellow Playmobil-lovers today! (And the pool will find a great home with my god-daughter next year :-))

Just wanted to thank you for your advice on the Haba marble run! I ended up not getting any starter set but instead a whole bunch of add-ons to use with the blocks we already have. This is what I've ordered: - the whirlwind - the horisontal track set - the hilly track set - the ringing track - sloped tracks - redirection blocks - and, finally, I couldn't resist the box of marbles Very much looking forward to seeing this in use!

Very nice to share the playmobil obsession :-) I think that I have decided to go with the following three sets for Christmas: - Pool - Sphinx - Wildlife waterhole (the biggest African safari set) (And, knowing myself, I will probably sneak in some extra/indispensible safari animals in the waterhole box...) Then Egyptian tomb with treasure and the additional safari sets for her 7th birthday in September. All subject to change and additions of course :-)

:-)

I gave my DS his first Playmobil at 4, several dinosaur sets. He had close to zero interest in them and I sold them after a year or so. Then he received a Playmobil dragon's dungeon with some knights for his 5th birthday and loved them! He played with Playmobil with his friends between around 5 and 7. My DD received a Playmobil play park at 3, again close to no interest. Then at 4 she received lots of forest animals for her birthday and then royal figures, furniture and accessories for Christmas the same year. This was all a hit and continues to be, she is 6 now and her interest in Playmobil is increasing if anything, so I hope she will get many more years out of it. (My niece enjoyed Playmobil between 4 and 10.) I'm not sure, though, if my children's lack of interest in the Playmobil they received at 3 and 4 respectively was due to their age or to lack of interest in the themes I had chosen.

I think so too. Just wish there were more gift-giving occasions to spread it out a bit.

It's not a budget issue, more of not wanting to overwhelm. But her birthday is in September and we don't really do a lot of gift-giving in between Christmas and birthdays, hence my wish to optimise the Christmas gifts :-)

That's just it, the African sets would be perfect with the Egyptian stuff, I can just see her immersing herself in all the sand and animals along with her Egyptians... But I would also really like to show her that I have actually heard her asking for the pool year after year. Oh dear.

Thank you, very useful to think about sets in terms of "just because", that is spot on and I will keep the harbour cafe for a later occasion.

Hoping from advice from those of you who have accumulated largeish Playmobil collections... I really do believe in less is more as far as toys are concerned, but have never applied this to Playmobil and Lego, where it seems that more options rather add to the play value and longevity. However, looking at my DD's (6yo) already substantial Playmobil collection, with Christmas coming up, I am wondering whether there might actually be a point at which the law of diminishing returns applies to Playmobil as well...? Just to give you an idea, my DD has acquired the following over the past few years: - Egyptian temple, camels, loads of Egyptian figures and accessories (this is what she LOVES and uses the most) - royal furniture and figures and every conceivable royal/fantasy accessory (uses often with Magnatiles and wooden blocks) - dollhouse furniture, lots of food etc (uses often in wooden dollshouse, often together with the Egyptians :-)) - loads of forest animals, trees, landscape pieces (uses often together with Magnatiles & figures) - pirate dungeon (used now and then) - play park (interest slowly picking up after ignoring it for three years...) We also have lots of Roman figures and knights that belong to her older brother. For this upcoming Christmas, I have already bought (but obviously need to hold back or sell some) the following: - African safari sets - gigantic watering hole and three smaller sets, all with sandy landscapes that combine to form a long river. - Sphinx. This is a no-brainer I suppose, given the Egyptian love. But not sure about the play value? - Egyptian tomb. I was thinking of holding this back for next year if I give her the sphinx now. - Pool. This is the one item she has asked for year after year, but considering her preference for fantasy/history/animals over realistic play, I am not sure how much she would play with it. But it would be lovely to surprise her with this! - Harbour café. Would add to pool and play park, and lots of smallish accessories (ice cream, bottles, glasses) that I know would get used in other setups. Other than Playmobil, she will receive Haba marble run accessories, books and a small board game. I really don't want to overwhelm her with gifts to open, but on the other hand Playmobil is what she spends most of her time with during the year... Part of my concern is also that DD herself rarely asks for anything at all, so would definitely be happy with just one set. So, how would you decide what and how much to give? Do you think it would be excessive to give her the sphinx, African watering hole and pool for Christmas? I realize that it is a bit silly asking strangers about this, but my DH is sick of hearing me talk about Playmobil and as any Playmobil-lover will appreciate, these are very important decisions :-)

Hmmm, now my husband is saying that we might as well get the Master builder set (probably just to stop me spending endless hours pondering this...). Not sure though. Wouldn't that be overwhelming for a 6yo? On the other hand, perhaps it's not really a whole lot more than the First playing set with the Whirlwind and some extra tracks, although with the advantage of extra redirection and tunnel blocks etc. I am definitely overthinking this.

Thank you so much, this is exactly the sort of advice I was hoping for! Any other accessories you would recommend above others?

First time poster but long time lurker here, jumping in to ask the experts some more about the Haba marble run! We already have hundreds of Haba blocks, and I am looking forward to getting my dd (6) a marble run to go with them this year. I want to make sure that we get enough pieces for variety, but am a little concerned that the larger Haba marble run sets contain lots of ordinary blocks that we don't really need. To avoid being overwhelmed with more wooden blocks, I was thinking about perhaps going with this: Starter set: http://www.amazon.com/HABA-Marble-Run-Starter-Set/dp/B0002HYFEI/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1415696504&sr=8-2&keywords=haba+marble together with either this: Whirlwind: http://www.amazon.com/HABA-3523-Whirlwind-Marble-Set/dp/B000MIO6ZU/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1415696566&sr=8-1&keywords=haba+marble+whirlwind or this: Meadow funnel with ring track: http://www.amazon.com/HABA-Meadow-Funnel-Marble-Accessory/dp/B001R94EWS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1415717802&sr=8-1&keywords=meadow+funnel+haba Would you say that the above small starter set with a whirlwind/funnel would give enough variety to start out with, or would you (despite a massive existing block collection) still go with the large base set or master builder set? Or would you recommend some other add-ons that might work well on their own, and if so which ones would be particularly good to start out with? Either alternative would fit within my budget.