Angel in FL Posted October 16, 2009 Share Posted October 16, 2009 My daughter will turn 4 in early January. I'm looking for something for Christmas. I've been looking at dollhouses but she loves animals much more than dolls. Would this be good for her? Do you and your kids like these? Which house is your favorite? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cera Posted October 16, 2009 Share Posted October 16, 2009 My 3 and 5 year old daughters have Calico Critters and love them (as did I at their age). They have four or 5 families of animals and a couple of horses. They also have a few extra sets of clothing/accessories. We opted not to get the Calico Critters house since it is plastic (we move a lot and large plastic items often don't survive). Instead we have a wooden plan toys house and furniture which works well with the animals. One of the best (and worst) things about Calico Critters is that their clothes come off. My girls didn't like their dollhouse dolls because they couldn't dress them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MariannNOVA Posted October 16, 2009 Share Posted October 16, 2009 My 3 and 5 year old daughters have Calico Critters and love them (as did I at their age). They have four or 5 families of animals and a couple of horses. They also have a few extra sets of clothing/accessories. We opted not to get the Calico Critters house since it is plastic (we move a lot and large plastic items often don't survive). Instead we have a wooden plan toys house and furniture which works well with the animals. One of the best (and worst) things about Calico Critters is that their clothes come off. My girls didn't like their dollhouse dolls because they couldn't dress them. :iagree: And, we do have the victorian house that goes with the set -- the kids love it. We have TWO critter tables (the official CC table) -- the dollhouse sits on one, the other is used for play. We have a couple of critter carrying cases for the 'stuff.' I like that I can find them at a good price on ebay and on craigslist. DD has had hers for four years now. When friends come to play, they are always thrilled to learn that we have 'critters.':001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lionfamily1999 Posted October 16, 2009 Share Posted October 16, 2009 I had those and I loved them. Now, they're all at my mom's house and all of the kids (boys and girls) play with them and love them :) I can't remember what the name of the house was, but I had a pink two story house with four (I think) separate rooms. I also had the school house. I'm sure your dd will love them :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mamamoon Posted October 16, 2009 Share Posted October 16, 2009 my girls love these~ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Angel in FL Posted October 16, 2009 Author Share Posted October 16, 2009 I'm glad so many of you love them. I think this is what dd will get for Christmas. I'm going to go check them out at Learning Express today so I can see them in person. I'm sure I've seen them before but my sons would never have played with them so I never really looked closely. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jujsky Posted October 16, 2009 Share Posted October 16, 2009 (edited) Yes -- she will love it!!!!! I got one of the dollhouses, furniture, and the cat family last year for DD's 4th b-day. She wasn't into dolls at the time, but loved animals. It was such a huge hit! Since then, she has gotten many more of the animal families, the school, the stable, and one of the stores. With her Christmas money last year, she decided to special-order the caravan set from England. DH made her a table for her dollhouse last Christmas. DD plays with it every, single day. I've found all the furniture sets to be high-quality plastic. Even though the dollhouses are plastic, you can go to their website (or search online) and print out wallpaper. I wallpapered the whole dollhouse and it looks great! I printed the wallpaper on cardstock, and used a spray-adhesive on the back of the paper. I made cutting templates out of tissues paper. It took awhile to get it all done, but DD was very pleased with the results. The animals are cute and durable. The flocking has worn a bit on some of the animal sets she plays with most frequently, but not as much as I would have expected. All of the clothes have held up great, but DD isn't one to dress and undress them frequently. The furniture sets do have a ton of little pieces, so you might want to be careful if you have smaller children at home. They will be coming out with a treehouse, an elephant family, and a hedgehog family sometime in the near future. It's all available for pre-order on the International Playthings site, but they don't give a release date so I didn't want to risk ordering any of it for this Christmas :glare: Out of all of her toys, the Calico Critters and and her Littlest Pet Shop toys are the only ones she plays with consistently. I feel in terms of imaginitive play, these are some of the best toys out there. DD is always up in her room making up stories about her critters, or bursting out of her room to tell me what this one or that one just did. If your DD loves animals, she will love these. So will you -- they're adorable! Edited to add: You asked about houses. We don't have the townhouse that opens -- we have the other house. The name escapes me, but it has a green roof, and it's 3 stories if you include the attic. Edited October 16, 2009 by jujsky Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Classical Beginnings OR Posted October 16, 2009 Share Posted October 16, 2009 We got the 3 story dollhouse for my daughter when she was four, along all furnishings, and started with two animal families. Over the years we added the Beauty Salon, the Country Market, more accessories and more animal families. My daughter is almost 10 now, and she still plays with the entire collection today! She is also an animal lover, and would much prefer to play with this than any of her other dolls. For us, it is worth the investment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChristusG Posted October 16, 2009 Share Posted October 16, 2009 My daughter wanted some of these for her 4th birthday. She played with them for a short while but now they are all naked and all the smalle pieces are lost. So for us, they were not worth it (those things are expensive!). She wanted the house as well, but my girls already had a 3 story Fisher Price dollhouse, so I didn't want to get them another one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blackacre Farm Posted October 16, 2009 Share Posted October 16, 2009 I am doing the same thing for my 6 yr old daughter for Christmas. I did not buy the Calico Critter dollhouse, because I wanted a big wooden dollhouse. So I bought the Melissa and Doug Victorian dollhouse, without any of the people or furniture. I think that it is going to fit the Calico Critters perfectly. I can't wait for Christmas. My daughter will love it! Now I just have to figure out which critter families to purchase. They are all so cute... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Angel in FL Posted October 18, 2009 Author Share Posted October 18, 2009 Do any of you have the townhouse? I know it isn't very big but I like that is has lights. I know the large one has lights too but that is quite a bit of $$. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nestof3 Posted October 18, 2009 Share Posted October 18, 2009 My boys loved these! They'll still play with them at Grandma's house. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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