If you have bought lots of playmobil....

[Meadowlark]

So, I invested in some playmobil knight stuff last Christmas because my son was into knights. He plays with it daily and I've been amazed that he will play with any toy this long.

 

Fast forward to now...a playmobil catalogue came in the mail and he wants, everything! All of my kids were drooling over the catalogue for days. My oldest wants all of the farm stuff, even though he has tons of "other" farm stuff already. The next oldest wants Western, police, pirates...everything. Of course, I would go broke buying even 2 different sets. So, I decided to go for Western because it will tie into our history next year. And, I can somewhat justify the cost because my kids are really not "toy" kids. Meaning, Playmobil is the first toy that I've ever seen hold their attention, and that says something.

 

I guess my question is, when you decide which theme you want to invest in, how much do you buy? My compulsive self wants everything but of course that's not going to happen. I've also heard to buy smaller sets rather than the big pieces? I bought some random stuff that kohls carries online, but I'm not sure how the pieces really relate although they are all Western. These will arrive for his bday, and I'm already wondering what to add to it for Xmas. I don't know what I'm asking exactly, but if you are a playmobil house, give me your thought process when buying and storing. And I'm the only one that would buy (and Santa) so keep that in mind.

 

It's so hard for me to spend the $, but like I said, I think it's a worthwhile investment.

[justasque]

• Sometimes, just drooling over the catalog is fun in itself.  Mulling over what you'd like to get, and how you'd use it - it's just like adults with seed catalogs or tool catalogs or other hobby catalogs.  And just like you and I, they don't need *everything* on their wish list.  Edit, edit, edit.

Consider letting anyone else who buys for them know they like Playmobil.

Pace yourself; with "long term" toys there's no need to go overboard at any one time, as there will be more at the next birthday/Christmas/whatever. Think about what you'd like to add this year and stretch it out over the various holidays.

Think about how they play - do they focus on people going places in vehicles, or on day-to-day living, or setting up new scenarios, or on telling ongoing stories about the same "community".  That will help you see what kinds of elements might add to the play.

Keep your eyes out for secondhand sets; I scored a large pirate ship with all the pieces and people last Christmas for $12 at a local thrift shop.

Remember that with a large family, especially when kids are home and have time for serious play, quality toys are worth the investment.  And when you're done with them, they do tend to have a decent resale value.

[bolt.]

I never let them see the catalogue.

 

I have castle/knights/princesses/fairies/dragons kit, but I didn't buy an actual castle. We are using our old Melissa and Doug one. Saves a ton of money to not have to buy the large-scale main item.

 

I also have a "summer fun" kit based around the ice cream shop, buy including our old "little people" house, car, trailer, boat etc. They are surprisingly right to scale. (I gave away all the actual little people.)

 

If I buy more, I might add a zoo or a farm to the "summer fun"... But there's a lot more to add to the knights/princesses too.

[*Jen*]

We tend to go with more of the medium sized sets.  My son wanted knights so rather than buying the largest castle we went with the medium sized one.  He still loved it even though it wasn't the biggest.  Another year my son loved the farms and my daughter liked the houses, so we ended up buying the take along house and take along farm.  Again they were happy.  The only large set we've purchased was the Egyptian pyramid from another homeschooling family that had outgrown it.  Smaller sets ($5-10) end up showing up at birthdays, Easter and as random gifts. We had about 3 years of being Playmobil obsessed.  They haven't played with it recently so it's about to go into storage for about 6 months while our youngest is hitting the crawling and putting everything in her mouth stage.  By the time it comes back out everyone will be ready to be obsessed for a few more years. 

 

[marbel]

My kids loved Playmobil and we still have a big bin of it.  They will never give that up, I think.

 

I mostly bought medium-sized sets; we never bought any of the big items.  My daughter really wanted the dollhouse (or castle?  can't remember now) but it was too expensive.  We had a lot of different themes.  Sometimes I bought things on Ebay, or I'd wait for sales.  They got it for Christmas and birthdays too.

 

Playmobil is more than a toy.  I consider it, like Legos, as educational materials.  My kids spent hours with that stuff, making up stories and plays.  Two years ago when we got new carpet for our son's room, the first thing he said after surveying the bast expanse of beautiful soft carpet was "can we bring out the playmobil?"  It didn't last long but my teens still got a few hours of fun in. 

[Annie G]

We bought mostly small to medium sets for youngest dd. She loved princesses and animals, mostly.  When she outgrew it, we stored it. Man, was that a pain to store. But now I have granddaughters and they LOVE to play with this when they visit. They play for hours on end, creating scenes and making up stories and such.  Dd has NO DESIRE for us to give the girls our Playmobil or to buy them any. Nope. Too many pieces.  

 

Pretty sure the boy grandchild will gravitate to the Thomas collection that ds accumulated during his childhood, but I do kind of wish we had some more boyish Playmobil because that seems to have  a wider play appeal that Thomas stuff. 

 

 

[lmrich]

Do not go to the website.

[hellen]

We have a ton of Playmobil. I've looked for a lot used. The collection began six years ago and now our playroom is mostly Playmobil. My third child is playing with the collection now the most. Here are my observations over six years and three kids.

 

The big things don't get played with often enough to justify the space. Not one of the kids has ever played with the big buildings as much as the others. The bigger the building the less often it is used.

 

My girls will use some of the landscape sets but my son doesn't much.

 

The most popular things are people. They play with different sorts of people of course. My son likes the Romans. My girls like the kids. They also like fairies, princesses, and regular looking people as parents.

 

My youngest likes vehicles. She plays with the bus, small car, and grocery van a lot. My middle child never played with vehicles that I recall. My son did years ago. He liked the construction and farm stuff. He then moved on to setting up battles. The last few years have been mostly cannons and fighters when he is playing alone.

 

Horses are still very popular with all three children. Unicorns and pegasus are also used by the girls.

 

My youngest likes boats. We picked up a used Egyptian boat that is used frequently.

 

The little things are used a lot. Food and kitchen stuff is extremely popular with all. Mail, treasure, maps, and animals are also used often. My youngest likes furniture.

 

My youngest is the best about just taking out a few things. Her play is ever compact. My other two tend to do complex scenes that require half of the stuff owned. They will set up zoos (we don't have any of the zoo line), stables, farms, grocery stores, forests, etc to make a small town.

 

I have the Playmobil pretty organized. A good bit of it is in the Ikea Trofast bins. There is a bin for horses, Romans, containers, coal, cannons, etc. The tiny stuff is organized in a bin from a hardware store so there is a drawer for maps, locks and keys, electronics, fire, dishes, etc. My three year old takes out what is needed. My 9 and 6 year still tend to dump everything out to find the bananas or whatever. There are also two organizers. My son has one for weapons. The other one contains the kids and kid stuff. The kids play better if the stuff is organized and easy to find. The sorting system is always a work in progress. It changes based on their needs. It can be time consuming to put things away. They all help.

 

We are nearing the end of our Playmobil years. My nine year old doesn't play much. My six year old will only play Playmobil with my nine year old because according to her the three year old doesn't know how to play it right. It has been the most popular toy in the house for years. Someday I'll box it up for the grandkids.

[Starr]

Buy whoever you find at TJ Max. :D  It all gets mixed together and played with together, a lot.

[Momofeat]

We are nearing the end of our Playmobil years. My nine year old doesn't play much. My six year old will only play Playmobil with my nine year old because according to her the three year old doesn't know how to play it right. It has been the most popular toy in the house for years. Someday I'll box it up for the grandkids.

 

 

They may surprise you. My dd(11) still likes to play with Playmobil stuff.  :001_smile:

[Momofeat]

We usually buy medium-size sets and tell grandparents what the kids like. 

 

When the kids drool over the catalogues, we always remind them that they are welcome to save their own money to buy things. 

[TrixieB]

I guess my question is, when you decide which theme you want to invest in, how much do you buy? My compulsive self wants everything but of course that's not going to happen. I've also heard to buy smaller sets rather than the big pieces? I bought some random stuff that kohls carries online, but I'm not sure how the pieces really relate although they are all Western. These will arrive for his bday, and I'm already wondering what to add to it for Xmas. I don't know what I'm asking exactly, but if you are a playmobil house, give me your thought process when buying and storing. And I'm the only one that would buy (and Santa) so keep that in mind.

 

It's so hard for me to spend the $, but like I said, I think it's a worthwhile investment.

 

Um, I bought it all. :ph34r:

 

Not literally ALL, of course.  But a lot.  We could open our own Playmobil store.  It got played with more than any other toy and both kids played with it through about age 13. 

 

Our biggest themes were farm, pony, random city stuff... And Romans, though those didn't come along till near the end.  And the bunnies -- the ones with human bodies and bunny heads.  Those were a huge hit and still come out to play sometimes.

 

[Meadowlark]

We usually buy medium-size sets and tell grandparents what the kids like.

 

When the kids drool over the catalogues, we always remind them that they are welcome to save their own money to buy things.

Yes! I too told them that, and next thing I know they had their piggy banks out and were counting up their money. They were SO proud to buy the hen house and bunny hutch from the farm collection. It came yesterday and they tore the box open with an excitement I've never seen before. Right after I had a heart attack when I saw the size of the chicks and eggs!

[justasque]

I never let them see the catalogue.

 

Oh gosh, that's half the fun of those fancy European toys!  

Playmobil, Lego, Sylvanian families, Scleich animals and people, Brio - it's so fun to pick up a catalog and dream about what you'd like to get with your pocket money, and how you'd play with it when you got it.  Of course the big sets are likely well out of reach, and realistically only a tiny set is in the birthday money range, but oh, how much fun it is to dream!  Then, when you finally get that birthday money, you can go to the toy shop on the High Street, or better yet you can take the train up to London with Mummy and go to Hamleys, and get that little set you've picked out and have an ice cream.  What a lovely day out!  

[Barbara H]

At our house Playmobil was the main toy for many years to the point where many of the people ended up with names and families and long back stories and identities.  To me the best part about Playmobil is that it all works together perfectly and kids can creatively combine it with other toys like wood blocks. You don't need the big stuff for it to be a fantastic toy.

[justasque]

We've also spent many happy hours at the Playmobil Fun Park in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida.

[Halftime Hope]

I understand the other posters saying that the big houses, castles, etc, don't get played with as much, but at least for us, the big ships were a HUGE hit.  We have the older pirate and navy ships, and a medium-sized fishing vessel.  Those got played with for years.  When the pirate ship was discontinued, we got an entire set of spare parts for it, so we'd have more of everything that might get broken or worn out.

 

The other huge hit ( I don't know if they still make them) are the smaller powered boats with the battery-powered motors that attach to the bottom of the boats.  Every kid in my family has a powered boat of some kind.

 

Past that, we have a lot of western and farmstead, plus a limited amount of first responder and summer sports stuff.

 

No one is using it now, so it will await my future grandchildren.

[PeterPan]

Well since you specifically said western, I'll mention that the fort is really hard to keep together and has sort of morphed into things he builds from the separate pieces.  I think it's important to focus on the aspects of it your dc like playing with (people vs. accessories vs. buildings or furniture) and put your money into the things that will give them the most fun.  For my ds, it's mainly about the tiny pieces (guns, money, dynamite, cannons, did we mention guns).  He hauls them around and uses them lots of ways.  

 

As far as waiting and going slow or whatever, well in reality the window to use playmobil is just a few years.  It's the most precious, adorable, imaginative stuff.  Buy an insane amount of it, go crazy, and live with no regrets.  The years will go quickly (5 years is fast!), so splurge.  That's my two cents.   :D

[Colleen]

I guess my question is, when you decide which theme you want to invest in, how much do you buy? My compulsive self wants everything but of course that's not going to happen. I've also heard to buy smaller sets rather than the big pieces? 

 

We have more Playmobil than anyone I know.  Keep in mind, I'm a minimalist.  For the most part, we own necessities and that's that.  I'm an anti-pack rat, so my guys never accumulated toys.  

 

Playmobil is/was our exception.  I was enamored of it when I encountered it, as a child, thirty-some years ago in Germany.  Our German/Swiss connections have contributed to my boys' enthusiasm.  They all adore(d) it and we therefore own…a lot.  A whole lot.  But never once did it occur to one to invest in a particular "theme".  Over the years, I bought a few bigger ticket items, but for the most part, our entire collection is made up of random small sets my guys bought over the years.  It matters not one whit whether things "go together" thematically.  That's our adult mindset, the desire to compartmentalize, to organize.  Don't succumb.  Playmobil is a simple pleasure, so don't over think it.

[Jasperstone]

Love Playmobil here too. Must be my German background as well. Its in our blood. ;-)

 

A few weeks ago they had the Princess Castle at a Target outlet store for only $38! I bought the last two sets there. I was beyond elated, lol. Not sure yet what to do with the second one. But it would make an awesome present to the right person.

 

We have the ship, treasure chest, airport, ice cream set, play ground and a huge volcano plus the dinosaurs and jeep. I enjoy buying add-ons. Most larger sets have been secondhand. Otherwise, it would have been too expensive.

[Mom in High Heels]

Indy played with it from about the age of 5 to about 9 and a half.  I was so sad when he moved to Legos, because I like Playmobil better. ;)  He actually still does play with the figures sometimes in conjunction with his Legos though.  We have all but one set of the Egyptian series, several of the Vikings, most of the Roman and a few of the pirates.  I refused to get rid of them though, and they are packed away until Han Solo is old enough for them.  I can't wait, because that means *I* get to play with them again!  These are toys we will not get rid of.

You should check ebay and Craig's list for them.  I found the Colosseum and the Viking Longboat on German ebay for less than half of what they sold for new, and they were both in perfect condition.

There are sets I want for me, but I guess I'll just have to shelve that.  :(  

 

[sewingmama]

Love Playmobil here too. Must be my German background as well. Its in our blood. ;-)

 

A few weeks ago they had the Princess Castle at a Target outlet store for only $38! .

Awww dang. I got the same castle from Target for $64 and thought that was a deal lol ( well it still was considering the regular price). It was a beast to set up but it's very solid..I was a bit worried as some of the big sets don't stay together too well.

 

I probably won't buy any more big sets as we don't have the room and I'm not expecting to come across any more deals like that but my kids really like having the one big castle to have a base for their people. The boys play with the princess castle just as much as DD..DS 1 moved in his knights and DS2 moved in his puppies and kitties LOL.

 

It was so cute when I set the castle up for my DDs birthday. Within 5 minutes of finishing building it my boys had grabbed their knights and cannons and were yelling "Storm the castle men, storm the castle" LOL. Poor DD was not impressed.

 

DS wants the dinosaurs and the volcano..I'm not sure about it. Those things are so costly and He is not a toy kid.

 

I love Play mobile myself..I think you have to otherwise you would never condone spending so much money on a toy LOL.

[FriedClams]

Just to be an enabler... If you have a Tuesday Morning nearby they often have great deals on Playmobile. I ⤠Playmobile and it's one of the few things I've kept for my someday-grand kids. :-)

[Night Elf]

I didn't buy by theme. My kids picked stuff out of the catalog so they ended up with a bunch of random pieces that they put together in their own imaginative play. They were really good about picking stuff out in my stated price range. They loved all the sets regardless of size.

[Meadowlark]

Just to be an enabler... If you have a Tuesday Morning nearby they often have great deals on Playmobile. I ⤠Playmobile and it's one of the few things I've kept for my someday-grand kids. :-)

Sadly, we don't. And I just checked Craigslist and ebay and didn't find anything. Craigslist didn't surprise me because I've never found anyone around here that's even heard of it. Too bad for their kids,but good for their pocketbook I guess :-)

[Luckymama]

My college senior began playing with the pirates items when he was four :) My parents bought him the medium pirate ship (at the time) for his birthday---he used to visit it at the local store. Over the years he added the large ship, the island, a fort, and all the small sets that went with the theme. The large and the medium sets were given by us or grandparents for birthday and Christmas gifts. He purchased some of the small sets with his own money (others were gifts).

 

(He accumulated Lego at the same time. Shopping was so easy for many years :lol:)

 

My college sophomore fell in love with the Victorian house when she was about four (she also would visit it at the store). My parents gave her the two-level house one year, and we added the add-a-floor the next year. Over the years she received or purchased all the "rooms" of stuff. All of them. Eighty bajillion teeny pieces. It's a good thing dd14 never put anything in her mouth and that she always had excellent fine motor skills!

 

We had many, many years of Playmobil strewn across the family room floor in elaborate "set ups" (as the kids called it). Sometimes pirates were neighbors. Other times they raided the Victorians. They were known to shop from the greengrocer :lol:

 

The Victorian house still lives in dd14's room. The girls "set it up" every so often :)

 

The Playmobil will be saved for the grandchildren to play at our house :D

[Meriwether]

For four years I bought Playmobil to go along with our history. We have a bunch of Egyptian, Roman, Knights and Castles, and Western stuff including the big pieces. My aunt got the airport from someone throwing it away. I got the mansion for Dd4 and some Dragon stuff for the boys last Christmas. I will get some pieces to put in the mansion for Dd this Christmas, but I am about done buying Playmobil. We have way to many big pieces - pyramid, Colosseum, 2 castles, airport, mansion. With the medium sized pieces like the gold mine and Dragon towers, it takes up a lot of room. The boys still play with Playmobil but not hours and hours a day like they did 3-4 years ago. Even if they never touch it again it was money well spent. I hope Dd4 and Baby Girl like playing with the historical sets, but I will save them for grandchildren regardless.

[Zuzu822]

I've posted before about our love of Playmobil, but alas, it was a very short lived love affair in our house. We invested in a lot of the big pieces, and I recently sold them all to another HS family (large castle, pyramid, Colosseum, ships, etc). All we have left are the Stone Age sets. No one seems to wants that! :lol: 

 

What I learned is that my boys love building and setting up, but for imaginative play, they prefer games where they are the players and their only props are playsilks and sticks. I also won't buy Lego sets that are more than plain bricks or large vehicles (like Technic). No sets: coast guard, police, airport, etc.

 

So, it doesn't sound like that's the case for anyone is this thread, but just thought I'd throw it out there. They'll drool over the catalog and love to browse sets in our local specialty toy shop, but that's about as far as it goes.

[Meadowlark]

I guess my big reservation about playmobil, is I'm afraid it will be like every other toy I've had high hopes for, and it will not get played with. My son DID play with the knight stuff, but what I didn't mention in my first post is that he recently told me I could give it away. Um...what? Yes, the medium sized castle and all 8 sets that I bought along with it. Sigh. So that comment bummed me out and it's now up in my other sons room. I'm hoping distance will make his heart grow fonder and when I get it out for him in a few months, he will love it all over again.

 

But..it gives me reservations for buying more. I would buy pieces of different sets for sure IF I got them used at a reasonable rate, but if I'm buying new, I sorta feel like I should stick with a few sets and try to make them semi-complete.

 

I'm still wrapping my brain around those of you that throw it all together in one bin. :-) I'm not sure I'm there yet. I love your descriptions of farmers in the castle and knights invading the campsite, etc. though. Do you think this type of creativity is innate? I'm not sure I've ever seen that level of creativity out of my kids. Is there something you did to foster that? I sure hope it's there, but thus far they don't play with any toys a whole lot and it's always been a bummer. We recently de cluttered and gave away 75% of our stuff (perhaps why my son wanted to give away the knight stuff) and things are going better. I'm hoping to start fresh again, esp. with my little ones.

 

There's just so much and I'm feeling overwhelmed. I can't buy it all, but oh how I want to!!!

 

And I will definitely be saving it for grandchildren someday too.

[marbel]

<snip>

I'm still wrapping my brain around those of you that throw it all together in one bin. :-) I'm not sure I'm there yet. I love your descriptions of farmers in the castle and knights invading the campsite, etc. though. Do you think this type of creativity is innate? I'm not sure I've ever seen that level of creativity out of my kids. Is there something you did to foster that? I sure hope it's there, but thus far they don't play with any toys a whole lot and it's always been a bummer. We recently de cluttered and gave away 75% of our stuff (perhaps why my son wanted to give away the knight stuff) and things are going better. I'm hoping to start fresh again, esp. with my little ones.

 

<snip>

 

 

I was too lazy and undisciplined to try to keep the stuff sorted.  My kids would mix it up, or they would find the pieces they wanted for a particular time.  I think kids, or maybe I mean some kids, just aren't bound by expectations that we are.  So why couldn't a roman soldier drive a modern ambulance?  

 

But not all kids are the same.  Some kids want to "do things right" and not mix up eras and themes.  They still have fun.  It's just different.  

[Snickerdoodle]

We have some sets and tons of people.   I have an almost 13yo and 10 yo.   Those playmobil people still get a lot of use.   I often see them lined up in military arrays or hanging by dental floss from various furniture pieces.    I once posted a long while back ago about the decapitated playmobil man that was in my fridge.  (???)

 

Many of them are missing the smaller pieces, like their hair or beards and sometimes even arms or legs.    I did see one figure lying around with some enormous plastic bobble glued to his head.

 

Yeah.  Our playmobil probably won't get handed down, will not have a great resale value but for our kids, it got a *lot* of use.

[BigMamaBird]

My son has Dragons, Knights and Pirates.  We bought him the big castle one year for Christmas and the big pirate ship the next year.  For his Birthday he got little add on sets of each.  Our local grocery store sells these little Playmobil mystery character bags for $3 and we use those as rewards for things.  We store "everyone" in a big bin.  It drives my inner control freak nuts because the Pirates should be with the Pirates and so forth, but it doesn't bother him so that's how he rolls.  I can totally sympathize with the Dad in the Lego Movie though!

[Chris in VA]

My kids loved Playmobil and we still have a big bin of it.  They will never give that up, I think.

 

I mostly bought medium-sized sets; we never bought any of the big items.  My daughter really wanted the dollhouse (or castle?  can't remember now) but it was too expensive.  We had a lot of different themes.  Sometimes I bought things on Ebay, or I'd wait for sales.  They got it for Christmas and birthdays too.

 

Playmobil is more than a toy.  I consider it, like Legos, as educational materials.  My kids spent hours with that stuff, making up stories and plays.  Two years ago when we got new carpet for our son's room, the first thing he said after surveying the bast expanse of beautiful soft carpet was "can we bring out the playmobil?"  It didn't last long but my teens still got a few hours of fun in. 

 

When they are older, they make movies staring Playmobil! LOL

[Tess in the Burbs]

I let my kids decide.  Ds did a knight theme long ago.  He eventually sold it all, but regretted it.  Dd has a lot of random sets but mostly the zoo stuff.  She too doesn't play with it, but it holding on to it longer....just in case. 

 

I would let your kids pick.  Knowing that they keep rotating themes....the knight set we had was out of stores a year after we started buying.  And what was next is already gone and another one has come in it's place.  So if you are wanting a full set, buy it all quickly.  

[Night Elf]

I love your descriptions of farmers in the castle and knights invading the campsite, etc. though. Do you think this type of creativity is innate? I'm not sure I've ever seen that level of creativity out of my kids. Is there something you did to foster that?

 

Ds did it with playmobil but never with Legos. His Lego sets are still together and he's 17 yrs. old. He has bins of blocks separated by size, but all of the specific sets we purchased stayed together. DD had her own Playmobil, but occasionally they would work together to make up stories. But they always knew what was theirs so when they stopped playing, they each still had all of their own stuff.

[Meadowlark]

I let my kids decide. Ds did a knight theme long ago. He eventually sold it all, but regretted it. Dd has a lot of random sets but mostly the zoo stuff. She too doesn't play with it, but it holding on to it longer....just in case.

 

I would let your kids pick. Knowing that they keep rotating themes....the knight set we had was out of stores a year after we started buying. And what was next is already gone and another one has come in it's place. So if you are wanting a full set, buy it all quickly.

Oh! This is new to me. It never occurred to me that they would go out so quickly. How long do you think a theme stays?

[Dmmetler]

Tuesday morning often has whatever the previous theme that has been retired is available. And Playmobil sometimes bundles and does deep discounts on sets. We got most of the Egypt and the Rome sets and pieces that way. My DD uses playmobil figures with her legos quite a bit, but uses the Playmobil buildings less, so we buy mostly figures. I also really like that the blind figure packs for Playmobil have a girl and boy line each series, since DD loves having girl figures, and in lego, they tend to be rare.

 

 

[Spryte]

Another playmobil house here.  We have an embarrassing amount.  It's stored in Trofast bins, and in underbed boxes, and random areas.  All mixed together because the various figures in each theme love each other.  We started with Egyptians, then moved to Romans, so we did begin with themes, but it quickly morphed into a free for all.  We love all playmobil.  

 

My favorite moment was when DS sat on Santa's lap and asked for the entire Roman army.  Santa's face was priceless.   :D

 

If you are looking for deals - check ebay.  I think someone posted upthread that there's nothing on ebay now, but I just looked and found a lot.  Check for playmobil lots.  There was a rather large set of Western theme items that was ending in the 10 am hour, in fact.  I hovered over the bid button, but... restrained myself.  (Oh, the agony of restraint!) Order by the lot, and get tons of stuff.  Also check the playmobil website - they have monthly deals, and discontinued items.  Get on their mailing list for specials.  We've bought a lot that way.  Right before the holidays, Costco carries large playmobil sets - they are usually a good deal, and have a lot of pieces.  I've see zoo sets, airplane sets, and forest sets in past years.

 

We have a lot of big pieces, and they are used.  However, if you don't have enough space to keep the larger pieces put together, then I think it's a poor investment (unless your kids are the type to build the larger pieces every day).  The only larger piece I regret buying is the Roman colisseum - that one is simply *too* large for us when put together!

[Stratford]

Over the years we've ended up with several different sets - pirates, Egypt, Romans, Western, Safari, police, some camping stuff - it's been a slow accumulation, some of it has been gifts from grandparents, some of it I find on sale and stash for later.  The kids would happily own every set, but we try to focus on one set at a time.  The sets do change or phase out periodically and that way, we haven't had too many random bits and pieces.  Our Roman set is our least complete and it bugs me.  That doesn't stop the kids from playing, though, and my kids love mixing sets and coming up with some crazy creative stories.

 

Playmobil has been, hands down, one of our best toy purchases.  Given the age spread of our kids, most of these toys will be used for 15+ years, after which they'll be packed away for grandkids.  (My mom and MIL still have playmobil from when our families were young.)  

[Mom in High Heels]

I've posted before about our love of Playmobil, but alas, it was a very short lived love affair in our house. We invested in a lot of the big pieces, and I recently sold them all to another HS family (large castle, pyramid, Colosseum, ships, etc). All we have left are the Stone Age sets. No one seems to wants that! :lol:

 

What I learned is that my boys love building and setting up, but for imaginative play, they prefer games where they are the players and their only props are playsilks and sticks. I also won't buy Lego sets that are more than plain bricks or large vehicles (like Technic). No sets: coast guard, police, airport, etc.

 

So, it doesn't sound like that's the case for anyone is this thread, but just thought I'd throw it out there. They'll drool over the catalog and love to browse sets in our local specialty toy shop, but that's about as far as it goes.

 

Wait, stone age?  What sets do you have?  How much do you want for them??

[AndyJoy]

Good luck figuring it out! I didn't discover Playmobil until learning about it on this board and now I'm hooked.

 

My dad always planned to help me decorate/furnish a dollhouse when I was a child; I finally gave away the half-painted bare house a few years ago. Then I bought myself the Playmobil suburban house 2 years ago. Since then I've added extra levels and furnishings, a couple parks/playgrounds, a pool, a gym, etc. DS (4) loves playing with "my" dollhouse. His 6-year-old buddy was enraptured and keeps begging to come back over to play with it again. I just moved it into the master bedroom yesterday because baby girl is mobile now. We also have a castle (thrift store find), farm (discount store find), and school (Toys R Us sale) tucked away for later. I'm trying to resist the urge to add another theme but maybe after everyone has outgrown little people I can get rid of them and have an excuse...

[Zuzu822]

Wait, stone age?  What sets do you have?  How much do you want for them??

 

We have sets 5100, 5101, and 5102:

 

http://www.amazon.com/Stone-Age-Cave-with-Mammoth/dp/B004P5O8KE

 

http://www.amazon.com/Playmobil-Mammoth-Skeleton-Cavemen-5101/dp/B004P5O8KO/ref=pd_bxgy_t_text_z

 

http://www.amazon.com/PLAYMOBIL%C2%AE-5102-Saber-Toothed-with-Cavemen/dp/B004P5O8L8/ref=pd_bxgy_t_text_y

 

I think they're discontinued now. 

 

I'll PM you.  :)

[jenn&charles]

So, I invested in some playmobil knight stuff last Christmas because my son was into knights. He plays with it daily and I've been amazed that he will play with any toy this long.

 

Fast forward to now...a playmobil catalogue came in the mail and he wants, everything! All of my kids were drooling over the catalogue for days. My oldest wants all of the farm stuff, even though he has tons of "other" farm stuff already. The next oldest wants Western, police, pirates...everything. Of course, I would go broke buying even 2 different sets. So, I decided to go for Western because it will tie into our history next year. And, I can somewhat justify the cost because my kids are really not "toy" kids. Meaning, Playmobil is the first toy that I've ever seen hold their attention, and that says something.

 

I guess my question is, when you decide which theme you want to invest in, how much do you buy? My compulsive self wants everything but of course that's not going to happen. I've also heard to buy smaller sets rather than the big pieces? I bought some random stuff that kohls carries online, but I'm not sure how the pieces really relate although they are all Western. These will arrive for his bday, and I'm already wondering what to add to it for Xmas. I don't know what I'm asking exactly, but if you are a playmobil house, give me your thought process when buying and storing. And I'm the only one that would buy (and Santa) so keep that in mind.

 

It's so hard for me to spend the $, but like I said, I think it's a worthwhile investment.

 

I've loved Playmobil ever since I was a kid in Germany. I still remember my first set with little doctor people. I loved it.

 

My kids played with it from the ages of 3 until about 13 or so. I've kept almost every single set for the grandkids (and because I LOVE it myself and just can't part with it). I did get rid of the Victorian house though (to my youngest son's dismay - shhh don't tell anyone how much he loved it, lol). That thing was the older style and just would not stay put together and drove me nuts over the years.

 

Somebody come over and bring your kids so I have an excuse to set it all up, lol.

 

Anyway, we couldn't afford to buy a ton all at once and just accumulated it over the years. I did buy a few big sets like the dollhouse, a pirate island and pirate ship. Oh, and a farm. Those were either BIG birthday presents or Christmas presents. Often the big sets were given to more than one child at once (so it was a combined present to justify the price). I think the big sets were really worth it. They seemed to be the sets that the kids would cluster their play around. The big house was a house, a school, a store, a hospital...you name it. The pirate island was that and about 506 other things they made up in their imaginations. They set up the smaller sets around these bigger ones, if that makes sense.

 

 I got some of the smaller castle things and other small sets and we picked up items at yard sales, etc. I swear I have Playmobil hawk eyes...just one of those little people in a box of stuff for sale necessitated a frenzy of digging and then buying, lol. Relatives also bought the kids sets for Christmas, which added to the pile.

 

As for storage, we kept the big Victorian house out at all times when the kids were younger and it had furniture & people in it. The rest was stored in big plastic bins. At one point we had a piece of plywood raised off the floor in the kids's room where they could keep sets set up for however long they wanted. When they were young I didn't try to keep the sets separate. I did separate some sets out in bags stored in bins when they got older, but they invariably got mixed up again. 

 

For us, Playmobil was one of the BEST toys I ever spent $$ on. My kids played with it so much and we even incorporated it into our homeschool studies.

 

Don't worry so much about how pieces relate...the more, the merrier. Your kids's imaginations will fill everything in. ;-)

[Jennay]

Thanks to this thread I am now deciding on which set to buy the kids for some summer fun. We have mostly Knights, Pirates, and Romans. Lately, they have all (ages 11, 10, 6, and 4) been playing with Playmobil every morning. All the sets we have were given to my sons as presents and although they have "officially" given them to their younger sisters, they still seem to play with them a lot :) When they were younger, they would make "Roman road" and temples with the unit blocks and the Roman Playmobil people had a fantastic city.

[Guest]

We didn't buy much VARIETY of toys for my son, but we didn't scrimp on Playmobil, Thomas/Brio, and Lego.  I regret none of the spending...except:

 

I wish we had not spent money on the big Playmobil stuff--the forts, the boat.  Medium stuff is OK, but unless you have a way to leave it out, that big stuff is hard to store and put back together.  It was a pretty big waste of money.  BUT we gave it to a friend who DOES have room for her OBSESSED son to play with it, so I am glad I had it to give to him.  :0)  

 

I've reduced it all to one medium storage box now, and it is such a great toy to get out when the youngers of friends come over.  Open the box, and they just disappear, and play with this stuff non-stop.  I still have to get rid of the pirate ship, but the strings are all tangled up and I don't have the guts to sell THAT.  :0/  It's the only thing that doesn't fit in the box.  

The other thing that is really fun about Playmobil and Legos in particular is that even the "olders" enjoy playing with it...as long as they have the youngers as an excuse!  

 

[Hannah]

Playmobil is only for sale in very select toy shops here.  I used to joke with my family that the 'price of admission' for visiting us from Europe is to courier a Playmobil set.  My girls first encountered them in a toyshop in the Netherlands.  We visited just after Christmas and they got a few pounds or Euro from each of the aunts and uncles.  It all went towards Playmobil. 

 

My aunt lives a short walk from a toyshop and they went back a few times before finally deciding what to buy.  Obviously we couldn't buy the big sets and we have never stuck to a theme. Over the years we have been given and have bought a lot.  We have items from the Safari and wildlife theme - hey the relatives were visiting Africa :), horses, some princess things, and the biggest item is the volcano (which is actually very awkward to store).

 

My 10yo dd has a friend who comes over for sleepovers especially so that they can play with the Playmobil.  They set up villages and landscapes with all the pieces and people and then spend hours making up elaborate scenes for their actors.  The last time they did start making movies too!

.

 

[Catwoman]

Put everything you like into your Amazon cart and watch for price reductions. Amazon is very unpredictable, and sometimes the prices only change for a few hours, so if you see a low price, check out quickly!

 

Stalk eBay for new listings with reasonable Buy It Now prices. Often, the auctions get too pricey because people get competitive and bid too much -- unless the auctions end at odd times of the day or night when fewer people are available to bid. Sometimes you can get lucky on holidays, too. If you try eBay, this is a good time of the year to shop. Once it gets close to Christmas, people are getting desperate and the prices get crazy high.

 

I know a woman who got a huge bin of Playmobil stuff on Craigslist, so you just never know! She also found a big boxful at a garage sale, but both of those finds were super-lucky!