If you’re a parent of kids over the age of four (or, like me, you have fond memories from your own childhood), you probably have a few pieces of Playmobil kicking around. Many parents will come into the store and choose Playmobil as a gift for kids four to six years of age, but did you know that Playmobil is the toy that just...keeps....going?

Just the other day I couldn’t believe my eyes.  Ten-year-old Max, a true ‘Lego kid’ if ever there was one, who uses any opportunity to add to his Magic or Pokemon card collection, chose two of the new Playmobil Lion Knights over any and all of these options!  I was amazed by this!

At first glance it’s obvious that Playmobil, with its miniscule hold-in-your-hand world and many different themes, is perfect for little ones getting into imaginative play. Four to 7-year olds love to mix different sets – the vet car takes the kids to school, the dinosaurs chomp on the sea fairies – and play wildly imaginative games, alone or with their friends. It doesn’t matter if the T-Rex is scaling the Egyptian pyramid to get to the jewel thieves, that’s all part of the fun!

But that was not how Max was playing with his new Knights.  No, he had the pieces meticulously set up amongst each other, a micro-world design that was all about the set-up, getting the details right and creating a scenario that mimicked what he learned about that time period in his Grade four classroom.

My sisters and I played with our Playmobil this way too, all the way up until we were barely kids anymore, maybe 12 or 13. The big piece our Playmobil world revolved around was the farm. You can bet that every flower bush was arranged by colour or pattern, every hen deliberately placed around the farm girl, little plastic hand outstretched in just the perfect throwing-chicken-feed kind of way. It was more about order, and detail, and setting up a story at that age, than it was about the free-ranging, let-your-imagination-loose kind of play that we did as younger kids. Meanwhile my youngest sister didn’t mind that the long-legged clown from the circus was a member of the congregation at the Royal Wedding, and engaged in lots of battles and dramas where her Playmobil people would literally lose their hair.

How many toys can you say truly interest your four-year old and your ten-year old?

I think Playmobil works for kids of all ages because it allows for the open-ended exploration of imagination, strategy, problem-solving and social play.

Playmobil also reflects a great deal of what’s found in many school curriculums:  knights, ancient Egypt, Roman gladiators, emergency crews and dinosaurs.  For parents who are wary of the “made in China” printed on many children’s toys, Playmobil is often made in countries like Malta, Sweden, and Germany. It might be the perfect toy...just don’t step on it!

Erica has worked at Playful Minds in Toronto for seven years. Playful Minds is a member of Neighbourhood Toy Stores of Canada.