Archive for the 'Playmobil' Category

Achtung, Baby

Published
by
blogmywiki
on December 25, 2006
in Christmas, Playmobil, children and family life
. 0 Comments

I was going to write a small rant about Christmas tree lights (why wired in series, not parallel, etc) but they are almost all working now. A mere 7 bulbs replaced in one set, a mere hour and a half spent with a multimeter and some colourful language.

But, no, this is about toys. Long-time readers may remember my previous discussion about not liking Playmobil because of the amount of time it took me to build the pirate ship, compared with the small amount of time it took my children to demolish it.

This year Henry got the big Playmobil Subbuteo-style football game. Only took me about 15 minutes to put it together, using the usual nicely drawn graphic instructions. But the instructions on how to actually play the game - they’re in German.

Made me laugh almost as much as Mrs Blogmywiki insisting that Eau de Vie de Poire William was a light aperitif and turning the colour of Withnail drinking lighter fuel when she swigged back a capful.

The Devil is in the Detail

Published
by
blogmywiki
on December 11, 2004
in Playmobil, children and family life
. 1 Comment

My friend Jon likes Playmobil.

I beg to differ.

We have large amounts of Playmobil in our house. Well, I say in our house - I should also say under our house.

The very detail that Jon applauds means that Playmobil figures have tiny parts - such as cuffs - which my children like to stuff down the cracks between the floorboards. (Yes, it serves me right for still having stripped floorboards).

I spent hours assembling the - admittedly beautiful - Playmobil Pirate Ship, and it took my children minutes to totally trash it, to deconstruct it, to post vital elements under the floor. It was the same with the small boats and fire fighters that my wife brought back from New York.

Occasionally I lever up a floorboard or two and recue a selection of daggers, spears and other tiny plastic pirate paraphanalia.

So Playmobil is banned this Christmas. Lego is in. Even the smallest 1×1 Lego brick won’t go down the largest floorboard gap.