# Little People vs Playmobil 123



## wannabe (Jul 4, 2005)

Which would you choose and why?


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## starlein26 (Apr 28, 2004)

Playmobil 123 is MUCH better quality (amazing quality controls) yet more expensive. (But my kids also love their Little People.)


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## Breeder (May 28, 2006)

Of course my DS inherited his little people so they were free, so I didn't have to choose but I would stick with little people for the little people and save playmobil for when they are old enough for the really COOL stuff.

Mostly because I generally don't want to spend a lot on the little kid toys since there is no way to gauge if they are actually going to like it. When they are older it's a bit easier to tell from past toys what they will like and therefore more worthwhile to spend more.


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## GuildJenn (Jan 10, 2007)

We got Little People via garage sales (reduce, reuse, recycle and all that). I was surprised how "set" the nouveau little people are - they're holding balloons, cell phones, etc. I prefer the old-style little people.

If there'd been Playmobil 123 we'd've gone for that though.

In the end my son loved the LP animals the best.


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## missbuns (Oct 16, 2007)

we have playmobil 123 and my 17 month old LOVES them. she puts the people in the cars, on the horses, etc. she really likes to sit them down and stand them up (little people don't move, right?) and turn their heads. there are kid sized ones, adult sized ones and baby ones. the cars/trucks all fit together. the quality is great and when they get dirty i throw them in the dishwasher and they look brand new. they are friendly and uncomplicated.


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## missbuns (Oct 16, 2007)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Breeder* 
Of course my DS inherited his little people so they were free, so I didn't have to choose but I would stick with little people for the little people and save playmobil for when they are old enough for the really COOL stuff.



the playmobil 123 stuff is really cool. i intend to get the older kid stuff in a couple years, but until then i would rather spend money on playmobil. if you get little people free that's one thing, but if not buy playmobil. the resale value is totally high and the stuff is way less bulky. when we go out i bring one little car and one person in my purse and my daughter is happy pushing that around.


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## Mimi (Oct 8, 2008)

we have a beautiful set of LP's with animals , DD loves it,it is one of the few plastic things that i don't find horrible, they are quite big,so good for chubby little baby hands. i don't know playmobil 123, but dd adores her little people.


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## LuckyMommaToo (Aug 14, 2003)

We love Playmobil 1-2-3. And when we get the bin out, DS, at five, will still happily play with them. I'm going to keep them, whereas I'm not going to keep the LP we have (okay, maybe the fire station, but that's all).

Our favorite 1-2-3 sets are the house, the dump truck, and the zookeeper/rhino.

-e


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## jjawm (Jun 17, 2007)

Playmobile. Much better quality, in my mind.


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## Jessy1019 (Aug 6, 2006)

Another vote for Playmobil, but how old is your child? My son has done well with the regular sized Playmobil sets for a long time now . . . he dove into his older sister's things rather than getting the 123, and he's loved it all.

They are getting the airport for xmas . . . shhhh, don't tell.


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## Ellen Griswold (Feb 27, 2008)

Playmobil is awesome but wicked expensive, IMO. We have some LP but dd isn't interested in them much.


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## eepster (Sep 20, 2006)

We chose Playmobil 123. It seems better quality, and is more open ended.

Playmobil 123 is *not* more expensive.

LP farm $29.88 @ Walmart
PM123 farm 17.99 @ PM's website

LP tractor 17.99 @ Target
PM 123 tractor 10.99 @ PM's website

LP house $32.99 @ Amazon
PM 123 house $17.99 @ PM's website


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## AnnieA (Nov 26, 2007)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *eepster* 
We chose Playmobil 123. It seems better quality, and is more open ended.

Playmobil 123 is *not* more expensive.

LP farm $29.88 @ Walmart
PM123 farm 17.99 @ PM's website

LP tractor 17.99 @ Target
PM 123 tractor 10.99 @ PM's website

LP house $32.99 @ Amazon
PM 123 house $17.99 @ PM's website

Thanks for posting this eepster! It's one of my pet peeves that people think that Playmobil is soooo expensive. There certainly are pieces that are expensive, like the mansion or the hospital but smaller pieces are very reasonably priced and very good quality.

My vote is for the Playmobil 1-2-3. We love Playmobil in our house!


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## BellinghamCrunchie (Sep 7, 2005)

Playmobil - but we only got a few of the 123 pieces before I realized DD would be fine with the regular playmobil, at about age 2.5. She had passed the mouthing stage by then.

We have some little people too and DD plays with them, but the Playmobil are more realistic and bend at the waist.


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## eepster (Sep 20, 2006)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *BellinghamCrunchie* 
Playmobil - but we only got a few of the 123 pieces before I realized DD would be fine with the regular playmobil, at about age 2.5. She had passed the mouthing stage by then.

Quick question...

I was thinking DS would be ready for some of the less fragile looking regular Playmobil sets soon, and was wondering if they would work with the 123 sets? Off hand it looks like the people are about the same hight, just simpler. Do the 123 people fit in the regular vehicles and vice versa?


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## wannabe (Jul 4, 2005)

wow, I'm really glad I asked. I was leaning towards the little people. It'll be a first birthday/christmas present.

Thank you!


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## sweetieberlin (Mar 30, 2007)

what I dont like about little people is the big #3 plastic sign on the box... I wont buy it for that reason..


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## feelinghealthy (Sep 23, 2008)

I think "Little People" is appropriate only for babies and kids under 5 yo and therefore if you want to buy toys for older kids you should go for Play Modil.

I don't know if i am right, but i think that play mobil games are more appropriate for boys and not girls. Here in greece I have never seen play mobil for females (only pirates, cowboys etc)


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## Jessy1019 (Aug 6, 2006)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *feelinghealthy* 
I don't know if i am right, but i think that play mobil games are more appropriate for boys and not girls. Here in greece I have never seen play mobil for females (only pirates, cowboys etc)

Maybe it is a regional thing, but my daughter has no problem playing with pirates and cowboys and all of that . . . but regardless, the playmobil line includes a dollhouse, fairies, and some more designs that are usually labeled as being for girls -- and they also have a ton of gender neutral things like farms, hospitals, an airport, boats, rescue vehicles, shops, etc.

We don't label toys as being for girls or for boys in our house, but Playmobil definitely has a wide range for kids with varying interests.


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## EmsMom (Dec 13, 2001)

I don't think they had the playmobil 1-2-3 when my kids were really little. They look like great toys, though!. We had some newer little people and they didn't get played with so much. We also have quite a bit of vintage playmobil and that actually gets played with all the time, even now at 5 and 9. However, we also had lots and lots of Duplo, including furniture and tons and tons of people and animals and vehicles. About the same size as the playmobil 123, but all clicked together. Anyway, the Duplo was very heavily played with from about age 1 until about age 8 and my dd who is almost 10 still enjoys it now and then. I think that the playmobil 123 would have much more of the longevity of play than the little people which really do have a much more contrived 'cuteness" about them than what I saw on the playmobil 123 websites. The playmobil for older kids also seems to have fantastic play value and resale value.


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## Ceili (Nov 21, 2001)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *eepster* 
Quick question...

I was thinking DS would be ready for some of the less fragile looking regular Playmobil sets soon, and was wondering if they would work with the 123 sets? Off hand it looks like the people are about the same hight, just simpler. Do the 123 people fit in the regular vehicles and vice versa?

Yep the are interchangeable. I like Playmobil 123 stuff for this reason, it has a much longer lifespan in terms of how long the kids will play with it. Little People get out grown much earlier.


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## mamalisa (Sep 24, 2002)

I am a huge Playmobil fan. Dh and ds give me a hard time because I buy it for myself, not the kids. We bought dd the modern house for her 3rd birthday and put away some of the teeny pieces so they didn't get lost. Overall she does just fine with it. She needs some help setting up, but once I've helped her with that, she will play for hours. We try to bring out only one set at a time, but the animals and pirates keep breaking into the house.









Ds has been playing with his since he was 3 and is almost 8. I can't see him being too old for it for a long time. That's where I think the value comes in over Little People. Ds hasn't enjoyed playing with LP for a long time.


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## ricemom3 (Jan 29, 2008)

Just curious, what are the ages for the Playmobile? My ds is 16 mos right now, and it looks like something he would love. I am also thinking about pulling out the Duplos.


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## mamalisa (Sep 24, 2002)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *ricemom3* 
Just curious, what are the ages for the Playmobile? My ds is 16 mos right now, and it looks like something he would love. I am also thinking about pulling out the Duplos.

Honestly it depends on your kid. Dd has been playing with it since about 2 1/2 and Legos before that. She was never a kid to put anything in her mouth (except that one time....) Ds was different, I swear the kid is almost 8 and still puts every stinkin' thing in his mouth. We were all playing Legos yesterday and dd (3) kept telling him "no mouth Jake!"


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## missbuns (Oct 16, 2007)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *mamalisa* 
Honestly it depends on your kid. Dd has been playing with it since about 2 1/2 and Legos before that. She was never a kid to put anything in her mouth (except that one time....) Ds was different, I swear the kid is almost 8 and still puts every stinkin' thing in his mouth. We were all playing Legos yesterday and dd (3) kept telling him "no mouth Jake!"


my daughter is 17 months and plays perfectly with the playmobil 123. she really enjoys it and plays with it 10 times a day (we have a bunch of it). it is simple enough for this age.


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## eepster (Sep 20, 2006)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *ricemom3* 
Just curious, what are the ages for the Playmobile? My ds is 16 mos right now, and it looks like something he would love. I am also thinking about pulling out the Duplos.

DS was good with them from a pretty young age (he does play with them more now than he did when we first got the 123 zoo set.) He did occasionally use the giraff when his 2 yo molars were coming in, but it is a sturdy piece and never possed a hazard. We did need to take away the bird and barrels from the circus set, and the cat from the house set, b/c they did fit all the way in his mouth. I don't know if any of the other sets would have similar issues, since we don't have them all. DS isn't generally a mouthy kid, so as soon as he was done teething he was fine with all the pieces again. If I had a very mouthy kid (my nephew was very mouthy, so I know what it's like) I would go through very carefully to remove the smaller items.


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## JElaineB (Nov 12, 2005)

My six year old still plays with his Playmobil 1-2-3 stuff (as well as regular Playmobil stuff). The Little People were abandoned long ago. For longevity alone I would say Playmobil 1-2-3.


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## mumm (May 23, 2004)

*I* prefer playmobil but my children *use* the little people more often. Our playmobile sits unused. FP LP are becoming more expensive while playmobile prices have gone down in the past 9 years that I've been looking at toys.

But overall I'd vote for lego and duplo as the toy of choice!


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## wannabe (Jul 4, 2005)

Quote:

ricemom3 Just curious, what are the ages for the Playmobile? My ds is 16 mos right now, and it looks like something he would love. I am also thinking about pulling out the Duplos.
Mine is 11 months (and convinced that he can do everything big sister can). He loves to play with the LP at indoor play spaces, and with the duplo. Get them out!

Quote:


Originally Posted by *mumm* 
*I* prefer playmobil but my children *use* the little people more often. Our playmobile sits unused. FP LP are becoming more expensive while playmobile prices have gone down in the past 9 years that I've been looking at toys.

But overall I'd vote for lego and duplo as the toy of choice!

We already have duplo. The perils of being the second born. We already have all the basic toys.


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## BellaClaudia (Aug 1, 2008)

we have both systems..

We started with little people.. and at 3 added playmobil and we will make transition to playmobil eventually... as the little people are easier to grab for little ones, don't fall apart, no chocking parts like in playmobil..

little people are very simple in concept and very fulfiling for little ones,
and I think that playmobil is generally less fit for them because it is more frustrating and needs more imagination to make someting work.

playmobil is mighty expensive too..

little people though of course are by fisher price..(bad press)
I will tell you only this.. I don't know how much safer they are but
put the characters in the closed lead container .. maybe like 30 of them
for like a week and then open the lead and try to breath.. you will see what they add to the plastic.
all those softeners take toll on them...

I am not sure if this is entirely healthy and therefore we are moving towards playmbil that just seems safer from this perspective as seemingly releasing less gasses ito the air.

lastly, little people have nice sturdy setups.. bildings.. etc.. and are very
kid poof so they take lots of banging with grace.. cant't say that about playmobil when the hard plastic will break if you hit it on the floor ..

so.. that is a wrap.


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## LaughingHyena (May 4, 2004)

We have the little people. We bought each of them a set for their first birthday and have collected other bits used. Bot h children have played with them quite a bit. I was worried that since the they are all holding things it would limit play but it doesn't seem to bother the kids. DS loves sorting and finding all the ones with hat/ballons/frogs (for some reason we have lots of people holding frogs
















I like the playmobil 123 more in many ways but here at least it's quite hard to find and the range is very limited. Also some of the pieces are very small)(eg the cat and dog) . My 2 yo likes the ones at our toy library but I have to keep a close eye on him. He can't put the people in the tractor yet


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