playmobil or duplo - which is better

Daily Life, Swiss News and General Topics
1
Hi

I'm thinking of getting my children some playmobil or duplo for christmas - they are 1.5 (boy) & almost 3 (girl). Can anyone recommend which is the better one to get or is it possible to get some from each and the bricks will fit together? I don't want to get lego (yet) as the boy will eat them....

Thanks

Sharon

2
Playmobil is full of tiny little pieces so if you were worried about lego then the same will apply with the playmobil.

3
Duplo is possibly the way to go. On average, Duplo blocks are larger than Playmobil bits and a bit more durable.

As far as I know, Duplo and Playmobil parts are not compatible.

4
That last bit made me laugh although its probably very true go with Duplo i'd say.

5
Get Duplo Primo (I think they are now called Lego Explore) and and Duplo regular,they are compatible with each other and the bits are nice and chunky so that the boy won't be able to swallow them.

Playmobil is definitely for older children of about 4 years upwards as they really contain a lot of teensy weensy bits.

6
We're cheap, so we got megablocks, which are biger and chunkier than duplo. It's done our Mk. I infant well since she was one.

7
I second the Lego Duplo opinion, skip the Playmobil for now.

8
I think they are a bit young for Playmobil. Our daughter is now 4 and she is just now really into Playmobil. For your daughter I would consider the Dollshouse that Duplo has. Our daughter got it last Christmas and it was a total success. Also for our son who is 8 btw :-)

9
Lego does also have large sized blocks (read: to big to eat) for younger kids.

10
Thanks everyone - I'll get the Duplo - save the trips to A&E for while - although with the rate he's playing football with the Christmas decorations I may be there sooner than I thought....

11
I remember when I was kid I had a wonderful castle from Playmobil... absolutely amazing

Duplo might be better to develop "engineering abilities" Then when bigger go with Lego.

12
Want to ask a typical "new to Switzerland" question. Where is the best place to buy Duplo. Thanks

13
Actually, I have just bought the most fantastic castle by duplo, the age range is 3 - 6 which is a bit higher than some of the normal Duplo sets, but the size of the pieces is such that I am happy our 18 month can play with it too. It is not something I have seen in the duplo catalogues before so was very happy to find it as I too was having the lego vs duplo debate for our soon to be 4 year old....

BTW, Manor had it on special reduced from 199chf to 129chf - still a bit steep, but it is a combined birthday and Xmas gift (poor boy is an early Jan baby!) and as my husband said... "man this thing builds up to 1m40 tall and has a massive dragon how cool......!

14
Hi there, yep, totally agree with the general consensus here, Duplo would (I think) be the way to go, esp regarding "the boy"! .

They are a great investment, you can add to it all the time and its always an easy suggestion for God parents, friends, or whoever, to suggest when they want to know what to give the kids for presents.

Plus, as you have a boy and girl, this is something they can both do equally well and play with together, has to be good!!

Playmobil and Lego can be introduced as they get older.

Picture this, last year my (then 11 yr old girl) built her "main house" with the Duplo blocks, built additional buildings with Lego and inhabited/decorated/play acted in all of these with the various Duplo/Lego/ Playmobil characters.

I've put them in storage ( after moving) for now, but know very well if I should bring them out even now, she (and probably her older sister would help as well- even tho it's not cool!!) would immediately commandeer the whole living room with her wonderful buildings and theatricals .

Mind you,,, now all the little characters would probably be going out on dates or something??!

There's something about them, we've given away lots of the girls small child things, but we cant do it with these.

Ros

15
We (or rather our boys) have both Playmobil and Duplo/Lego (larger and regular small blocks).

- Playmobil gets played with more intensively during the first few hours of ownership. But is then cast aside and starts to gather dust.

- Duplo/Lego in our house is definitely more inspiring, is always out and is used in a lot of crossplay.

- Duplo/Lego has been played (and is still played with) with from age 1 until now (9yrs)

- Playmobil from 5-7 or 8 max.

I'd go for the Duplo/Lego, if I had choose between them.