It’s a big deal to invest in any toy eco-system. You’re going to be living with these toys for a long time; getting down on to the floor to play with them, silently stepping over them in darkened bedrooms, picking them out of the tiny pockets of kids’ clothes before (or after) the washing machine. And there are any number of heavy hitter toys that can entertain, educate and inform children across a range of years.
Playmobil is one of these heavy hitters and with good reason. Playmobil deal in charming detail. It’s one of their defining characteristics. As is a kind of calm, normalcy. And arguably, Playmobil proper (from ages four and up) is when this system comes into its own. The range of sets and figures is huge and more often than not they are clever, well made and thoughtful. But the particular delights of Playmobil begin with their starter system, Playmobil 123.
DELIGHT IN THE EVERYDAY
The 123 range is often based upon simple themes and tableaux found in daily life. There is a focus on urban life although there are nods to country life. A family house, a construction site, a farm.
These simple themes show recognizable characters and interactions: home life, city life (a playground), street life (a refuse truck), construction site, a farm, a zoo, the work of the emergency services. There is a delight in the domestic, an affluent middle-class and safe environment.
Whilst 123 does offer fantastical/dramatic themes – there are knights (a feature of the toy from the beginning), pirates and fairies – they seem like a diversion from the main strengths of 123.
Part of the strength of 123 comes from the characters who are ordinary people you might meet; bus driver, horse woman, father, mother. 123 figures have arms straight down at their sides – standing at-attention, tummy slightly sticking out, the way a toddler might want to show you they can be trusted.
And whilst 123 is the simpler, younger sibling of Playmobil proper, it still holds its own cute details: a painted camera slung around the neck of a tourist, the moulded plastic beard on a fisherman, a pitchfork for the farmer, the sound of a flushing toilet in the family house.
PLAYMOBIL 123 AND HOME EDUCATION
123 is a useful didactic tool. There is a value in 123‘s domestic tableaux in discussion with children and the familiarity or ordinariness allows the figures and sets to become allegories for any number of subjects.
By pulling the ordinary world into the home and into play, 123 is appropriate for subjects such as work and what people do for a living, play, the way people interact, the way we look after our houses, the way we drive our cars, or how we use cities or farms. Themes of cooperation, helping and utilitarianism are easy to incorporate.
To say 123 is calmer or perhaps less stimulating than other toy systems is to do Playmobil a disservice. 123 figures and scenarios are stimulating but they don’t necessarily lead the child.
Having designed the first range of Playmobil in 1974, Hans Beck is often quoted from a 1997 interview saying that when he put the figures into children’s’ hands without saying anything about them, that “[The children] accepted them right away…. They invented little scenarios for them. They never grew tired of playing with them.” This still happens today. It is fascinating to see these ordinary characters being immediately assigned roles and personalities by the children. Before they are embedded in genre –and perhaps lose the value of the ordinary – children can have free reign. The children don’t have to wait to be told what one character is like or what their back history is within the wider context of a movie or book.
DURABILITY AND VALUE
The figures are chunky to grab. The plastic is smooth and cool, the colours vibrant. Vehicles are functional; wheels roll easily. Boats float and so do the people.
Although 123 isn’t particularly cheap, the pieces are robust and durable. Those colours stay bright over the years, despite the odd character – tucked in a child’s pocket – getting machine-washed. The cars and houses don’t chip easily. Good to know on a budget when toys might do double or triple duty handed down from sibling to sibling.
MEMENTOES
The toys you choose for your children will be the mementoes you keep when they’ve grown up. Some piece of 123 will end up in your pocket on the way to work. Then it’s an ornament for your car dashboard or your desk. Playmobil 123, beyond trends and fads, ends up an emotional reminder of simple play.
(The Playmobil 123 set shown in the picture is 70129 Family Home. This link is affiliated, the article is not.)