Play Sets Pretty Much the Perfect Product
by Tina Manzer
Playmobil’s Wildlife Care Station, available in April, includes two figures, leopard and cubs, baby rhinoceros, giraffe and zebra, along with the care station building with animal enclosures and other accessories. When children rub the wound on the baby giraffe, it disappears. The African Safari line is one of several Playmobil themes expected to attract attention this year. Other new themes include School, Fire Rescue and Dragon Land. |
Helping a dad and his son choose a fun, inexpensive gift for a 6-year-old’s birthday party? Or a great-aunt find a big-impact Christmas present? How about a recommendation for a child who needs help working through troubling events? A diorama idea for an in-store play table? An exciting window display?
As a busy toy store owner, you probably love play sets – with their figures, accessories, vehicles and buildings – because they meet all these needs. Thanks to a variety of price points and sizes, a wide range of realistic and fantasy themes, and many choices for boys and girls, play sets often fit the bill as the perfect gift. Moreover, the ones available from manufacturers in our industry are the best, and have earned a reputation for high quality, creativity and innovation.
The first play sets, dating back to ancient and medieval times, were more for adults than children (think “toy” soldiers and dioramas of battle scenes). For whole-family play, the first miniaturized scenes were the crèche and a typical farmyard with animals. During the 16th century, toy soldiers actually became toys for kids, along with sets like Noah’s ark and the animals.
Two hundred years later “domestic miniatures,” originally custom built as luxurious displays for adult women, became doll cabinets and houses used to teach girls about housekeeping and furnishings.
Those 18th-century doll houses have evolved into so much more today – more scenes, more play value, more fantasy, more detail – but they’re no less educational or skill building. We might be preaching to the choir, but here’s a quick list of the benefits of play sets.
• They help develop imaginative play, a key component for learning. Research connects it to language skills, social abilities and cognition.
• Imaginative play also stretches children’s creativity. You may find kids making their own scenery or dressing up in costumes to match play set characters.
• “Play sets offer children the opportunity to open the pack and begin to play,” said Mary Ludovico, marketing director for Schleich North America. “They can begin right away to create their imaginary world with the number of different components and characters included in the set.”
That ready-to-play convenience factor is very appealing to shoppers, Ludovico added. To facilitate selection in store, Schleich’s play sets are packaged in open-face boxes.
• Arranging and dramatizing scenarios helps children practice social skills, work through events that upset them, develop conversational vocabularies and learn empathy.
• Self control, taking turns, sharing, listening and improvisation are developed when groups of children play with sets together.
• Development of coordination and fine motor skills needed for writing, playing musical instruments and other life activities happens when children arrange small figures and their accessories. It also helps them develop concentration.
• Play sets give shoppers a choice among price points, noted Cynthia Dalton, senior brand manager for International Playthings’ Calico Critters. Their sets range from $19.99 to $179.99.
“Schleich play sets offer consumers the convenience of a pre-selected choice, although our individual pieces allow them to determine their own particular level of spend because they’re sold separately,” said Ludivico.
• A play set grows with a child. Dalton told us that even though the core age for Critter sets is 3 to 8, “13- and 14-year-old girls still love to collect the miniature animal family figures. The collection can start with a small set that costs less than $20.”
The newest item in the Calico Critters line from International Playthings is the Country Treehouse that features four spacious rooms, a hot tub, pagoda, patio and lake. |
Schleich, which offers more than 500 individual items, works to represent a wide variety of their figures across a large selection of play sets. “In this way, as children’s interests grow, we provide solutions to meet their needs. Our play sets are great starter packs. They incorporate themes that can later be expanded upon with the purchase of individual pieces. The sets can grow in any direction the child’s imagination leads them.”
• Play sets appeal to adults. “Something that has always fascinated me about miniatures and toys is the accessories, and Playmobil’s were the best,” noted movie reviewer Tyler Foster, in a review of Playmobil’s “Secret of Pirate Island” DVD. “Police sets came with tiny stop signs, cones and fire extinguishers; a family camper set packed in two bicycles, a table and dishes … I can’t pin down why I liked how elaborate and meticulous all of this stuff was, but it looked pretty awesome to me.”
He swears he is no longer looking to purchase Playmobil sets for himself.
The #1 sellers for Schleich always include Farm Life or Wildlife figures. |
Playmobil figures debuted in 1974, and today about 650 different ones are available. According to the company, children are still playing with figures from the first generation. Most of the fans from the first Playmobil years are parents themselves and have passed the toys on to their children. Other adults have become passionate collectors.
• Play sets keep people of all ages collecting. Whether it’s Playmobil sets from the 1970s or individual Safari figures, amassing a collection is something children and adults alike enjoy. How can a 7-year-old boy stop at just one Wild Safari dinosaur, for instance? The quest for more keeps consumers coming back to your store.
The museum quality replicas from Safari Ltd. have created passionate adult collectors since its inception as an educational toy company – doing business out of the founder’s apartment – in 1980. Considered the preeminent manufacturer of authentic replica collections today, Safari invested over $1 million in new molds in the past few years, and introduced more than 600 new models. Its realistic replicas are carefully sculpted by experts who research an animal’s anatomy to ensure its accuracy.
“We love these animals,” said one amazon.com reviewer. “We are beginning a collection of them for our 21-month-old son. We use them to act out different animal books, like Good Night, Gorilla, his favorite, and Polar Bear, Polar Bear What Do You Hear? We play games in which I ask him to get certain animals to line up, or find the animal that makes a certain sound. These are great for fun and learning, and easy to pack back into the Toobs for travel.” |
