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10 Best Playmobil Sets of 2022 – Reviewed

When you’ve got a child between the ages of 5 and 10 in the house, a Playmobil set is one of the best gifts you can give. Playmobil sets help your child to develop constructive thinking via their unique brand of imaginative and instruction-following play.

But if you’re trying to pick the best Playmobil set for your child or another loved one, you may realize that many Playmobil kits appear to be the same. Which Playmobil set will be the best for your favorite someone?

In this article, we’ll answer this question and more — and we’ll also review the top 10 best Playmobils so that you’ll have examples of winning sets in hand when you go to the store.

Playmobil Set Reviews

Check out our top 10 picks for best Playmobil sets in 2022.

Our #1 Choice – PLAYMOBIL Family Camping Trip

With the Playmobil Family set, you’ll get a Playmobil-sized tent, a picnic table, three stools, a cooler, a picnic set, several shrubs, an entire family of Playmobil characters, and a handful of cooking accessories.

Because the playset doesn’t include much beyond what is required for an afternoon spent cooking and camping, children with more active imaginations may find that the set is a little bit unengaging.

On the other hand, the set could still be a great addition to their other sets if they like the idea of including camping and grilling in their other playscapes.

Our #2 Choice – PLAYMOBIL Emergency Medical Helicopter

The helicopter itself is the main appeal of the set, and it’s no surprise why. The chopper is ready to use out of the box, and it includes a pilot, a medic, a litter for carrying wounded, and a spacious inner compartment.

This means that it’s a great addition to any other city or emergency-themed Playmobil set. You’ll need to provide your child with a bit of context for the playscape if they aren’t combining the helicopter with their other toys, however.

There aren’t many scene-establishing props included with the chopper.

Our #3 Choice – PLAYMOBIL Pony Farm

In total, you’ll get three take along farmhands, a two-story barn, two farm cats, three ponies, a corral fence, and dozens of accessories. This makes the pony farm set a great starting point for a Playmobil collection. It’s also comprehensive enough to stand on its own without the help of any other sets.

There aren’t any areas where the pony farm set is especially weak. However, because of the 194 pieces in the set, there are a lot of opportunities to lose track of the smaller accessory pieces.

If you purchase your child a place to store the set, they won’t have any problems losing track of the smaller farming implements.

Our #4 Choice – PLAYMOBIL Pirate Raiders’ Ship

This set is the full pirate ship experience. You’ll get everything from scraggly swabbies to the peg-legged pirate captain, not to mention the ship’s monkey stowaway.

The cannon can fire the included projectiles a short distance, which makes the set more dynamic than many other Playmobils. You don’t need to worry about your children getting hurt from the cannon because it doesn’t fire very vigorously, thankfully.

The only drawback to the pirate raiding set is that you’ll need to provide a suitable treasure chest to plunder, as there isn’t one included. You may also find that the pirate ship isn’t entirely seaworthy if your young corsairs try to bring their pirate ship into the bath or the pond.

Our #5 Choice – PLAYMOBIL Take Along Modern Doll House

In this “modern” doll house, your children will get an entire family’s worth of playspace in one convenient package that even has a carrying handle. You’ll also get two puppy figurines as well as the gear that’s necessary to feed them.

When it’s time to play, opening the house is as easy as cracking it open from the top seam. Likewise, putting the set away is just as simple. The only thing you’ll need to be aware of is that this set isn’t for everyone.

The opportunities for imaginative play are somewhat limited with a house, and not all children enjoy the domestic playscape in comparison to more exotic locales.

Our #6 Choice – PLAYMOBIL Take Along School House

Much like other entries in Playmobil’s City Life series, the school house includes typical domestic scenes from an elementary school classroom. You’ll get a teacher, three pupils, and a bevy of education-themed accessories like blackboards and bookcases.

Being a schoolteacher — or a pupil — isn’t for all children, however. For children you prefer to dream bigger than the schoolyard, this set may not have much to offer.

Furthermore, it isn’t necessarily the easiest set to combine with other Playmobil kits, so make sure the recipient is going to enjoy playing in a school setting before making a purchase.

Our #7 Choice – PLAYMOBIL Police Headquarters with Prison

REThe 253 pieces of this set come together to produce a prison yard, two guard towers, and an impressive front gate that’s sure to keep criminals trapped on the inside.

Because of the fortress-like construction of the set, it’s great for combining with other city-themed or fantasy-themed sets.

You should probably give your child some guidance as to what the real world is like with regards to law enforcement and incarceration before they play with this toy set, however.

The playset doesn’t exactly provide a good moral compass regarding healthy social behaviors or effective law enforcement, so your child could very easily get the wrong ideas if they are left to their own devices.VIEW7

Our #8 Choice – PLAYMOBIL Summer Camper

With this set, you’ll get everything necessary for a fun road trip vacation, including grilling accessories and picnic gear. You’ll also get a cool surfboard for some beach-themed play, and essential safety gear like fire extinguishers.

The only thing to watch out for with this set is that the white paint on the camper unit seems to attract dirt and scuff marks. Keep your child playing indoors with the camper set and they probably won’t have any problems.

Our #9 Choice – PLAYMOBIL Cruise Ship

The cruise ship is a great way to introduce your child to the world of Playmobil in a portable package. The ship’s crew is composed of two crewmen, but the set also includes four passengers and two cabins for their relaxation.

The enforced idleness of a cruise ship may not be for everyone, however, and the same holds true of this cruise ship toy.

Children may be at a loss regarding the purpose of cruising around, as the cruise ship isn’t particularly disposed to performing any kind of task other than enabling luxury.

Our #10 Choice – PLAYMOBIL Spirit Riding Free Lucky’s House Playset

This set has a wonderful estate, a pony, a duck, and the pony’s rider. It’s an interesting combination of toys that’s sure to make many young girls extremely satisfied.

While there isn’t much in the set for young boys or girls who don’t appreciate ponies and mansions, it’s hard to beat the dual utility that the set offers for its target demographic. You may also find that many children can combine this set with others for a more engaging play opportunity.

Frequently Asked Questions

Which features should I look for when I’m shopping for a Playmobil set?

When you’re shopping for the best Playmobil sets, you should keep your eyes out for the following features:

• Ability to combine with other Playmobil sets
• Number of pieces
• The most viable styles of play
• Carrying cases

The ability to combine with other Playmobil kits is of chief importance because Playmobils are usually the most fun to play with when they are used in the context of a larger playscape. In fact, many Playmobil kits aren’t particularly interesting in isolation.

But, when the contents of different sets are combined, many new avenues for play open organically, which children love. For example, purchasing a camping set might not be very interesting to some children on its own.

If the camping set is combined with another set, such as a treacherous jungle with treasure hunting, however, the entire situation changes.

Rather than offering merely the opportunity to have imaginative play with camping, adding another set means that your child could pretend to be treasure hunters in the jungle who are attempting to bring treasure back to their campsite for extraction.

So, keep your eye out for potential combinations of play sets. The best trick to find good combinations is to look for thematically-similar sets, like city-themed sets or rural-themed sets.

If you purchase another set of the same theme there’s a high chance that they can be combined fruitfully for play.

The number of pieces in the set is also a major consideration for two reasons. First, more pieces in the set means that there are more accessories to play with and more situations to create.

Second, the more pieces that are in the play set, the easier it will be to lose track of them and then find yourself stepping on them in the living room.

Most Playmobils have high-quality pieces that are great for opening new avenues of play, but very few Playmobil kits have a system for organizing and storing the elements of the set.

The takeaway here is that sets with built-in carrying cases or storage containers are especially valuable as far as the adults in the household are concerned.

Children may not necessarily appreciate the convenience of a built-in carrying case for its storage purposes, however. That’s why many Playmobils with built-in cases are also highly portable. Some even include a handle.

These sets are favorable because they make setting up playdates much easier. You don’t need to worry about your child leaving their toys behind or having trouble transporting their entire playscape when their toys can fold up and be ready to go at a moment’s notice.

Finally, understanding the most viable styles of play inherent in each Playmobil set is crucial if you want to pick a set or a combination of sets that are fun for your child. Not all Playmobil kits are equally effective at imaginative play, creative play, active play, or roleplaying.

Understanding the preferred playstyle of your child relative to what the set in question can offer is the main challenge. As a broad guideline, boys tend to prefer vehicle-themed sets because of their potential for imaginative and active play.

On the other hand, girls tend to prefer Playmobils with fully developed settings. So, pick the playset accordingly.

Who are Playmobil sets intended for?

Playmobils are intended for children between the ages of four and ten.

Children who love imaginative play are the main target audience, but Playmobil kits are intended for all sorts of children, so you don’t need to feel as though they are inappropriate for a particularly brainy or a particularly physically active child.

Likewise, these sets can be fun for highly creative children, too. One of the major appeals of Playmobils is that there’s something for everyone.

You may find that Playmobil kits are not very entertaining for children who are on the older end of the suggested age spectrum or beyond it, however. Unlike similar toys like Legos, these sets do not have much fun potential for children beyond the age range.

While Playmobils are great, their versatility also means that they can’t cater to any one niche with high efficiency, and this becomes more pronounced as children age out of the suggested range.

So, just keep in mind that you may need to start purchasing new types of toys if your child has been using their Playmobil kits for a few years.

Are Playmobils good for imaginative play?

Yes, these sets are good for imaginative play because they force your child to create hypothetical situations to enjoy their toys. This means that they will need to exercise their imagination whenever they play.

One interesting feature of most Playmobils is that their intended play setting provides a lot of cues to the child about what they should be imagining when they play. For instance, a pirate ship has a very clear style of play associated with it.

This is a double-edged sword, however. Children who don’t excel at imaginative play will find that the Playmobil kits provide them with some much-needed context, which means they won’t need to struggle to imagine their playscape as much as they might otherwise.

On the other hand, there’s an argument that these sets spoon-feed the play situations to your child so much that they might not get the stress they need to grow their imaginative capabilities.

While it’s doubtful that your child’s imagination will be stunted as a result, it also means that more imaginative children will be more bang for your buck out of their Playmobil toys.

Are Playmobil sets good for creative play?

These sets are not particularly good at creative play because they do not offer many opportunities for recombining known parts into new forms.

Unlike with Lego sets, Playmobil sets can’t snap together. They also don’t need to be constructed in highly specific ways according to a set of instructions. This means that there aren’t too many ways for Playmobil kits to help your child develop their constructive thinking skills.

However, certain types of creativity can be indulged using Playmobils. If your child enjoys painting or drawing, Playmobil sets are inexpensive sources of figures to sketch or to paint such that they look different.

While these uses are not necessarily what the manufacturer intended, they do still provide a way to get some creative play potential from a Playmobil set.

Are Playmobil sets good for education?

Playmobils aren’t exceptional when it comes to teaching your child valuable lessons about the world. But, they may be good learning tools if you’re willing to invest a lot of effort into teaching your child about the situations of their playscapes.

The problem with Playmobil toys is that they aren’t intended to be educational aides. Furthermore, they typically describe either entirely pedestrian situations or totally fantastical situations. This means that there isn’t much ground for the familiar to be explained.

If you want to use Playmobil toys as educational toys for your child, you’ll need to discuss the context of the toy’s topic.

If you give your child an ambulance toy, you’ll need to talk to them about emergencies, the work of paramedics, and the way that people get in touch with them when they need help.

Likewise, if you want to teach your child about something deeper, you’ll need to find a way to relate it to the relatively simple physical pieces of the playset first, which may be difficult.

Wrapping Up

That wraps up our roundup of the top 10 best Playmobil sets. We hope that you’ve enjoyed reading about which sets are worth your money and which will leave your child wishing for more.

Remember to try to find Playmobil sets that your child can combine with others while you’re shopping around, and don’t be afraid to get engaged with your child’s play session to teach them a valuable lesson or two about the context of their playscape.