November 5th, 2007 by Stinkhead
Back in 2000, playmobil launched a series of toys geared for infants. This series, playmobil first smile was designed to cultivate brand loyalty at an early age, but parents weren’t going for it at the time, and they stopped producing the line a year later. Flash forward 7 years, and the Made in China label is scaring parents. Check out these playmobil first smile toys I’ve been snatching off of eBay. And maybe you can find some too.
In these recall-heavy times, who can you turn to? The Germans and the toys they build in their own factory. You may be familiar with the Playmobil 1-2-3 line intended for one, two, and three year olds. A lot of the sets look like their grown-up cousins, but they’re chunkier and they have less pieces. Those sets are nice and well, but they’re still too complex for the under-one-year old set. The playmobil First Smile offering features clear plastic balls, a stacker, a chain, and some rattles. In fact, the stacker and the clear plastic ball both rattle.
Every playmobil set is manufactured in their own plant in Germany. (Read playmobil’s own words)
So you don’t have to worry about hazardous levels of lead paint. In addition, playmobil largely doesn’t use paint applications, most of the toys consist of solid color plastic. (if you look closely at the playmobil face, the brown eyes and smile are not paint, but actually brown plastic poured into the pink colored head.
The playmobil micro playsets, containing magnets are the only playmobil sets manufactured in China. These sets contain the smallest playmobil pieces ever and are not recommended for children
So back on track. When I first saw this series at Toy Fair, I brushed it off. As a big time playmobil collector, these didn’t interest me. But now, as a parent, I need to find infant toys for my son. I now want to expose him to the playmobil family as soon as I can, however these have been long gone from stores. Introduced in 2000 (in Germany, 2001 in US) they were only around for a year, so you probably won’t find them on clearance shelves. Your best bet right now is eBay or consignment shops.
The best thing about playmobil is that it lasts forever, so it’s easy to find used sets in fairly good condition. You may have lost pieces, but the toys stand up to quite a bit of punishment.
So far I’ve found these sets mint in box, so I know my little guy is the first one to chew on them. (Actually he doesn’t have teeth yet, so he’s not chewing on anything yet)
The first one I got, the rattle ball, is fairly easy to find on eBay. This clear plastic ball features a set little playmobil man (there is a girl version, but I’ve never seen that one on eBay) it also has some tiny balls that act as a rattle as the toy is moved. It’s too large to be put in anyone’s mouth, much less an infant’s, and the plastic is unbreakable (I guess you could run over it and smash it, but your average child should not be able to crack it) This one rolls around the floor, and is easy to be held by tiny hands.
Then I found the stacker. This one (with the pointy hat) was the “poster child” of the First Smile line, so I was familiar with this toy existing, but I never saw it for sale. It’s just around 8 inches tall, and it can be re-arranged in multiple configurations. The oversized playmobil head is nice, and it too contains a rattle. This is all solid plastic, there is no paint at all. If I could choose between this and a traditional Fisher Price donut stacker, I’d much rather have this playmobil themed toy.
A little ebay tip, when I found this one, it was not listed as “playmobil first smile” it was listed as “playmobil stacker.” I believe I found it because the word “baby” was in the description. But otherwise, searching for just “playmobil first smile” would not have brought this auction up.
So, if you’re a parent of an infant, keep an eye out for these First Smile toys. I have a tip that I may have my hands on some additional sets in the near future. I’ll keep you posted.
Here are some cool links:
The image gallery of these First Smile Toys
My collected Playmobil coverage (and video podcasts) from MPb
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Posted in baby, playmobil, review, toys | Comments Off on playmobil for babies
