Playmobil sets: storage?

[NicaG]

If your kids like Playmobil....how do you store the sets? I am getting frustrated because all the sets have a million tiny pieces that get lost (or just left on the floor for baby sister to find). I try to keep them in a tackle-type box, but then the larger pieces are in a different box. Maybe I should try separate ziploc bags? But some of the pieces are interchangeable between sets. Argh! Maybe I'm overthinking this. What do you do?

[greenmom17]

lol, I just came her to ask the same thing! too funny...seriously, there are a million pieces to each set. Santa is bringing more too, and we currently keep them in a small - medium size clear bin. I'm lucky if I can get the kids to toss the toys into one tub, I know they wouldn't separate the sets...

I hope you get some good ideas, I'll be watching too!

[luv-my-boys]

Thats one of my pet peeves with playmobil, even though we love them they have like a million tiny pieces. My vacuum has taken care of a lot of them but I know put all those teeny tiney pieces all in one tub that I have put away for "later", not sure when "later" will be but its not right now I put all the other bigger playmobil sets together in bins because the boys love to mix them anyway I saw no need to seperate them by theme. They currently love playing with the pirate set and the newer egyptian ones together.

[greenmom17]

This would be great for storing playmobil, and it's so good-looking -

http://www.modernnursery.com/itemsDe...item_num/OE-TS

the price is ridiculous though. I bet DH could build something similar for a tenth of the cost!

[Plaid Leopard]

My DH grew up with Playmobil and has passed his sets on to the kids. Plus we lived in Germany for a while where Playmobil is very affordable so we have playmobil out the wazoo.

For a while I kept trying to organize them in tackle type boxes, but Dh told me to give up. No sooner would I sort all the helmets/weapons/animals/dishes than the kids would dump everything on the floor in their quest for one little spear or something. So... everything is dumped in bins altogether.

[mommajb]

Not only is it dumped into (several) bins together but I have been known to confiscate the truly litle pieces and stick them in a shoebox until I am not sure when. Sorting playmobil is no easier than sorting legos.

[4Marmalade]

Each of the older dc's have a storage unit in their bedrooms and one bin per storage unit is dedicated to Playmobil. Big and small pieces. Large things like ds1's airport and plane are in a corner of his room. My dh did build a wooden box with all sorts of different size compartments for Lego.

[beanma]

I have heard of putting a sheet or something similar on the floor for playmobil/legos/similar to played with on. Makes clean up easy because you don't lose any of the itty bitty pieces. I've not tried this myself, but maybe that's a reason we don't have much playmobil. It drives me crazy how my kids don't put it back where it goes!

[skueppers]

We just keep all of it together in a big plastic bin. Things that are too big to go into the bin sit on the floor or on a shelf.

This is the same method I used as a kid, too. I see no reason to sort the Playmobil into separate sets -- I always used to play with it all together anyway.

[Daffodil]

We store it in a couple of plastic bins - all pieces mixed randomly together. My kids don't seem very interested in putting the larger pieces together to make the castle wall, or the glacier with a dinosaur inside and rocks around it, or whatever the set was originally intended to look like. Mostly they just like to make up their own games with the people and animals, and a few accessories like a canoe or a space glider thingy, and they combine things from all different sets when they play. They do like a lot of the little bitty pieces, particularly the weapons, but others (like the flowers) are mostly ignored.

[AnnieA]

Our Playmobil is roughly divided between the boys' room and the girls' room. They are in large clear plastic bins that have lids but the lids only go on if we are taking the Playmobil somewhere. The division is roughly this:

Boys' Room bin: Pirates, Barbarians and Police. Egyptians will be joining them as of tomorrrow.

Girls' Room bin: Playhouse furniture, animal sets, vacation RV, car, dinosaur ice expedition and playhouse. A trash truck and a vet vehicle will be joining them tomorrow.

The general rule seems to be that if it was given to you, then it goes in the bin in your room. But the boys will bring their bin into the girls room and play or the girls will bring their bin into the boys room and play. When we take a container with us to my mom's house or on vacation, we usually just choose one bin.

Sometimes, the kids will separate stuff out on their own but then it all gets tossed back together eventually.

[inkslinger]

I have a large bin that we throw all Playmobil things in when we're done playing with them.

[Hedgehog Mtn]

Large bin here too.

We'll be upgrading to a larger one soon though!!

They dump the whole thing and mix and match when they play anyways.

[AndrewsMother]

All of DS toys, Playmobil included, go into these. Except for large items which are shelved or go into a communal bin.

[freestyler]

What IS playmobil?

[newbymom05]

I also use Sterlite containers. Mine are lidded w/ a handle, and the lids are tricky enough that my 4 y/o can open them but my 2 y/o can't. I like the handles b/c they move them from room to room. People/animals go in one bin, accessories in the other. I wouldn't dream of trying to separate the accessories any further.

Does anyone else have a problem your kids removing and losing hair? I swear, I should be picking up scalps all day long, since 90% of our men have no tops to their heads. I have no idea where they get to. If I ever saw a box for sale w/ just scalps, I'd buy it out. (Vent over )

[bugginsmom]

Originally Posted by newbymom05

Does anyone else have a problem your kids removing and losing hair? I swear, I should be picking up scalps all day long, since 90% of our men have no tops to their heads. I have no idea where they get to. If I ever saw a box for sale w/ just scalps, I'd buy it out. (Vent over )

This made me crack up, becuase yesterday we spent 20 minutes looking for one of ds's Playmobile dolls hair. What is up with hair falling off???? I hear ya on this one!

[Red Pajama]

As a kid, I kept my playmobil farm set in its original box. I could tell what I was missing because each piece had a place to go. The boxes aren't like that anymore, and my kids aren't likely to put that much effort into clean up. I wonder how my mother did it.

[pjs]

We keep playmobil in large bins in the basement except for the 1 set per child that is allowed up at any time (so our small living space doesn't get taken over by toys) All of the teeny tiny pieces (most of them anyway) are kept in ziploc bags in a shoebox by theme- so fire/police/rescue cones, walkie talkies, helmets, etc are together, recreational stuff is together (toys, soccer balls, etc). If my kids are playing and need a police baton or a cell phone I'll take the shoebox down and exchange a small piece for a small piece (so they have to give me a traffic cone before I'll give them a sword) so we don't lose too many to the vacuum cleaner. Getting the small pieces this way makes the toy seem like new again and it makes me feel like I'm not completely throwing my money away when I buy these sets as they are for the most part intact.

Now yesterday was the dd receivced her first playmobil- those flowers were a b&^%$ and I don't foresee those lasting too long.

[eepster]

With few exceptions, everything goes into a big bin from Ikea (lid is separate.) Today I pulled out a pirate wearing a construction hat, to help the construction guy on the lot (they were busy building a an extention on the back of the castle.) Really it's all intercangable, the bunny family can ride ponies, the construction workers can swing swords, etc why keep it all separated. Our exceptions are: the castle itself and the bunnie's house, which are too big to fit; and the nativity scene which will be put away in its original box to come back out next christmas.

Originally Posted by newbymom05

Does anyone else have a problem your kids removing and losing hair? I swear, I should be picking up scalps all day long, since 90% of our men have no tops to their heads. I have no idea where they get to. If I ever saw a box for sale w/ just scalps, I'd buy it out. (Vent over )

I was just talking to DH about this earlier. It wouldn't bug me so much if they were simply bald and could still wear hats/helmets, but the empty heads with part of the skull missing seem creepy.