First set for an older child? What do we need to get started?
Hi all from Australia,
I'm wondering what people would recommend to start a collection for an older child? I've been looking for a new toy system to collect, and I came across Playmobil. I vaguely recall my brother and I having some in the late 90s/early 2000s, but I never saw them or remembered them in time for my son to have them when he was a toddler, they don't seem to be as popular in Australia as they are in the US and the UK.
I think my seven-year-old boy would really enjoy playing with Playmobil, but I want to make sure I get enough to give him a good starting point. I personally love toys and collect Sylvanian Families, and he's always shown an interest in those. He is autistic and can struggle with very open-ended imaginative play, so I think having the themes would be helpful for him, rather than having to invent a whole new universe completely by himself every time. We have tried Lego sets, but he is quite overwhelmed by having to follow definitive instructions that you can't veer from, and while he likes the idea of Lego City and all the cars and stuff, having to build it first AND keep it together while playing, and resist the urge to pull it all apart is just too much at this stage. At the same time, he's often really imaginatively building things from the box of random mixed Lego that we have, so I feel like Playmobil would be a good in between.
We haven't got a huge amount of floor space, but I want to give him at least a large coffee table to spread out on, that he wouldn't have to pack away every time.
Can anyone recommend some sets for tabletop style scenes, and anything that we really need to have in order to make it actually enjoyable from the start? Ideally without spending a crazy amount right away. He's 8 in November so I want to drip feed a couple of sets in over the next few months and gauge his interest level before I go all in.
Thanks everyone!!