What age for Little People?

[Anonymous]

At what age did your child outgrow playing with Little People? They weren't a toy we ever got for DD who is now 3. We were at a friend's house this weekend and she loved them, playing with them off and on the whole weekend.

Is she in the age range, and maybe these would make a good Christmas present, or is your preschooler aging out of them and it was probably just the novelty factor? She loves playing pretend with more life-sized toys like her baby dolls and toy kitchen, if that matters.

TIA

[Anonymous]

I remember playing with them as a kid well past 3 (I had the castle and the schoolhouse so they were pretty well suited to elaborate pretend play). My kid has the airplane now (got it around 18 months) and I can easily see her getting bored of that quickly because there's only so much you can do with it.

[Anonymous]

I would invest in play mobile people and sets instead. They can bend their arms and legs. There is a younger version of play mobile called 1, 2, 3 or something like that. Or the Lego duplo people and sets.

[Anonymous]

I agree with PP. I played with LP way past 3, (we had the Sesame Street and the airport and some treehouse thing) but that was 30 years ago and the sets were different then. And I had younger siblings, too. That also probably played a role.

But with today's "modern" LP, Fisher Price seems to have babified them. All the rounded corners, music playing, chunky figures makes the toys more suitable for toddlers than preschoolers. My own children are preschoolers, and we have a few sets they've had since they turned 1. Sometimes - rarely - they get them out and they're played with for about a day, and then they go back in the closet to be forgotten for another few months.

I'd go with a dollhouse instead. It doesn't have to be a pink and girly dollhouse, but I think her days of LP are probably too limited to buy some now. ...Unless you have younger children. Then go ahead!

[Anonymous]

I agree with the PP about getting Playmobile or a doll house. My DD is 5 and still plays with both of these regularly. We have a huge stash of LP but they are mostly played with by my 2 year old.

[Anonymous]

I played with LP until I was like 7 or 8, at least. Loved them so much. But I played with the old version, which is SO much better. You can still get them on eBay, vintage.

[Anonymous]

We have the LP Princess Castle and the LP Noah's Ark set and my girls (1 and 3) love to play with both. My girlfriend's daughter, who turned 3 in January, said that she didn't want LP for her birthday because they were too babyish, but that's her favorite thing to play with at my house. I can see my older DD playing with the castle for at least another year or 2.

[Anonymous]

From my experience, you are at the end of Little People.

[Anonymous]

I second Playmobil 1-2-3. My older elementary kids still play Playmobil, with the 1-2-3 people mixed in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I played with LP until I was like 7 or 8, at least. Loved them so much. But I played with the old version, which is SO much better. You can still get them on eBay, vintage.

etsy has them also

[Anonymous]

Our LP collection includes a mix of both vintage and new sets. Vintage sets include a house, school, farm, two towns, boat and camper/jeep. New sets included castle, amusement park, farm, house and zoo. I sold all but two of the new sets because my three year old daughter rarely played with them (house, farm and zoo). She does play with the castle frequently and the amusement park from time to time. The older sets are another story. She has always played with the older sets more so than the newer ones, and favors the house, towns and camper. I have noticed that she is playing with them less and less as she has recently taken an interest in Barbies...sigh.

[Anonymous]

Mine got LPs around age 1 and used them a lot probably until around 4 yrs. For DD, she mainly liked the animal figures and as she got older her enthusiasm switched to Littlest Pet Shop. DS never played with them as much - his interests moved more quickly to trains and matchbox cars.

[Anonymous]

We just got our 3 year old the Little People farm. He's loving it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:From my experience, you are at the end of Little People.

+1. My son stopped playing with them at age 3.