Animals, Animals!

When I was a kid growing up in Europe, we had Smurfs.

No, not an exotic communicable disease--Smurfs were little blue people who lived in mushrooms. They were collectible toy figurines, and we were playing with them long before they were on TV in America. The figurines were made by a German company called Schleich.

Several months ago we were at a local retail superstore chain and happened upon a display of beautiful toy animal figurines made by...you guessed it...Schleich. Since I'm a big fan of all German toys, particularly Legos and Playmobil, I was anxious to buy a couple for my then two-year-old boy. Since then, our collection has grown to several dozen animals. They're a little on the pricey side (about $3-5 each), but we buy them one at a time for special occasions or gifts from grandparents. I only wish they were available at more retail locations. We've only been able to find them at small specialty toy shops like Learning Express (and the aforementioned retail giant).

For whatever reason, our three-and-a-half-year-old loves them. He plays make-believe animals every single day, and takes them into the bathtub, the sandbox, and wherever else we'll let him. They are hand-painted and very realistic, and obviously quite durable. Best of all, they don't light up, make noise, or require any batteries whatsoever. NPR recently ran a story called Old-Fashioned Play Build Serious Skills that clearly shows how play is crucial to a child's development, and there is simply nothing better than toys that stimulate the imagination.

Take a look at a few of the choices at our Amazon store.

Comments

[Julie Lundquist]

hey we found these animals at a store the other day except...they had a little button on the belly that you press to make the animal sound...I thought well, they don't like toys that make noise...hmm...I won't get one.
Although they did have a zebra, which if you recall, my niece had that very important question for me..."What sound does a zebra make?" I know now the answer to that question because of her and I'm not sure the toy makers got the sound right...hehe