The lazy days of summer are almost over, and it’s that time again to get new books, clothes, and supplies. Kids will begin to get excited for school time, and in the meantime, the Take Along School House, from Playmobil, will keep them busy and engaged until the new year starts.
Made for kids ages 4 and up, the play set’s convenient case folds up for on-the-go fun. Its size and shape offers kids a choice for indoor or outdoor play. Wherever kids want to play, all they have to do is snap open the two sides of the box to reveal 68 miniature pieces, including a chalkboard, school tables, students, teachers, desks, writing utensils, bikes, benches, racks, satchels, and lots more to start building.
Unboxing all of the pieces is half the fun! Kids will find tiny pencils, itty bitty lampshades, and super small satchels identical to the environment they will return to in classrooms this fall. The textures of each toy, such as the feel of the classroom floor and the surface of the roof offer a tactile element to the play set. Pro tip: Make sure kids unbox their pieces with care so there’s no chance in losing any! I recommend using a spacious corner of a room or a big empty desk for plenty of room to build.
This set here, however, demands patience to put together. Just like a school project, it will occupy kids for an entire afternoon, as they apply their minds to construct an entire classroom from scratch. A leaflet with easy diagrams to follow is included in the set help guide kids.
The pieces are extremely small with equally small hinges and parts to put together. So, this construction kit will challenge kids to observe the pieces carefully, and think about how things they see in school are really built. Parents can also play a vocabulary game while kids play by asking them what different parts of a building or a bicycle they are busy building called, for example.
Kids can look for the right pieces in the jigsaw by matching shapes to the diagram, and identify them based on their function. I would also suggest unmaking the entire structure, once kids are done building it and starting over. This time around, however, encourage kids to build without looking at the cheat sheet.
While building the blackboard, benches, bookshelf, and other items, kids will also learn how not to force fit things. If parts of the play set don’t slide easily into another, they are perhaps meant to belong to another object. This encourages problem solving skills for kids to move on to the next object to build.
Amongst the many things that I love about this Playmobil classroom, what I loved the most was its diversity. The figures, including the teacher and students are all different skin shades. They have straight or curly hair with black and blonde colors. It’s in these toys that kids will learn to find a familiar, diverse bunch of friends in the real world. Kids can rotate the figures’ hands in circles, slide pencils and other small accessories into their fist, and can also sit or stand for pretend-play as kids see fit.
The Take Along School House will keep kids busy for hours, making them that much more eager for the school year to start!
