Counting Down to Christmas with a Playmobil Advent Calendar

The countdown to Christmas is always made so much more exciting with an advent calendar. Opening the windows everyday, adds to the build up and excitement of the season. One of our favourite advent calendar choices from the last few years is a PLAYMOBIL Advent Calendar. Each window reveals a PLAYMOBIL figure or accessory, which when displayed together, create an attractive festive scene that looks great and can be played with. The best thing is that the toys can also be played with long after advent is over and for years to come, making this a great value advent calendar idea.

As part of the 2015 PLAYMOBIL Playologist team, Freddy has been sent a Christmas Room Advent Calendar featuring a rather elegant PLAYMOBIL family preparing for Christmas, enjoying the festivities, eating luxury food and trimming the tree in their rather fancy living room. It's suitable for both boys and girls, encouraging role play and inspiring imagination, providing a familiar setting for children to explore.

The advent calendar includes a 3D cardboard room backdrop, on which to display the pieces, adding one piece each day. It is easy to put together with slots and tabs. There is also a booklet included, which gives full instructions on the pieces and on any assembly that may be needed.

The PLAYMOBIL family of mum, dad, and two children, along with their family pets, look very happy opening their presents from around the light up Christmas tree in their decorated room.  (The light up tree requires two AAA batteries, which are not included.)

The advent calendar itself consists of a large sealed box with 24 cut out numbered windows of various sizes. There is a push out section on the back that allows it to be wall mounted if required. The windows are relatively easy to open to reveal that day's surprise, although a little adult help may be needed for little hands to open them neatly. Some pieces in the advent calendar require assembly,which can prove a bit fiddly for children and may require a grown-up's help. The collection grows throughout December, until the full scene is completed on Christmas Eve. The excellent quality of the product is exactly what you would expect from the PLAYMOBIL brand.

Find this advent calendar and the full range of toys on the  PLAYMOBIL website. You will find so many great Christmas gift ideas for the little people in your life!

                         


The PLAYMOBIL Christmas Room Advent Calendar is £19.99 and recommended for children aged 4+ .

Counting Down to Christmas with Playmobil

Halloween and Bonfire Night are over.  This signals the start of my countdown to Christmas, where I begin making plans for the festive season, ensuring I have ideas in place to give my family a wonderful time!  One of the decisions to be made is what advent calendar to give my children.  This year, Freddy is really lucky to have been sent a Playmobil Advent Calendar in a Santa's Workshop design.

It has a really festive theme and includes excitingly Christmassy bits including Santa, a reindeer, a sleigh, elves, a fairy and toys, hidden behind each of the 24 windows.  The pieces are all top quality Playmobil figures and accessories that can be played with year after year.

The advent calendar comes fully assembled, ready to be started on December 1st.  Each window is nice and big, and easy for little hands to open.  Children love spotting the right number on the window each day, and the numbers are very clearly displayed.

The set comes with a cardboard play scene to be used as a base for all the pieces.  Each day, children discover a surprise Playmobil piece that helps build up the scene.  At the end of the 24 days, children will have a lovely Santa's workshop display that will make a wonderful festive decoration that can be played with and enjoyed.

The Playmobil Santa's Workshop looks so lovely.  We are so looking forward to start it and create our own Santa's Workshop display and countdown the days to Christmas with Playmobil.

The Playmobil Advent Calendars retail at £18.99 and can be found on the Playmobil website.  As well as the Santa's Workshop there is a pony farm, a police set, a unicorn fairyland and a dragon's treasure battle advent calendar theme to choose from.  There is also some wonderful Christmas themed playsets, perfect for stocking fillers or gifts.

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Also this year, to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Playmobil, they have introduced the fabulous PLAYMOhair beanie hats.  Available in blonde, strawberry blonde, black and grey, they are crafted from Italian yarn by UK knitwear specialist Electronic Sheep.  These limited edition pieces capture the iconic Playmobil hairstyle perfectly and make the perfect Christmas gift!

Only 40 of each colour have been made and they will go on sale soon.  Keep an eye on the website to find out when the PLAYMOHair hats go on sale and snap up a piece of Playmobil history.

Fireman Sam Advent Puzzle from Jumbo

If you want to avoid the chocolate filled advent calendars this year, take a look at the Advent Puzzle from Jumbo.  Featuring Fireman Sam or Peppa Pig, each of the 24 puzzle pieces has a window that children can open to countdown the days until Christmas Day.

The puzzle pieces are made of high quality card and are thick and sturdy, perfect  for little hands.  The finished puzzle is 50cm x 20cm and features Fireman Sam in his engine Jupiter, alongside some of his Pontypandy friends in a festive snowy setting.

Children can make up the puzzle at the start of advent and keep it in a safe place, returning each day to open the window.  I think it would even work by adding one puzzle piece a day sequentially and watching the puzzle grow day by day.

Each advent window can be opened by removing a small semi-circular piece of puzzle from the edge of the window and then lifting the piece out.  Revealed underneath is a different Fireman Sam Christmas Adventure  illustration everyday.

The puzzle can be used year after year if you keep all the window pieces safe in the box once removed!

The Advent Puzzles, in both Fireman Sam and Peppa Pig designs are suitable for ages 3 and up and are £7.99 RRP.  You can find them on Amazon.

Hotel Chocolat Advent Calendar

Every year I buy advent calendars for my children.  I spend the following 24 days coveting the chocolate morsels that they pop out from behind their cardboard windows every morning.  Well, this year I'm going to be joining in with the advent calendar ritual as I have been sent a luxurious and very grown-up advent calendar from Hotel Chocolat...and it's all mine! 

The beautifully presented, freestanding advent calendar contains 24 gorgeous 40% milk chocolate sculptures behind each numbered window. 

With Santas, snowmen, angels and Christmas trees to discover, the festive fun and anticipation for the big day will just keep growing.  Hotel Chocolat's 40% milk chocolate is mellow, melt-in-the-mouth, comforting and delicious. 

The Hotel Chocolat Milk Chocolate Advent Calendar is £12.00 available in store or online.  Roll on December 1st when the countdown can begin!

Lilliputiens...A World Full of Little Wonders

Lilliputiens toys are some of the most beautiful and engaging that I have ever come across.  Stocked by John Crane, they are stimulating, heart warming,  attractive, completely safe and filled with wonder.  Young children are given a fun and high quality way to learn with the thoughtful designs and hidden surprises challenging their naturally inquisitive natures.  Friendly characters each have their own stories making them part of  magical universe that children can lose themselves in.  If you haven't discovered this world full of little wonders,  take a look at the John Crane Lilliputiens online catalogue and prepare to be delighted!

Lilliputiens don't just produce toys.  I have been sent two products from the Lilliputiens range that are for Children's Rooms.  They allow the world of wonder to enter into a child's everyday life, continuing to surround them with magic, stimulating their senses and making them feel safe and secure in their own environment.

One of the Lilliputiens mascots is Walter, a friendly, cute and cuddly dragon!  He is the subject of many of the toys and is really appealing and lovable.  Walter is also the inspiration for the two amazing products that I was sent by Blog-Match to review.

The Liliputiens Walter Wall Sticker Collection is a set of over 80 stickers on two big backing sheets that will bring a child's bedroom alive.  Each sticker can be stuck, unstuck and restuck without leaving any mess at all.  This makes them perfect for kids' bedrooms where you can create a lovely feature wall full of fun, friends and magic.  The stickers are printed on a clear plastic backing and seem very strong and don't peel up or crinkle.  

The whole set can be used to create a big picture, or you can use individual stickers to jazz up doors or furniture.  Some stickers are small but there is a huge individual Walter that is like a piece of artwork in its own right!  The design is fun and engaging with soft edges and a gentle colour scheme.  It's an easy and convenient way of making a plain painted wall look really special.

Just a few of the wall stickers on Fred's wall.

You could use the Walter theme to decorate a nursery as there are lots of other accessories, toys and even a Walter pouffe that could be teamed together beautifully.

The Walter Photo Album is a really unusual product that would make a lovely gift.  The soft velvet cover is made to resemble Walter with his ears, spines, wand and tail.  Each page contains a clear plastic pocket to slip in ten 6x4 photographs.  This is a lovely way to introduce baby to the faces of loved ones or create a picture book full of familiar faces for baby to look at and enjoy.  Older children could make a photo album using pictures from a holiday or a special occasion.  The photos can be removed and replaced as often as you like.  I really loved the space on the front cover to pop a favourite photograph of the child to personalise the album.

Each page is well stitched and the whole book does up with a velcro tab.  It is a lovely touchy, feely book with different textures to explore.  The album comes in a nice presentation bag making it a lovely gift.

Don't forget to check out www.thejohncraneblog.co.uk  for their Advent Calendar.  Every day in December, a new deal will be revealed.  Money off offers, buy one get one free deals, even great giveaways...there is something new everyday!  So pop across  to get lots of John Crane Toys at great, great prices!