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JennGM Forum Moderator
Joined: Feb 07 2005 Location: Virginia
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Posted: Jan 05 2008 at 6:15pm | IP Logged
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We've had a Playmobil invasion started in September and increased fourfold at Christmas. We have pirates, knights, and Romans for everyday play, plus our Nativity and Advent Calendar that I'll put away soon.
The organizer in me likes to keep things separate, but my 4yo likes to mix and match. After all, St. Joseph would need armor to defend himself from King Herod, right? And baby Jesus might be in the Colliseum dungeon?
Anyway, I'd love to hear suggestions on how you store and organize your Playmobil. I like keeping the instructions and some of the pictures on the boxes but I haven't quite solved how to keep it compact, cheap, and intuitive for a 4 yo.
__________________ Jennifer G. Miller
Wife to & ds1 '03 & ds2 '07
Family in Feast and Feria
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JennGM Forum Moderator
Joined: Feb 07 2005 Location: Virginia
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Posted: Jan 05 2008 at 6:26pm | IP Logged
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Oh, I should have added we have the larger pieces, too. So there aren't just hundreds of little pieces...
__________________ Jennifer G. Miller
Wife to & ds1 '03 & ds2 '07
Family in Feast and Feria
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sewcrazy Forum All-Star
Joined: Aug 17 2006 Location: Illinois
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Posted: Jan 05 2008 at 7:13pm | IP Logged
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We have the instructions and box covers in clear pocket pages in a 3 ring binder. The little pieces are in a big tackle box- people in the bottom, accesories sorted out in the top tray. Big pieces go on a shelf in the playroom when not in use.
I refused the Collisem because it is just so so huge.
LeeAnn
__________________ LeeAnn
Wife of David, mom to Ben, Dennis, Alex, Laura, Philip and our little souls in heaven we have yet to meet
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Sarah Forum All-Star
Joined: Aug 17 2005 Location: N/A
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Posted: Jan 05 2008 at 7:45pm | IP Logged
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We are trying to deal with this too. I've kept the instructions in a drawer (I hope I have them all) and I keep it all together in a big rubbermaid. We have two themes- farm and knights ("war" as the kids call it). I'm just mixing it all up since I can't keep it straight. They dig for what they want.
I was pretty unprepared for this when we got all these pieces this winter.
Today I decided to make a rule: no playmobil out of the family room. I can see it will be all over the house and then when we sit down to play with it we won't have it. If I can just keep it confined to one room. . .
__________________ Six boys ages 16, 14, 11, 7, 5, 2 and one girl age 9
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MaryatHome Forum Rookie
Joined: April 03 2007
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Posted: Jan 05 2008 at 9:30pm | IP Logged
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You might try looking at some of the Lego storage containers to corral the small- to middle-sized pieces.
http://shop.lego.com/Product/?p=851917
oops--I just checked and the yellow carry box is sold out, but it is more obviously "lego" than the red storage tray in the link.
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Mackfam Board Moderator
Non Nobis
Joined: April 24 2006 Location: Alabama
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Posted: Jan 07 2008 at 7:26am | IP Logged
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Great thread - thanks for starting it Jenn. I was getting tired of looking at all of the ziploc baggies! I love the little clear tackle box idea - the kind you can pick up at Cabela's or Target. Don't know why I didn't think of that before!
__________________ Jen Mackintosh
Wife to Rob, mom to dd 19, ds 16, ds 11, dd 8, and dd 3
Wildflowers and Marbles
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AndreaG Forum Pro
Joined: March 25 2007
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Posted: Jan 07 2008 at 9:53am | IP Logged
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I just got through sorting all our zillions of playmobil- they were all dumped together in a rubbermaid bin, but it was just too much for the kids to dig through and then clean-up. I sorted them by type so knights, farm, pirates, police, Noah's ark/Nativity and airport all got their own bin, anything that didn't fit in these categories just got put in whatever seemed logical (like extra dogs and cats got put with the farm). For the larger sets that had many pieces I used the flat under the bed type boxes, which are easier to sift through without dumping. I will probably put the instructions in with the sets, for now they are all in a seperate box. I finally threw out the boxes the sets came in, which for some reason I had kept up in the closet.
I am also trying to keep the rules of one set out at a time (which is reasonable since each "set" is actually several combined, for example we have about 5 various castles sets in our "knights" bin), and playmobil must stay in the boys' bedroom. The kids have had the natural consequence of having the playmobils all mixed up and dumped all over so that their room is not enjoyable to play in and they can't find anything, that they are (so far) cooperative with the new system and were big helps with the sorting.
__________________ Andrea
GrayFamilyCircus
Read Through the Catechism in a Year- For Moms!
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LisaR Forum All-Star
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Posted: Jan 07 2008 at 1:06pm | IP Logged
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whew! still trying to tame the playmobil monster here similar to ideas already mentioned- but when I read "Playmobil Organization" I was fearing the worst, that the Organization/Company Playmobil was now no longer good, yikes, and whew!
__________________ Lisa
dh Tim '92
Joseph 17
Paul 14
Thomas 11
Dominic 8
Maria Gianna 5
Isaac Vincent 9/21/10! and...
many little saints in heaven!
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Heliodora Forum Rookie
Joined: Jan 07 2008
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Posted: Jan 08 2008 at 1:18am | IP Logged
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We started collecting Playmobil this last year, also. All the little pieces make me so nervous with the babies around, so I absolutely insist that they get cleaned up when they are not playing with them.
So far, we are just keeping different sets in ziplock bags, and then storing the ziplock bags in rubbermaid bins. This seems easy enough for the younger ones to clean up quickly.
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