ISO Castle toy for 3 year old boy

[jamsmu]

DS loves castles, knights and dragons and really wants one for his b-day. But all we can find are girly, princessy ones and others made for kids much older. I don't mind 4 and up, but 7 and up worries me a bit. Any suggestions??

[kelly ann]

Creative Brains Online has a great selection of some castles that are more "hard-core" :), but still approriate for a 3 year old.

http://creativebrainsonline.com/casthemtoy.html

[elliput]

Schleich (check out at the creative brains link by PP). I have seen the castle and figures IRL and love them! I can't wait for DD to get a little older. ;-) Okay, I'll fess up, DH and I will probably play with them more than DD will.

If you are interested in something that does double duty as a play castle and toybox/storage- the Haba Battlement Peak is super cool! http://tinyurl.com/jjpuo I have one in my living room right now, :-) and have been dying to tell somebody about it.

ETA - Really Great Toys.com is currently running their Xmas in July sale. Everything is on sale thru July 31 at 10-60% off. They carry Ryan's Room, Schleich, Papo, Playmobil, Melissa & Doug, and Schylling (just to name a few :-) ). http://www.reallygreattoys.com/BrandList.aspx?view=all And free shipping over $100. This is my local independent toy store so I have to give it a bit of a plug - especially since I just got a great deal on a Kettler today. ;-)

[Tondi G]

My 5 year old loves playing with our neighbors one year old sons castle like this one!

http://www.fisher-price.com/us/littlepeople/products/default.asp?section=lpplaysets&id=28599

this one looks COOL

http://www.toyscamp.com/viewproduct.asp?ProductID=ipig02176&src=YStore

or

http://creativebrainsonline.com/casthemtoy.html

then of course there is always this one... expensive but something to collect and expand on... it says for children 4 and up! Knights Empire Castle

http://store.playmobilusa.com/is-bin/INTERSHOP.enfinity/eCS/Store/en/-/USD/PM_DisplayProductInformation-Start;sid=pSgR5Why4w0R7CyzZy0dw6ZA4peY7VMiMwE=?Pro ductSKU=3268&CategoryName=Ritter_us&PLS=0

My DS just turned 5 and he loves his playmobile pirate ship he just got for his birthday! He also got a ghost pyrate ship made by Megabloks that is supposed to be for 7 or 8 and up and he does just fine with it! I would vote for the Playmobile... I would have gotten it for my son when he was 3 or 4!

HTH's you!

~Tondi
Mommy to Mason 7/8/01 and Aidan 5/4/05

[muskiesusan]

I just bought this one for my boys. I am holding it till Christmas, so I can't comment too much on it, but I took it out of the box and was pretty impressed. Plus, for the price, I couldn't pass it up!

http://www.landofnod.com/family.aspx?c=9041&f=2844&pc=3246

ETA: We have a Papo dragon that I will use with this set and I know that Papo makes some neat castles as well. Here's a link to give you an idea of the styles.

http://www.legacystation.com/PapoCastles.htm




Susan
Mom to Nick 10/01
& Alex 04/04

[new_mommy25]

Check out Ryans Room, Papo, Scleich, Melissa&Doug, and Kidkraft. All make castles that are okay for a 3yo (IMO). Pplaymobil also makes VERY cool castles but they have smaller parts than the others. I have been on a big castle search myself and I really like the Papo castles because I like how they are painted.

The Ryans Room castle is on sale for an excellent price. I have seen and played with the Ryans Room castle and I like it a lot.
http://www.fao.com/catalog/product.jsp?productId=383
http://www.fao.com/catalog/product.jsp?productId=4049&categoryId=397&parentCategoryId=104

[punrocker]

Kinderkram and Ostheimer make cool wooden castle sets, figures, and accessories, but they are pretty pricey! I think I read (on other websites) that they're suitable for 3+ years, but you may want to double check.

Kinderkram (scroll down a bit)
http://www.threesisterstoys.com/browse.asp?id=20

Ostheimer
http://thewoodenwagon.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Category_Code=304

[kboyle]

my vote goes to the playmobil's rock castle http://store.playmobilusa.com/is-bin/INTERSHOP.enfinity/eCS/Store/en/-/USD/PM_DisplayProductInformation-Start;sid=3tjyMY8y55vyFcv3hbT-F0EAmWd7ObRiSPE=?ProductSKU=3269&CategoryName=Ritter_us&PLS=0#
http://store.playmobilusa.com/intershoproot/eCS/Store/en/imagesOnline/products/3269.jpg
charlie got it for xmas (he was 2.5y) and LOVES it, it probably still gets played with 3-4 times a week, and it's not in his main play area...it's pretty big, so i keep it on top of the train table and rotate between having the tracks up or the castle. it's obviously got tiny accessories (anything playmobil has super tiny stuff) but i took all that stuff out before charlie can even investigate and convince me that he NEEDS it. actually i keep all the tiny xtras in a box in charlie's room that he'll play with and he knows that it 1)doesn't go in the mouth & 2) that it HAS to stay in his room so max can't get to it.

if you do go with a playmobil castle (the knight's empire castle is AWESOME, but HUGE, HUGE doesn't even describe the massive size of this thing :) )

charlie's been getting playmobil stuff since he's been almost 2 and he's never had a problem with choking or putting stuff in his mouth, but i do take out all the little stuff anyway. plus the "guys" are cute :)

[jamsmu]

Thanks for all of the great suggestions. I put a few of them on DS' b-day list... hoping someone will get the hint and get one for him! (And if not... I know what we'll get him for the holidays!)