Playmobil for new 3 y.o.? Or wait?

[Canna]

DD will be three in January and we are starting to think of holiday and b-day gifts for her.

She has a small Playmobil set (a gift from my mom) with a couple of horses, baby horse, and rider, and she seems to really like them. However, she does have trouble keeping the pieces together (I put the tiniest ones, like the horse brush, away for later). Also I get frustrated that she does things like keeps taking the sunflowers off their stems!

I'm debating whether to recommend Playmobil as a gift idea to the grandparents...or not. I also bought the Travel Dollhouse at Tuesday Morning (they were 25% off, so just $15) but I'm wondering if I should wait until she's older to give it to her.

We also have a lot of Little People sets that she enjoys playing with, so she has toys of this type that don't involve gazillion tiny pieces. Any thoughts?

[Raidra]

We started buying Playmobil 123 stuff for Colwyn when he was almost 2. That stuff still gets used daily. There aren't any small pieces and everything is very sturdy.

He got regular Playmobil stuff around his third birthday. We still have trouble with misplacing small parts even though he's almost four. If I were you, I'd avoid the buildings (way too many small pieces, and the buildings come apart a little too easily). I'd stick with the smaller sets that are just people, vehicles, horses, that sort of thing. The firehouse and vacation home that we have are a constant headache for me.

If you can find what you want in the Playmobil 123 line, I'd stick with that and save a little bit of cash until you're sure that she can handle the older stuff.

[Alys the Cat]

I agree. DS is fascinated with Playmobil, but the pieces are still kinda small/complex for him. We don't have any 123 stuff, but it seems like it would be better suited for kids under four.