Printable View
How long did your LO play with their "little people" sets?
We have some hand-me-downs with lots of pieces, seem to take up a lot of room in DD's bedroom but don't see a lot of action...just wondering if there will be a sudden resurgence of interest any time soon?
Depends on what kind of little people. The particularly prescriptive ones - where it's already clear that they are a pirate/firefighter/doctor/child/swimmer generally don't last very long as it's harder to work imagination into it.
The basic people that have a face and body are far more versatile, and generally lead to more elaborate play, so tend to get more action.
That's what I've observed over the last 10 years of working with kids.
We have a farm set with animals, veggies, etc, a castle with king & queen (actually this one, while appealing most ot mummy gets the least play out of all) and a school bus. Actually the bus is pretty cool cos it makes noises & says funny things - it gets played with quite a lot. A few of the matching people have been discarded (either chewed by dog or because donor child had them in her bath for a while - I couldn't get the mould out).
Snuggly, what age do you think the interest tapers off?
DD has the little peole house and the school bus. She loves them! The people go for rides on the bus to the shops and the movies, and last week they were all having a party in the kitchen of the house :lol: I don't think she will grow out of them for a while yet. She has a really good imagination and they are great for her to use when making up stories.
We have the Ark, the school bus and the dump truck. The ark is probably the favourite but all 3 get played with fairly regularly.
Our Little People stuff gets a thorough workout daily from DD1 and DS. We have tonnes of little peole stuff though. They also seem to use their little people people when they play with the duplo. My kids are really into life like play and enjoy that sort of thing. I think different kids like different kinds of play though so maybe your DD won't get into it.
Could you try hiding it away in a box until a day when she is really bored and bring it out as a special toy? Maybe she isn't into it because it is always there and hasn't really taken the time to look at it. If you introduce it as a new toy in a couple of months, she might get really into it. And if she doesn't, then it might be okay to give it away. Just a suggestion, but I really have no idea.
Hi Md
J and Z are starting to play with them again - and they're 8 and 6!!!!
We've pretty much got the whole village here.
DS loves his, and plays with them regularly- he is often heard asking "where my people?" it's too cute!!
My cousin's little girl is six and she LOVES the little people stuff. So maybe pack them away for a while and bring them out at intervals.....
we're still building our village! we have the farm, zoo, post box one and camping one (we inherited them all from a 9 year old...).
we found that the young schoolkids that come to visit also still play with (cause they seem to play differently and see new things to do with it). i reckon we'll be holding onto ours until DD is in school...takes up alot of space but we have bought a big funky plastic bin thing and we just chuck it all in there and she can take it out and put it back easily.
HTH!
DD was offered a massive collection from a friend who had grown out of them (around 6years old) - we were initially going to accept but just can't afford to buy them from the family at the moment so will hold off - maybe when we're more financial we'll see if they've sold them yet...
DD7 still loves them too.
DS has a train set and a small breakdown set. He plays with it for about 2 days then it goes away for another month or two. He's always excited to see it back, but on day 3-4 he starts getting destructive with it. His playing has changed - from just playing with the train, the people now talk to each other and move about and seem to have some sort of story going on. It is good for his imagination - but then again, he's the same with his brio set and his duplo people!
MD, DH and I were just talking about this the other night. The girls have tons of the stuff, the ark, castle, ferris wheel, zoo, plane and loads of little pieces and they haven't played with it in ages and I was wondering whether to give it away or not because DS2 isn't fussed by it but DH reckons he might be soon? So we are hanging on to it for now, but I said if by the end of the year he doesn't show interest it's going.
I think it might just be the kids too. Mine have no interest whatsoever and we have heaps...the ILs keep buying it.
The dolls house gets more of a workout here and they are similar play principles.