Review: Playmobil Zoo Extension Sets (Orangutan, Zebra, Koala and Flamingo)

(AD REVIEW) What’s your favourite zoo? I think mine is Colchester Zoo in Essex. It has all of the animals we love so much from elephants to giraffes, monkeys, penguins, hippos and red pandas. We haven’t been for a while and I have missed watching the animals play as well as teaching my children about them. We have made up for not visiting the place we love though by playing with some of the new Playmobil Family Fun Zoo range. This is a great range of toys for animal lovers aged 4 and upwards and contains all our favourite zoo animals. The sets are available in different sizes (and prices) so you can just have your favourite animals or build it up to a huge zoo. 

A 5 year old girl lying on the floor playing with some detailed animal toys
A review of Playmobil Zoo range


Reviewing The Playmobil Family Fun Zoo Range

The zoo range from Playmobil includes a large zoo set, but also lots of extensions which are great on their own. The sets start at £6.99 RRP for small families of animals and goes up to £59.99 RRP for the Large City Zoo set with a range of options in the middle. 

We were sent 4 sets to review: Koalas with Baby and Flock of Flamingoes which are both in the £6.99 range, Zebras with Foal (£12.99) and Orangutans with Tree (£19.99). Together the sets build a great toy zoo for children with enough detail to entertain my 9 year old, but sturdy enough for my 5 years old. Some of the packs come with just the animals eg the zebras and flamingoes, while others come with more pieces to build a habitat to play with. 

I like that all the animals are roughly the right size in relation to each other in the different sets which often isn’t the case with animal toys.

All the sets are great quality and fun to play with, but I feel the value for money of the sets differ when you consider playability. The Orangutan set has lots included, but it isn’t much more expensive than the Zebra set which is just 3 pieces (2 adult zebras and one baby). I think this is probably the case with many of the larger animal sets (eg alligators, rhino, hippo, gorillas etc) . The smallest sets (£6.99 RRP) are great for topping up and providing more animals or just providing a more affordable “pocket money” toy. You can also get accessories like a zoo enclosure if you don’t want your animals to have too much freedom.

Once you have finished playing you can store the pieces back in the larger boxes (in this case the Zebras and Orangutans) which can be resealed. 

A 9 year old girl attaching a rake to a playmobil female zoo keeper figure
The sets work well together, but can be played with on their own too.

My daughters aged 9 and 5 sitting behind 4 unopened boxes of playmobil
The Playmobil zoo sets received to review


Orangutans with Tree 

(Family Fun Playmobil Set 70345)

The largest of the sets we were sent to review this time was the Orangutans with Tree set. This set is a whole play world in itself. There is lots to play with including: 4 orangutans (2 adults, 2 children), a tree that needs assembling, items for the orangutans to play with and eat, as well as a keeper to look after them with a rake and bucket.

There is flexibility in how the tree part is assembled and both my children could put it together fairly easily with the instructions, but children at the younger end of the recommended range might need a bit of help. The only thing I don’t like about this set is the bag of “straw” which looks like oats. There is lots of it and I know in our house it will quickly get lost and end up in the vacuum cleaner. It does give more to play with though as it can be moved around with the rake and carried in the bucket etc.

The orangutans are cute and playing with this set is a great way to introduce a conversation about this critically endangered species and what can be done to help (like not buying products made with unsustainable palm oil).

The contents of the playmobil orangutan set laid out next to the box
The contents of the Playmobil Orangutan set

2 children looking at the instructions for building the Playmobil Orangutan tree
Assembling the tree in the Orangutan Playmobil set

girls playing with plastic Playmobil Orangutan toys as part of review
There is lots for the Orangutan family to play with


Zebras with Foal 

(Family Fun Playmobil Set 70356)

The Zebra set comes with 3 zebras: 2 identical adults and a child. The adults legs and neck can be moved and they are textured so you can feel their stripes. The smaller foal moves at the base of it's neck and it isn’t textured.  

The playmobil zoo zebra box with 2 adult zebras and one foal
The contents of the Zebra Playmobil set

A 5 year old girl playing with a family of 3 zebras from Playmobil
Playing with the Zebra family


Koalas with Baby 

(Family Fun Playmobil Set 70352)

The Koala family comes with a small tree which needs to be assembled. There are 2 identical adults, with no moving pieces, which clip onto the tree. The baby can clip onto the back of either adult.

The contents of the Playmobil koala box includes a small tree with flowers, 2 adult koalas and one baby koala
Contents of the Playmobil Koala set

The Playmobil Koala set in the foreground with the playmobil zebra's being played with in the background
The sets are great for children to play with together 


Flock of Flamingoes 

(Family Fun Playmobil Set 70351)

The Flock of Flamingoes set contains 3 pairs of flamingoes (so 6 in total) with clear stands so they stay standing up despite their small feet . You can pivot them back and forth at their hips, but my eldest daughter commented it was a shame you couldn’t make them stand on one leg

Contents of the Playmobil Flamingo set next to box
Contents of the Playmobil Flamingo set

Flamingo and zebra playmobil characters
Would flamingoes and zebra get along in real life?

The Playmobil toys are a good balance of size and durability. Undoubtedly some pieces will get lost over time, but on a whole these sets are likely to stay in good condition so they can be passed on to other children when they have been grown out of making them a good long lasting toy.


What Age is Playmobil Suitable For?

If you haven’t seen any Playmobil recently then you might not know these plastic toys have some moving parts, but the figures and animals are pretty sturdy. The pieces which need assembling fix together quite firmly, but don’t hold up to rougher play without coming apart. We have a fair amount of Playmobil and while some pieces like trees and buildings get pulled apart regularly I don’t think anything has ever actually been broken (touch wood) so it’s just a case of putting them back together. 

We have had Playmobil in the house for years so the sets have been around siblings younger than the recommended minimum age of 4. My biggest concern with younger children is there are lots of small parts which could easily get lost or swallowed. In the sets we received for this review for instance you have the flowers on the tree in the koala set and the straw in the Orangutan set which are really really small, plus a whole host of easily lost pieces like the bananas, apples, butterflies etc. None of these parts are integral to the playability though so if my youngest is around I often remove the smaller pieces to keep them safe. I am happy for him to play with the larger animals (while supervised) which don’t come apart and are too large to swallow. If you are buying specifically for younger children the Playmobil 123 sets have less pieces to assemble, less moving parts and no really small parts. We own the Playmobil 123 zoo which is great, but I don’t think it is for sale any longer. 

Playing with the Orangutan Playmobil set
The Orangutan set contains lots of small pieces

Happily playing with the Playmobil sets
The girls love playing with the Playmobil sets

Previous Playmobil reviews:

Playmobil Family Camping set review

Playmobil Summer Villa review

***Disclosure: these items were received for review***

1 comment

  1. Aww! These sets look fab! It looks like your girls have been having a lot of fun with them.
    The flamingos are so pretty. I think they are my favourite x

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