Schleich: A TOS Homeschool Crew Review

Today, one of those big delivery trucks brought us a fun surprise: six Schleich toys! :) We received a gnu, a Charolais cow, a Falabella pony, a goose, a female cheeta, and a jaguar.

Schleich included a 2009 catalog in our box. Now we know what "old" animals we're missing from our collection, what new animals are available for purchase RIGHTNOW, and what animals are coming out in the next few months (and when).

Our family is sold on Schleich. My daughter asked for their animal nursery a couple of years ago for Christmas, and her grandparents made it happen for her. We have been fortunate to find the animals at a lot of "t" stores (Tractor Supply, Target, Toys R Us) and a few months ago, before winter's cold turned our neighborhood into frozen tundra, we purchased quite a large selection of the animals at a neighbor's garage sale.

My daughter likes to play with the animal nursery MINUS it's roof, so that she can more easily move the animals around inside. Sometimes we put the roof on, but not often!

We like the Schleich toys for lots of reasons--They're great for imaginative play, they're great with a "lesson" or to accompany a story or field trip, they're beautiful, and very true to life. We've returned home to look at one more closely after a trip to the farm or the zoo. We find the appropriate Schleich figure when we are reading about an animal in a book. The detail is amazing! They're quite sturdy, too, and I'll tell you that not one of them has broken or fallen apart here. The ones we purchased at the gargage sale were quickly mixed in with the animals that were purchased new, and we cannot tell the secondhand toys from the new toys. They don't fade.

Schleich assures me the toys are safe, "All materials used in production are carefully selected and tested by independent laboratories. Our products are subject to constant quality controls and fulfil all strict national and international safety requirements."

The one "negative", for me, today, *grin* is that my daughter already knows what new releases are coming out and when. She didn't have to spend much time with the catalog to memorize that information, and I predict that on May 1st, she will begin reminding me what new Schleich animals are available for May, 2009.

I did not know that Schleich makes trees, plants and a lot of other accessories. They make dinosaurs and human figurines, too.

I really want the gray whale mother and calf. I was a docent on whale watch boats when we lived on the left coast, and had many opportunties to see these beautiful creatures in person. I'd love to have the Schleich versions in miniature. (And yes, I'd hide mine!)

I had no idea we could order Schleich toys on-line. Prices start under $2, larger animals cost more than the smaller ones.

We love Schleich at our house! :)

I invite you to read the Schleich reviews of my Crewmates here.