Kiddipedia
Media kindly brought to you by Sylvanian Families
If your child’s playtime features a world bursting with nature, family and love, inhabited by a diverse and loveable range of woodland characters, they can only be playing with a Sylvanian Families playset! Did you know that the Sylvanian Families brand is celebrating 35 years of delighting kids and adults around the world? To commemorate the occasion, they’re welcoming a dazzling array of new animal creatures to settle into the Sylvanian village. Whether you’re a seasoned collector or are yet to discover the magic of Sylvanian Families for your child, let’s explore what makes them a beloved toy spanning multiple generations, and introduce the newest members of the family!
Imaginative play
The importance of cultivating a sense of imagination and creativity in growing children cannot be understated, and is best served by open-ended toys. We’re referring to toys with no rules, regulations, or manual for use, thereby allowing children to construct and reconstruct their own stories. Imaginative play also flourishes with toys that are tactile in nature, and is an important distinction in an increasingly digital world that prompts us at every turn. Imaginative play embodied by toys such as Sylvanian Families are also educative; promoting many cognitive and physical benefits:
- Physical development and motor skills as kids act out elaborate scenarios
- Problem solving and negotiation skills
- Language and communication skills
- Social and emotional development
The freedom for kids to explore different play patterns and make sense of the world is an ethos that Sylvanian Families was built upon. They offer plenty of detail and scope in their figurines and accessories as inspiration for play, yet encourage children to apply their own meaning to family life in the broader Sylvanian society. In fact, parents have entrusted the Sylvanian Families brand to help promote the values of social cohesion and role modelling for 35 years!
Collectible nature
Play once and forget’ toys have their place, but the kind that have the biggest impact and instill lifelong memories are collectible toys that traverse the journey through key milestones in your child’s life. The art of collecting toys such as Sylvanian Families, offers many developmental benefits for children including a sense of dedication and commitment that is positively infused into other areas and stages of their life. Here are some other key benefits:
- They’ll learn how to take better care of their belongings and begin to grasp the concept of longevity
- Collecting builds a degree of observational skills and encourages attention to detail
- They’ll develop skills in organisation and sorting
- Creates social connections as your child can share in the thrill of collecting with their peers
Toy collecting is an investmentand the quality of certain toys on the market offer questionable longevity. The notion ‘could this toy be passed onto my children’s children?’ is becoming rarer for parents to answer in the affirmative. From the lovingly sculpted expressions on each of its animal characters to the thoughtful and sturdy accessories, Sylvanian Families are designed to stand the test of time. If you’re in doubt about the collectability, just look at the ever-growing infrastructure of homes, civic structures, shops, transport solutions and leisure facilities. It means maximum replay value and no shortage of possibilities for robust, imaginative play! With some TLC, they will look just as good as the day you bought them.
Values & nostalgia
In many ways, toys hold an escapist quality and offer a safer, more polished version of the real world that cannot be fully appreciated by the innocence of youth. It is perhaps this ‘wholesome’ aspect of the idyllic Sylvanian Village that parents and Sylvanian Families devotees gravitate towards and why they retain that affinity with the products long after their children have grown up. As a toy concept that represents universal values and harkens to an arguably simpler time in society, Sylvanian Families manages to balance that sense of tradition and nostalgia with modern appeal and relevance. For any toy to achieve such intergenerational appeal, we might group them with the following attributes:
- Kinship, friendship and belonging
- Inclusivity and diversity
- Kindness and love
- Expansion of worlds and new adventures
Passed along the generations since 1985 and with no signs of slowing down, Sylvanian Families cater to younger children who enjoy the imaginative play aspect, to older children who are starting to enjoy setting up and displaying their collection, all the way up to enthusiastic adult collectors.
For mums lamenting a missed opportunity to play with Sylvanian Families as a child themselves, they can now bestow that wonderment onto their own children. Without further ado, let’s meet the exciting new additions to the ever-expanding clan!
Introducing the newest additions to Sylvanian Families
The Marguerite Rabbit Family:
Father Landon, Mother Lisa, Brother Romeo and Sister Serena. The Marguerite Rabbit Family are pretty pink rabbits in outfits based on Marguerite daisies. This is a four-figure set of father, mother, boy, and girl. The Marguerite Rabbit girl even comes with her own cute daisy ear decoration.
The Sea Breeze Rabbit Family:
Father Charlton, Mother Libby, Brother Huey and Sister Porsha. The Sea Breeze Rabbit family is a family of rabbits with a wave-like pattern on their little cheeks. This is a four-figure set of father, mother, boy, and girl. features outfits with a blue maritime theme. The mother and father also wear jaunty sailor hats.
The Border Collie Family:
Father Samuel, Mother Janice, Brother Partick, Sister Jenny and twins Camelon and Carly Border. A re-release of the Border Collie Family set previously only available in the US.
The Corgi Family:
Father Duke, Mother Queenie, Brother Earl and Sister Duchess de Pembroke. A re-release of the Corgi Family set previously only available in the UK.
The Baby Celebration Marching Band:
Features the Creme Chocolate Rabbit baby, Walnut Squirrel baby, Ryan Persian Cat baby, Matthew Deer baby, and Tony Pookie Panda baby, all with band uniforms. Includes different instruments for the babies to play, including a drum with bunny ears and bear-shaped cymbals.
The Chocolate Rabbit Family Celebration:
Special figure set featuring all 11 of the Chocolate Rabbit family, including the new Chocolate Rabbit cradled baby triplets. The Chocolate Rabbit family are in their Sunday best to celebrate their new arrivals! The cradled baby triplets are dressed up too, in lacy dresses adorned with beautiful bows. Set includes Father Frasier, Mother Teri, Brother Coco, Sister Freya, Baby Creme and Twins Kabe and Breeze Chocolate.
