TOS Homeschool Crew Review~  Schleich  toys!

I was delighted and surprised when I heard the Crew was going to review Schleich toys. I love reviewing educational toys and I never imagined we’d be reviewing toys I already know and love. Not only are they beautiful, high quality toys, they hold a special place in my heart.

Schleich makes a range of figures that would capture the attention of any child and many adults as well. There were many comments from my Crew Mates about how much we parents wanted some for ourselves. Schleich has several figurine categories. The selections range from Farm or Wild Life to Dinosaurs, Knights and even Fairies! There are even more categories on their  website with over 500 items available.

We got 5 beautiful animal figures and each of them was immediately snatched up by someone in the family:

The cat was claimed by Ninja

No one had any doubt who the Lippizaner Mare would go to- Tink of course.

The Dude received the Africal Elephant Calf because of his new found favorite animal. These particular elephants at the zoo are Indian, but I don't think Dude minds. 

Baby Princess got the donkey foal... well, because her older siblings had already claimed the rest of the cute animals, lol, so we figured the last sweet little baby animal would go to her.

And Dad staked his claim on the crocodile. He says it's very cool and he sets it on his computer to watch him as he works. Of course the kiddos steal it sometimes, but when DH finds it, he sets it back on it's perch.

This was just a small sampling of what Schleich has to offer

When I looked through Schleich's catalog, I could plainly see that the horses are just lovely. There are several on the website. I wonder why Tink didn’t ask for any of them. Very strange. Maybe she was surprised and content with the Lipizzaner mare she claimed as her own when the box from Schleich arrived. I think we should absolutely budget for more horses from the Schleich Horses line. Tink and I may be studying horses again in the future and I’d love to encourage the love for horses that she got while learning and playing with toy horse figurines. It was actually the first time Tink ever showed much interest in joining in our homeschool. Figurines that are related to the subject we’re studying or reading about seem to be a wonderful learning tool for my children. I let them sit and play with toys such as horses while I read to them about the subject (Maybe a captivating story like Black Beauty or Justin Morgan Had a Horse or Misty of Chincoteague.) and they take it all in so much more easily than if I’d made them sit quietly and listen.

The African elephant calf was a hit with the little ones. They keep stealing it away from each other. Lol. I love the fact that Schleich made both Indian and African varieties. Wonderful attention to detail. Awww! The  meerkat pups are so cute! Oops! Sorry, I let myself get carried away looking at more figures on the website. I’m going to get myself into trouble looking at their online catalog. It makes me want everything they’ve got. I heard rumors of an extremely cute  hedgehog and now I want one too. Hey, Tink and my birthdays are coming up next month; maybe we can request some of these.

The dinosaurs   look fantastic. I know we didn’t get any, but I have to mention them. I’m sure the Dude would have simply flipped if we’d gotten some of these to review. Hmm, maybe he’ll be getting some next school year when we study D, D, Dinosaur with MFW K.

I also see lots of potential for learning with Schleich’s  American Frontier line. Tink and I will pick back up studying American history once we’re done with ECC and I know using these toys would cement some of the ideas that will be presented to her next year.

Last of all, I’ll share a pic of the knight figures Tink and I got a couple of years ago for our Peter. DH, being a very smart man, took the kiddos out to buy toys for their baby brother, Pete, when he died. I have no idea how he thought to do this at a time like that, but he had each of the kiddos pick out a toy for Peter, then DH bought two of the exact same toy- one for Peter, those were buried with him, and one for the kids to keep. Ninja and the Dude picked racecars and Tink picked out this red knight.

When Peter’s first birthday came around, I wanted to get something special to keep out at my Peter’s grave. A dear sweet woman I’d “met” online had previously called my Peter a precious warrior for the Lord, and I wanted something to represent what she’d said. So I bought this blue Prince on a horse to keep out at his grave.

It has withstood being out in the high desert sun and hard water of Northern NV and it still stands out there, representing my sweet little warrior. I chose that particular knight because I’d always liked the quality of those toys. I plan on keeping a little knight out there always.

Well, as you can see, Schleich offers a wonderful variety of durable toys that will delight you and your children and that have the potential for opening up avenues for learning, whether you have a struggling learner like my Tink or you just want to encourage your child to explore the subjects you’re studying in your homeschool. I love Schleich toys, my whole family does. Be sure to check out their selection.