Schleich - review

Last year at Christmas-time my parents hit upon the perfect gift for my animal-loving daughter. They carefully selected several animal figurines from their local farm store and wrapped them up individually for her, then put them all in a larger gift box. Becky had so much fun unwrapping and discovering each animal-- which have provided many hours of imaginative play since. My parents were so impressed with the quality of the animals that they bought one for several of the other grandchildren as stocking stuffers. The other grandchildren, who aren't quite as into animals as Becky is, absolutely loved them as well! So "Grammy" got a catalog which each of the grandchildren has pored over and marked with their favorites. Now Grammy has an on-going wishlist for several special occasions to come!

Needless to say, we were very excited to be selected to review the Schleich brand for the TOS Crew. I hadn't told Becky ahead of time that we would be getting a package, but when it came she immediately recognized the brand-name on the packing tape. Mean mom that I am, I drew out the suspense awhile longer, telling her that package was for me, and she couldn't open it! After a few minutes, I cut the tape and drew out the animals one-by-one and gave them to her. I had wondered if we would get any duplicates to what she already had, but we didn't.

We received an okapi (the funny-looking dude in the back with the long ears), a gnu and gnu calf (looks a little like a skinny buffalo), a donkey, an Asian elephant calf, a Swabian-Hall piglet, a Dartmoor pony, and a Przewalski's horse.

Becky was especially thrilled to re-unite the new donkey with it's baby, which she already had in her collection.

Included in the box was a catalog of all the animals available. Becky had an older catalog that I picked up several years ago, but she had literally worn it out from paging it through it so many times-- as in, it was falling apart! She's put in plenty of time with the new catalog already, and can tell you exactly which animals she owns and which ones she would like next.

I didn't take the time to look them all up, but this is a picture of her complete collection, as of now. Of course, her birthday is coming up... so she's hoping to add to it. We'll just have to see!

I have been impressed with how realistic and durable the animals are. Great as toys or collectible figurines, either one. The only thing I don't like is that the scale is not the same for all them. (See how the German Shepherd in the middle of the picture is bigger than the baby elephant?) However, that does not bother my daughter at all.

Schleich animals are available at local retail stores. Around here I've seen them at Target, Fred Meyer, and D and B Farm Supply. Prices range from $2-3 for the smallest animals to $15 or so for the larger ones. I have also seen various sets available as well. There is a store locator on the Schleich website.