The brands we stock, and what you will find of them here

For a parent a brand name is shorthand. “Something from Playmobil” says in two words what a product description attempts in two paragraphs: what kind of play it is, what it looks like, and whether it fits with what is already in the house.

The names you are probably looking for

Lego is broadly stocked here — building sets from the small boxes to the large ones, and Duplo for anyone still too young for those. After it come Clementoni, with puzzles and educational play from baby articles to experiment kits, and Hasbro, mostly board games and action figures.

Spin Master is stocked about as widely, with licensed ranges and activity sets, and Mattel supplies the vehicles and dolls everyone knows. Playmobil is smaller in count but distinct in kind: play worlds with figures, where the play is in the arranging rather than the building.

And the rest of the cupboard

Behind those stands a longer row that is quieter and works just as hard: Goliath and Jumbo for games at the table, SmartGames for single-player puzzles, VTech for electronic learning toys, Jovi for modelling clay and drawing materials, Playgo for pretend play, and Didak, Dimian and Kids Globe for the things that end up outside or in the sandpit.

Every brand is also a page

Each brand we stock has its own overview with everything currently available from it. The numbers on those pages are counted at the moment you look — they are not copied out, so they do not lag behind the stock.

In the catalogue the brand filter combines with age and price. That is the shortest route when you already roughly know what it has to be: brand, age, budget, and what is left fits on one screen.

When the brand is exactly what does not matter

If you are shopping by occasion rather than by name, skip the filter. The gift finder asks only for an age and a budget and pays no attention to who made it — which is often precisely what you want when the present is going to a child whose toy cupboard you have never seen.