First Friends figures product reviews

These are great little toy figures for tiny hands to play with. There is a wide range of figures, from people in various trades, sports, ages and both genders are well represented. There are also a number of animals available, both wild and domesticated, so you could build up any type of collection you desire really.

The arms, legs and head are poseable, and in the case of some animals, the tails as well... however the hands and feet are fixed, and this can sometimes leads to cry of frustration from the tinier players when the characters refuse to stand/sit/run etc.

Personally, I was quite taken with a couple of the characters who appeared to be injured! With the 'uninjured' and 'injured' versions, your little ones can explore how someone looks when they are in pain or unhappy, and their imagination can be let loose (and explored by observant adults) to see if they are the type who play-act the helping or, or the injuring of, the little characters. This could be an important factor in how you help guide the development of that child, as one teacher pointed out to me. Children who play-act as the 'helper' type are less likely to need 'empathy training' whereas the trainee sadists may need to be gently guided into more positive mental avenues where empathy and sympathy are brought home to them. Save the animals... buy some 'First Friends' and prevent cruelty.

Overall, I personally would be quite happy to buy quite a few of these, if they were a little cheaper. $9.90 would be about as high as I would go. The quality is extremely high, the durability is brilliant, and the animals are lots of fun to watch younger kids play with. My only gripe is a simple one that most parents probably wouldn't agree with... I *hate* squeeky toys... and all the 'people' have push-button squeekers in their chests. My favourite humanoid characters were the ones where the squeeker was damaged or really hard to work... -ahhhh- Silence is bliss...