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Toy Shop
If you've read some of our stories, then you've probably figured out that we have the Toy Shop. It's a cute, and very detailed set. It's categorized officially on the Calico Critters official website as Toy Shop. The set goes under the same name with the Sylvanian Families, but with different set numbers. The catalog display is marketed a little differently, too. We personally have the Calico Critters Toy Shop.
If you were to get the Sylvanian Families version of the Toy Shop, then you would still get the same pieces as the Calico Critters Toy Shop. The only difference you'd get is the catalog. On a Sylvanian Families catalog, your Sylvanian Families Toy Shop set number would be 5050. Typically, Heidi Hopscotch Rabbit (AKA Teri Chocolate) is also staged as the supervising adult in the store.
If you got the Calico Critters Toy Store, you still get the exact pieces as the Sylvanian Families Toy Store. The set number for Calico Critters Toy Shop is 2888. One of its key differences is the owner. Sandy Hopper Kangaroo is the store owner, and that has been portrayed in stories on the official Calico Critters website. Let me know if you want to look into those adorable official stories!
You'll get a simple building with a baby blue roof and white walls engraved with toys, like a little car or drum set. You don't have to assemble that, but there are a few fun stickers to put on. For instance, the welcome sign is a lovely sticker to stick onto the dark brown frame. There is also a slot on top of the baby blue roof for a "Toy Shop" sign. (I'll show some photos of the store with the sign inserted in a quick bit).
Inside, there's this play corner (sticker sign included) that requires really basic assembly. There's these plastic components (a teal slide, a pink wall, and a little yellow play station) to place on the ground. The slots are really obvious and the end result is a play corner. (Photo coming up).
As mentioned, the Toy Shop comes with this attachable sign to market the store as a Toy Shop. The sign piece and the sign are actually separate. it's a simple sticker to put on during the process.
With the little play corner pieces inserted, a very cute play corner will be set up. The set comes with a lot of different stickers (balloons, ribbons, stars, etc...) for buyers to put as they please.
As much as this looks like a "Spot the Difference" activity, it's not. I just wanted to show you guys one more feature of the Toy Shop. It has this tiled piece that matches the floor color. You can use it as this little outside area that we do to decorate outside scenes, or you can expand the inner store area.
Now, onto the interior accessories (my favorite part)! Since we were on the topic of assembly, I'll start off with these boxes the set comes with. There are a total of 5: a mini piano box, a blocks box, one small pink gift box, a pull string duck box, and this huge blue gift box. They came as paper templates with instructions on folding. Each are detailed with lots of cool designs, including tiny bow prints, miniature wording, and complimentary colors! With the large blue gift box, you can actually put toys inside it!
On top of those cute boxes, 4 cards are also included. They're made of thin cardboard with some paint for the designs. No sticker assembly required. They've been quite solid considering they are about 4 years old. No color scratches or torn corners. The first requires a mountain fold with the "for you" card. The second is an adorable blue card with "message." The third a simple large labelling card with "present." Finally, the one inserted in the gift box is my absolute favorite! It's this blank pink card with an adorable teddy bear. There's this top slit on the gift box to insert any one of these cards.
Now, to the activity table. The table is this cute plastic table of a beige shade with 4 different cardboard tops. There are some side sticker decorations (notice the peeling side in the picture) just for miniature detail. I'll showcase each cardboard top carefully in this review. The first is this grassy table top with some tiny flowers. That cardboard top is meant for the dollhouse and bear squeakers. These so called squeakers don't squeak in reality, but that is what they are labelled as in the packaging. You can treat them as non-squeaking dolls for your critters. These bear squeakers can actually fit into the dollhouse if you have small enough fingers! That's one of the displays you can put on the activity table. Moving onto the next one!
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The third activity cardboard option is a tea party! Donuts and cookies of various type are printed onto the cardboard in petite circular white plates, quite similarly to the way the chopping board and carrot is in the cooking themed activity sheet. And the pastel oink and white checkered tablecloth is a great touch! Once more, the height of this table is so in sync with all the standard sitting down babies of Calico Critters/Sylvanian Families. (Breeze and Olive are staging for us this time). Really nice quality control for that. The tea cups and teapot are also perfectly fitted to fit the corners of the table. If you ask me, this is by far the best of the four activity table cardboard sheets.
This next option is a cooking themed one. There are two stove tops that perfectly fit these toy pots (included in the set). On top of that, a chopped up carrot on the chopping board is also directly printed onto the cardboard sheet. If you pay attention closely enough, it looks a little like the knife in the Country Kitchen set. With a standard sitting baby from this brand, the height is just perfect. In this photo, we have our lovely model Honey Hopscotch Rabbit sitting down to stage that height comparison. With teddy bears and other dolls, the height of the table might be slightly shorter than their eye's visibility.
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Lastly, we have the fourth and final version of the activity table top. It is perfectly paired with the four building blocks. The rims of the light yellow table top showcase all the pictures the blocks can form, including a tree, a car, a drum set, etc... Musical notes of various bright colors are also doted along the top if you notice carefully. The blocks are simply plastic cubes that you stick a sticker sheet onto. That can be particularly tricky, as you may have noticed with our building blocks. They have rather weirdly stuck edges for the stickers and I have to confess that a few images may have overlapped. It is by far the hardest assembly part of this step. Lucky you if you have tiny fingers!
Well, that wraps up the main points of this review. I hope you enjoyed this rather long one, and reach out if you have any feedback!
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