"Can I see that?" his friend, Josh, put down the elephant he was holding to examine the cow-eating alligator.
How realistic the Schleich animal action figures are! My imagination traveled to all sorts of places with one glance at the animals the boys were examining: African Safaris, Wisconsin dairy farms, Everglades National Park, and a Kentucky horse farm. What hours of fun the boys had examining and playing with these animal action figures.

"And God said, 'Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the sky.' So, God created the great creatures of the sea and every living and moving thing with which the water teems, according to their kinds, and every winged creature according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. God blessed them and said, 'Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the water in the seas, and let the birds increase on the earth.' And there was evening and there was morning--the fifth day.
"And God said, 'Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: livestock, creatures that move along the ground, and wild animals, each according to its kind.' and it was so. God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground accordin to their kinds. And God saw that it was good." (Genesis 1:20-25 NIV)
God, the benevolent Creator of all things, made sea and land animals incredibly lovely and amazing to look at. What joy there is in seeing all of God's creation in its natural habitat. For those of us who cannot travel around the world and enjoy all the living creatures the Lord has created, Schleich gives us a great idea of what all these creatures look like. There is an artistic beauty in these little action figures that makes one appreciate the Creator behind the animals' existence.

The World of the American Frontier looks very realistic too with Native Americans, pioneers, a canoe, and a tepee. What fun these collection of 19 hand-painted models would add to a unit study on pioneers. Your children might even act out a drama with the figurines and videotape it for the rest of the family.
The World of Knights and Castles is adorable with a huge variety of knights, a jester, a dragon, a princess, a king, a queen, and an ox cart. There is also a battering ram, catapult, castle wall, well, stable, and siege tent. There are enough different knights for an entire battle to take place on your kitchen floor to rescue the princess or slay the dragon. The children can play with this set to act out what they have learned about knights, castles, crusades, wars, and historical events.
An oceanography unit study could use a set of Sea Animals and there are Wild Animals from every continent in the world for geography studies. The possibilities are endless for educational play using these figurines.
Are toys a good investment for your home school, especially in these hard economic times? Every family must answer that question for itself. If there is room in the budget for more than books, textbooks, and workbooks, consider these lifelike figurines as a tool in your child's hand to explore the wonderful world God has made.
Happy Playing!
Merey (Meredith Ludwig Curtis)