I bought these when my daughter was 2 1/2 and we were going on a 3 day drive to Switzerland - believe me we needed al lot of distraction toys!

She had already seen Happy Land toys in her nursery although we didn;t have any at home before this.

I don't recall why I bought this particular pack as they come I different 'varieties' or themes too. But they have been a hit from day one and although they have been with us now for 2 years they are still very popular toys for her to play with.

My daughter likes learning about new cultures and the fact we were travelling through 2 countries on holiday made it all very relevant to us.

She liked to discuss what everyone was wearing and liked the stereotypicalness of them which i really don;t thin that is a bad thing. It is great to have a small interactive way of teaching children about different cultures.

The set consists of a French man with onions around his neck, a scotman with bagpipes and a cowboy, Chinese, Indian and Spanish ladies in traditional costumes. I've seen that some people don;t like the idea of the stereotyping of these figures but really i think it has much more to do with the fact that they are wearing traditional style outfits that lead to great discussions about culture and differences and similarities that exist. My daughter certainly never plays with these in any stereotypical way and they all go off to do one thing or another with her in her toy castle altogether, the only time she separates any of them out is if the girls go off to do one thing and the boys another. I'd much rather buy these and have discussions about them than have her think that everyone across the world is the same.

Our daughter originality played with these in the car but now they have come into the house and they still look as good as new and I'm sure once we are ready to part with them they will be on ebay still in great condition.

The only thing i would worry about them is the material they are made from not being suitable for chewing on which , although she his 4 she still likes to do from time to time.

These are a great toy for a creative mind to play with and they beat Disney toys and McDonalds freebies any day!