Remix Stuffed Animals With Plaja Pets

Plaja Pets are stuffed friends who have heads and tails that are attached to their bodies with magnets. They retail for $32 for a pair of 8" plush stuffed animals, each separable into three pieces.

Z really enjoyed making different kinds of animals with the Plaja Pets, mixing up their components and laughing uproariously at her creations. Our only design complaint is that it's sometimes hard to figure out where the magnet on the behind is located; it would help to have a little patch or stitch at that spot to indicate where the magnet is. There are currently 12 different animals available, and obviously, the more animals you have, the more fun the rearranging!

Z thought it was great fun to put the pieces on the fridge. She thought it was hysterical when I attached a head to one of the hex nuts on her Svan chair.

Jeremiah is a little less impressed with Plaja Pets than I am. He thought the possibilities for open-ended play were quickly exhausted by the limited number of variations that a three-part animal allowed. He's currently fantasizing about a child-safe guillotine that could efficiently separate Plaja Pets' heads from their bodies.

To my mind, the ability to "create" your own friend and treat it as a temporary being is a form of creative play than your standard stuffed animals don't allow, even if it isn't as expansive as a plastic construction set.

Like any pets, however, Plajas may not be a great match for every home. First, if you already find it hard to keep track of sets of toys, you might find a stuffed animal whose head detaches from its body to be a bit maddening. Second, the greater the number of Plaja Pets your child owns, the more open-ended this toy becomes. Z found that four was a good-sized crowd that offered a lot of amusing combinations; two might have been a bit less stimulating.

The company is also planning the release of a dozen "miniature" Plaja Pets this month, selling for $17 for a pair and constructed/deconstructed in the same manner. No word on the site regarding the size of these.

You can purchase Plaja Pets directly from the manufacturer's website.