Choosing a first Imaginext set by age

A first Imaginext set should give one complete mission: a hero, a rival and something that moves. Here is how we would pick by age.

Imaginext Jessie figure riding Bullseye the horse with saddle launcher and lasso projectiles

4.6 (104)$14.97

Toy Story Jessie and Bullseye Play Set

In stock

Imaginext Toy Story launcher with Jessie in her race vehicle

4.1 (5)$10.79

Toy Story Launcher Set with Jessie

In stock

Imaginext Woody's Round Up Train with jail car, Woody and Dr. Porkchop figures

4.8 (19)$43.19

Toy Story Woody's Round Up Train

In stock

Age 3: one Imaginext figure, one vehicle, one button

At three, simple wins. An Imaginext launcher set — a figure on a vehicle fired from a pad — gives instant action with no setup. Toy Story and DC Super Friends launchers are the easiest start, and they race each other.

Ages 4 to 5: add a rival and a base

This is when stories get villains. An Imaginext figure multipack brings five or six action figures, and a mid-size playset such as the Batgirl Hero Hideout or a dino-and-truck set gives them somewhere to fight over.

Ages 6 to 8: robots, lights and collections

Older kids love the big robots and the light-and-sound dinosaurs, and many start collecting a whole line. Advent calendars, multipacks and blind-bag series are great for building a crew fast.

Pick the world your kid already loves

The best first Imaginext toy usually comes from a story the kid already knows. Batman fans start with DC Super Friends, dinosaur fans with Jurassic World, movie fans with Toy Story, and kids who like to invent their own adventure with our pirate ships and gorilla fortresses. Every Fisher-Price Imaginext figure works with every other, so a second line never makes the first one obsolete.

What grows with them

Imaginext action figures and playsets stay useful for years: a three-year-old races the launchers, a five-year-old builds jailbreak stories in the playset, and an eight-year-old sets up the whole collection on the floor. Keep projectiles in a small box and the toys will last through all of it.

A quick Imaginext toy checklist before you buy

Check the age on the box (most Imaginext toys say 3+), count the action figures included, and look for the launcher and projectile count if you want toy action figures that fire. Fisher-Price lists batteries when a toy has lights and sounds. Then pick the adventure: a vehicle for chases, a playset for a base, or a figure pack to fill the cast. Every one of these Imaginext toys works with the others, so there is no wrong first choice.