Over the past weeks and months, Playmobil’s Santa Clause figure has been reaching the shelves of toy shops around the world. Few of us, however, realise that all these figures are made in Malta and that the Santa Claus figure is still assembled by hand.

Since 1976, all Playmobil figures have been manufactured at the company’s Ħal Far production site. To date, some 2.4 billion of these popular 7.5cm tall figures have found their way to kids all over the world. Put next to each other, these figures would embrace our planet three times. Each Playmobil figure consists of at least seven single parts which are then assembled by so-called ‘figure machines’, which put each figure together in 1.8 seconds.

Playmobil’s Santa Claus figure also starts its global journey from Malta. Every year, 100 million figures featuring Santa are produced here. Amazingly, however, because of his coat and long white beard, Santa Claus figures are put together manually, each taking about 18 seconds to assemble, after which he is ready to go…

Meanwhile, as part of its programme of activities for Christmas, Playmobil Malta will be inviting children to its FunPark in Ħal Far to assemble their own Santa Claus figure, which they can take home with them, against a nominal charge. All proceeds from this initiative will be donated to Puttinu Cares.

Further information about the FunPark and Playmobil’s Christmas activities may be obtained from www.facebook.com/playmobil.funparkmalta, by email on [email protected] or on telephone number 2224-2445.