My Family Builders FAQ
Answers for parents, teachers and program directors: ages and safety, which set fits which room, classroom use and how the figures support the Environment Rating Scales.
Download the printable version (free PDF, 2 pages)About the figures
How the figures work
How do My Family Builders figures help children explore diverse families?
My Family Builders magnetic wooden figures come in four skin tones with interchangeable heads, bodies and legs, so children can build single-parent homes, blended families, two-mom or two-dad families, multigenerational households, and any other family they know or imagine. The 48-piece set includes both adult and child figures and supports more than 2,000 mix-and-match combinations.
What makes My Family Builders different from other educational toys?
Most figure sets come as a fixed cast. With My Family Builders, children build the people themselves: heads, bodies and legs are interchangeable across four skin tones. This design supports empathy through play, and the sets carry the Parents’ Choice Gold Award.
How are magnetic wooden figures different from traditional dollhouse families?
Traditional dollhouse families come pre-grouped: one mother, one father, two children, usually one ethnicity. Magnetic wooden figures with interchangeable parts let children build any family they imagine. My Family Builders is designed around this flexibility, with four skin tones and modular construction in every set.
How does My Family Builders support social-emotional learning?
The figures give children a hands-on way to explore family, friendship and identity through play. Children build characters that reflect their own family and discover characters that look different from them. The 48-piece set adds 25 Activity Cards (22 visual play cards and 3 instruction cards in English, French and Spanish) for matching and family-building games, and the free Educator Guides turn play into short guided conversations about empathy and belonging.
Ages and safety
Ages, materials and testing
What ages are My Family Builders figures for?
Ages 1 and up. The pieces are tested for children 12 months and older, and the blocks are sized for small hands. The 16-piece Friends set, children only, is the simplest starting point for the youngest players. The 32-piece and 48-piece sets add adult figures and work well in preschool, kindergarten and lower elementary classrooms. The Educator Guide activities are written for ages 3 to 5.
Are My Family Builders figures safe for classroom use?
Yes. The figures are independently lab-tested to ASTM F963, CPSIA and EN71, including the magnet, small-parts and use-and-abuse tests. Every piece is sized above choking-hazard limits. The paint is non-toxic and water-based, with no PVC, no phthalates and no BPA.
Are the magnets exposed?
No. Each magnet is set into a pocket drilled in the wood, sealed under a cap of the same wood, and finished with several coats of non-toxic, water-based paint. Children handle painted wood, never the magnets.
More on materials and testing: Toy Safety.
Which set for which room
Three sets, one family of figures
48-piece Family set
The complete classroom set
32 heads (16 adults, 16 children), 8 bodies and 8 legs in four skin tones, plus 25 Activity Cards: 22 visual play cards and 3 instruction cards in English, French and Spanish.
Covers four of five diversity types. Free Educator Guide.
32-piece set
Families to build
16 heads (two adults and two children in each skin tone), 8 bodies and 8 legs. Children build up to 8 figures at a time.
Covers four of five diversity types. Strong for small-group building.
16-piece Friends set
Friends for younger rooms
8 child heads (two in each skin tone), 4 bodies and 4 legs. Children build 4 friends at a time and swap heads to make new ones.
Pair with an adult set for age. Free Educator Guide.
How many children can play at once?
Two or three children share a set comfortably. The 48-piece and 32-piece sets build up to 8 figures at a time; the Friends set builds 4.
Do the sets work together?
Yes. Every My Family Builders set works with the others, so a classroom can start with one set and add another later.
In the classroom
Questions from the classroom
How should I introduce the figures in a classroom?
Put them in the block or dramatic play area and let children discover them in free play. Start guided activities after a few days, once the figures feel familiar.
Should the figures rotate out with other toys?
Keep them in the core set that stays out. Representation works best when it is always part of the room.
Is one diverse doll enough?
One figure that looks different can become the odd one out. Every set shows each skin tone more than once, so no figure stands alone.
What if a child says something unkind about a figure’s skin color?
Stay calm, state a simple fact (“people have many skin colors, and all of them are good”), and ask what made them say it. Treat it as a question to explore, not a behavior to punish.
Is My Family Builders used in real classrooms?
Yes. My Family Builders is used in Head Start classrooms, NAEYC-accredited early learning centers and child care networks across the United States, including programs at Bright Horizons, Primrose, Goddard and the YMCA. University early childhood education programs at the Erikson Institute, Penn State and Northeastern have used the figures in classroom and research contexts.
Can programs buy the sets with a materials grant?
Often. Many local child care resource and referral agencies and state quality rating programs offer materials funds. Eligibility varies by state.
For programs
The Environment Rating Scales diversity checklist
The Environment Rating Scales score “Promoting Acceptance of Diversity” in ECERS-3 Item 26, ITERS-3 Item 23 and FCCERS-3 Item 23. Here is where the figures fit.
| Covered | What the scales look for | How the sets count |
|---|---|---|
| ✓ Covered | Dolls or figures representing at least three races | Every set shows four skin tones. |
| ✓ Covered | Diversity in play materials children can reach | Figures children build with and handle every day, not a display piece. |
| ✓ Covered | Four of the five diversity types the scales list | The 48-piece and 32-piece sets cover four. The Friends set shows children only, so pair it with an adult set to add age. |
| ○ Not covered by the figures | Ability | The figures do not show it. Add books or pictures that show a range of abilities. |
| ○ Not covered by the figures | Books and displayed pictures | The scales count these separately. Pair the figures with both. |
“Supports” means the figures meet or add to the indicators above. A rating reflects the whole classroom, not any single material.
Keep the figures in the core set that stays out all year. The scales count what children can reach every day.
For a scale-by-scale breakdown, including SACERS for school-age programs, see Environment Rating Scales.
Ordering for a program? For quotes, purchase orders or classroom documentation, contact us. The sets are also carried by school supply distributors; see Stockists.
Educator Guides
Free, digital, ready to use
The 48-piece and 16-piece sets each come with a free digital Educator Guide of classroom activities aligned to the Head Start Early Learning Outcomes Framework: the 48-piece Family set guide and the 16-piece Friends set guide. A guide for the 32-piece set is in educator review.
The checklist, the three sets, the classroom questions and the safety facts are also in a two-page printable PDF, ready to share with your team.
Download the printable PDFECERS, ITERS, FCCERS and Environment Rating Scale are registered trademarks of Teachers College, Columbia University. My Family Builders is not affiliated with or endorsed by the scale authors or publisher.