Spyder Plot Inline

If you are using the latest version of spyder, you just change "variable explore" to "plots", which shown above the console.

From Spyder 4.0, figures now render in the new Plots pane by default, so the answer in the comments is outdated - for the benefit of people viewing this question in the future; figures can now be plotted inline by unchecking the "Mute Inline Plotting" option from the menu in the top-right of the Plots pane, as shown below.