Easel for a 2 year old?

[leobear]

Does anyone have a view on the best easel for a 2 year old? I'd like on with the option of paper, magnets and chalk. And why do they all say 3 years +?? Can't see what small parts are involved.

[hophophippidtyhop]

i have the melissa and doug one. Both my dd's play on it- the 2 yo is small for her age and manages fine- often sits on one of those wooden ikea chairs when using it- i chose this one as it has 3 height levels so will last awhile. No magnet but a whiteboard and chalk board, and a bit either side to put things in. It has a paper holder too. Think the 3 years thing must be because it has chunky plastic wing nuts on the frame. My dd's has never tried to eat them! Look round as the price varied quite a bit- i think next actually had them at a good price last year.

[fosterdream]

We bought one from argos and it wasn't very good so this summer we bought a small second hand solid oak table table and got some black board paint and it was so good my DD's are still using it indoors now! Maybe you could buy a table and chair and paint the table? We got our paint from wilko's. you can also buy magnetic paint so maybe 50/50. In fact I believe you can buy black board and magnetic paint.

Also IKEA do a very good black board. My nephew has one and the

[TimeForCake]

We have the Ikea one. Blackboard on one side, white board on the other. Ds was given it for his 2nd b/day & probably showed most interest from 2.5 ish. Obviously the whiteboard side needs constant supervision!
He enjoyed using it for doing painting in the garden too. It is quite big though!

[TheAngelshavetheOod]

Dd3 got the ikea one for her 2nd birthday and she loves it. Mainly chalking at the moment. Probably age three due to some 2 year olds still eating crayons!

[skandi1]

I bought one for my DD when she was 18months. It was from IKEA and cost £12. It isn't magnetic but has a chalk board one side and you can attach paper on the other side which is like a white board. It's perfect.

Now used by both DD (3.3) and DS (16momths).

[Murtette]

DD also had the Melissa & Doug one for her second birthday & has used it pretty much most days for the past year. Again, we chose it for its height adjustability. I slightly regret it doesn't have a magnetic bit but, instead, we've got a separate magnetic sheet thing which she can put her letters on so that's solved that!

[AThingInYourLife]

We got the IKEA one for DD1 the Christmas she was 2.

I would recommend it.

No magnets though. We have a fridge and freezer for that :o

[JoInScotland]

I really wanted one with 1) trays for all the stuff 2) a chalkboard 3) a whiteboard and 4) a magnetic surface. I kept finding one that met 3 of the criteria but not four... it would hve a magnetic white board and a chalkboard side but no or crappy flimsy trays. Or it would be really sturdy, built to last, but with two chalkboards. Er.... I finally went with a Melissa and Doug one. It doesn't have a magetic surface (we just use the refrigerator for that!) but what it does offer is 3 height adjustments, and we are on the first one for DS who is 2 3/4. It has really nice trays for both sides (chalk, paint pots, white board markers) and a built-in holder for a roll of paper. They tend to be about £65 new, before shipping, but I was lucky and found one marked "excellent condition" on Ebay for £28 + £12 shipping - turned out it had never been used, brand new! So have a look on something like Ebay first, before buying it from Amazon or some other website for more money.

I would give it 5 stars out of 5. Excellent value and well-made.

[JoInScotland]

And he uses it daily - the whiteboard side for drawing mainly!

[olibeansmummy]

Ds has the Argos one. He's had it since he was 18 months old so no idea why it says 3+ he uses it every single day, mostly the whiteboard side.

[Barbeasty]

This one has a chalk board one side, magnetic whiteboard the other side, takes a paper roll for painting and has a tray which fits loads of stuff on it.

[HappyAsEyeAm]

We have the ELC one. Chalkboard on one side, magnetic white board on teh otehr side. Nice deep tray type thing on the fronts (it doesn't go underneath) for chalks, eraser, paint pots etc.

DS had it for his 2nd birthday. he's nearly 5 and its still going strong. I think it was about £40 and we had 20% off.

As an aside, I would 100% ecommend the ELC paints in the squeezy bottles. Great variety of colours, big bottles, and even though they're only £1 each, they often have 50% off so I stock up. And they always, always wash off.

[CailinRua]

We have the Argos one and I think its brilliant. Got it 2 years ago when DS1 was 3 and it has taken lots of abuse from my 2 boys since. It has a chalkboard, whiteboard (which is also magnetic) and has a large tray in middle to store everything (storage was my reason for buying this one). At the time it also came with magnetic letters, chalk and a few whiteboard markers. We got it reduced it the run up to Christmas and it often seems to be on offer, so perhaps wait to buy.

[leobear]

Thanks so much for all the ideas! Am thinking ELC - just trying to track down a code!

[pateran]

We bought a thomas version of the below one when Ds was juts over 2. He loved it and we still ahve it - he's now 6. We did take away the felt tip pens till he was bigger but we thought this was great value because.

www.toysrus.co.uk/Toys-R-Us/Toys/Back-To-School/Chuggington-Easel-and-Stationery%280080373%29?searchPosition=6