Christmas
hophophippidtyhop · 13/10/2012 18:05
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 · 13/10/2012 18:13
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 · 13/10/2012 18:46
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!
Murtette · 13/10/2012 20:30
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!
JoInScotland · 13/10/2012 21:14
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.
HappyAsEyeAm · 17/10/2012 09:18
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 · 17/10/2012 10:11
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.
pateran · 19/10/2012 12:30
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
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