Melissa & Doug Deluxe Standing Easel
by Melissa & Doug
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List Price: Our Price: $33.49 You Save: $46.50 (58%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $32.95 (click here) Category: Toy See more product details |
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Toys and Games Reviews of Melissa & Doug Deluxe Standing Easel
Customer Review: Hint for the chalkboard problems reported...
Summary: 5 Stars
I recently bought this product for my 7 year old...and she LOVES IT!!! After reading the reviews before i purchased the product gave me a little worry in regards to the chalkboard...but when reading further reviews i found one with the clue to making the chalkboard function as it should without having to buy chalkboard paint as some people have had to do. First, if your child has sidewalk chalk, i would recommend using this to prime it, simply because it is a more sturdy chalk...cover the entire chalkboard with chalk, then wipe with a papertowel and then use the eraser to completely remove the remaining chalk. To be safe i then repeated the process and then tested the chalk board out...there were no problems with scratching or marks being left in the board as others have reported. The only down side to this is that I would not have known to do this because there were no instructions on how to prepare the chalkboard when I received it. As for other issues that people were having about children removing screws and taking it apart easily, I agree. This is something that needs to be monitored if not addressed by the company, because to little curious minds the colors make it all that more interesting to try and play with and screw on and off...I would have to say that the older the child the less this becomes the issue. I would however recommend that when painting that you cover the white board with a layer of paper before the painting begins, simply to avoid bleeding through onto the board. Overall, she has played and played and played with it since it was purchased..a very good investment for artistic young children who love to draw, paint etc...Customer Review: Great Easel
Summary: 5 Stars
I purchased this easel three times recently as gifts for my daughter, niece, and a family friend, bc the price on this just kept getting better and better.
There are already a lot of great reviews on here so I just thought I'd add a note about the chalk board since there were many complaints about it.
There was a chip on the edge of the chalk board when we opened the packaging. It wasn't a big deal bc we assembled it as it was for Christmas. I called Melissa and Doug the day after Christmas and they were great about it; they are sending me a new one at no charge. The assembly on this easel is so simple that it will be easy to switch the old one out with the new one. Since I was already on the phone with them, I asked about the chalk board needing to be seasoned as other reviewers mentioned here. My instructions did not mention seasoning. The customer service rep let me know that the chalk board was redesigned so people do not have to season it anymore. Also, with the redesign, people should not have the same issue that others had in the past. I tested this on our chipped board and she was right. My daughter has no problem drawing easily on this board and there were no weird scratches or any problems at all. The $.99 IKEA chalk I purchased worked just fine. I purchased a roll of paper at IKEA too (which also works great w/this`easel BTW). This board actually has a different (but nicer feeling) surface than other chalk boards.
It's a great easel so far, and I'm hopeful it will be around for years to come.
Customer Review: Wonderful and Durable Easel for Little Artists
Summary: 4 Stars
Setting up the easel is very easy despite that the instructions and pieces are not all labeled. The things that are not labeled you can easily figure out where they go.
Be forewarned you CANNOT fold the easel to lay it flat without actually dismantling the easel. This is good because it means the easel is very sturdy and doesn't easily collapse but it's bad if you intend to fold it up after every use and store it away somewhere. The product comes with its own alan wrench which is nice, but not really necessary as it's pretty easy to screw the pieces tightly even without the alan wrench. You will however need it to unscrew the pieces.
I love that you can set the easel to 3 different heights. The lowest setting is intended for 3-4 year olds, the middle setting for 5-6 year olds and the highest setting for 7-8 year olds. I have a 2 and 5 year old so we opted for the lowest setting and it works out perfectly at that height. (To adjust the height in the future we will have to actually unscrew/reassemble some of the pieces...it's not something where you can just unclick and raise, which you might initially think...much like the "fold up flat" feature of having to disassemble instead of just unhooking a latch or something.)
Once the easel is entirely set up it takes up surprisingly a lot of space...allow a good 4'x4' space.
The girls love this easel and play with it daily. If you purchase the separate paint set, be sure to put a rug or something underneath the easel to catch spills!
Customer Review: A Good Buy
Summary: 5 Stars
I've only owned this easel for a few months now, but I think it was a good buy. I bought this easel with homeschooling in mind and so far it's working out well. It's easily assembled and the paint will absolutely not dry out. My one disappointment in the overall design was that the dry erase board wasn't magnetic. No, the chalkboard isn't the best in the world, but then, it's not real slate either. It works well enough that your tots won't notice the difference. If they're super picky about their artistic media, then you can do as others have and paint it with chalkboard paint. We use a mix of sidewalk chalk and regular chalk. The sidewalk chalk is a bit harder on the surface of the chalkboard(naturally it's very abrasive) and produces ALOT more dust than regular dustless chalk, but it's more economical. I was able to buy the Melissa & Doug paper rolls locally for 5 or 6 dollars for 18", 75 ft but so far it's been money well-spent. I'm still looking for cheaper, off-brand paper rolls so that I won't have to worry that they're using "too much" paper. Threading the paper through the slot for drawing/painting is easy enough. If the end of the paper roll becomes frayed and difficult to rethread, simply take your scissors and cut the end off and retry. Changing the roll itself is quite easy,and the entire easel should be(from the way it was assembled)very easy to disassemble and store. I've already adjusted the height to suit my shorter child and it was a few minutes of my time and very little effort.Customer Review: Excellent Quality - Esp compared to TRU Imaginarium
Summary: 5 Stars
I really wanted to get my almost 3 yr old an Easel and originally purchased the Imaginarium Easel. We had to return the Imaginarium easel to Toys R Us when it wouldn't assemble correctly. BY COMPARISON - THE QUALITY - PRICE - VALUE OF THIS EASEL IS FAR SUPERIOR.
With Imaginarium, the White board was too wide to for the frame, so the supports wouldn't fit across the bolt properly. This also meant that the paper dowel was loose and the paper roll would have fallen on my toddler's feet!!! The holes in the legs were misdrilled, so the overall leg had a warped appearance. My husband and I are both Engineers, so we know how to assemble things and this was a definite problem.
We ordered this one (Melissa and Doug) and by comparison, the quality is superior. The wood is a much nicer birch, and better finished. The parts fit together straighter and better. The hinges and bolts are better quality. Even the instructions are on nicer paper. All subtle things, but important if you think in terms of the expected life span of this product.
We put it together and everything was perfect out of the box.
My daughter is very excited that we have finally gotten her an easel that doesn't have to go back to the store and she is painting already.
Normally I'd say you get what you pay for, but this was a bit cheaper than the Imaginarium Easel on sale, so I really got value for the money.