I'm glad we got the easel for my 2yr old son to use with his learning tower. We've loved the learning tower and getting the easel only made it better. Overall I think it's great but there are three things about it that I find mildly irritating:1. There are holes drilled to hold containers for the chalk but it doesn't come with containers to go in those holes. So after we got it I had to try to find cups that would fit those holes for the chalk. It would be nice if toys designed for parents of young children didn't force a shopping expedition for another accessory after they arrived. So far we've found one cup that fit but are still searching for another.
2. There's a white board on the other side of the chalkboard so I also bought markers so we could reverse it. It looks like it should be easy to reverse but I don't think you can do it without a screwdriver to remove and flip the container that holds the chalk or markers. Again, not a deal breaker but disappointing that it isn't as flexible as I thought it was.
3. Finally, it's a minor hazard for a curious little toddler. There's a handle on the top of the easel to make it easy to remove it or turn it (which really isn't necessary because you can't turn it easily anyway as discussed in point 2). This handle is right at the level where my son's hands rest when he's standing in the learning tower so it of course caught his attention. He got his hand stuck in it at first and then we got concerned that he might hurt himself if he moved the wrong way with his hand pinned under this handle. We tried to remove the handle but because of the way it's installed we can't do that. So instead ours is covered over with duct tape. It's also very easy for the easel to get accidentally kicked while standing in learning tower. I've found this leads to some combination of the following three things -chalk everywhere, fear because it made a loud noise, or more kicking because it made an interesting noise. The kicking hasn't been a major problem but I wish there were an easier way to deal with the handle problem on the top but I guess duct tape works even if it isn't pretty.
Overall I like the easel and would buy it again but it would be great if these problems were fixed because we haven't been using it much for the last several months because of these problems.
Update 12/2012: I've since gotten rid of this easel. After owning it for two years I found it more frustrating than useful and got more irritated with it the longer I owned it. I found it started to get in the way of the primary use of the learning tower, letting the kids help with cooking. The easel was in the way when I wanted to push the tower up to the counter, it brought a lot of messy chalk dust into the kitchen which I hated, it had the kids doing art in the middle of the kitchen which wasn't ideal, and after two years it kept falling off the tower which is really loud and really messy. The final straw was when our younger son was climbing into the tower and he tried to lean on the easel for balance to stand up not realizing that the easel isn't sturdily attached to the learning tower at all. The easel fell on the floor and our son fell through the hole left by the easel onto the floor. Once my son was okay the next thing I did was to take the easel and walk it out to the curb. I'm glad to be rid of it and I'm sorry I bought it. We still love our learning tower, though, and use that all the time.
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My son has cerebral palsy (blanket term for brain injury.) He'll be five soon and is just learning to walk. In order to strengthen his core for walking he needs to spend time knee standing. I've been looking for a long time for an easel that is super stable so that if he were to accidentally lean forward on it while on his knees (he loses his balance a lot) it wouldn't tip over. This easel fits the bill perfectly! The added bonus is that it doesn't take up any more space in my house because we already own The Learning Tower! I was worried about having to use tape to get paper to stay up but it comes with a really strong, long magnet that holds large sheets of paper up perfectly! My other two children (ages two and seven) love this easel as well! I highly recommend the Little Partners Art Easel.Read Best Reviews of Little partners Art Easel Here
I gave this easel Little Partners Natural Art Easel, along with dry eraser markers, to my granddaugher for Christmas this year. She LOVES IT! Now her "learning tower" Little Partners LP00401 Learning Tower, Natural includes opportunities to draw, write, and create in the kitchen with Mommy. What a great idea to further the versatility of learning tower! In a very small space, a child can climb, help Mommy, imagine all kinds of things, and now express themselves through drawings and written words.Want Little partners Art Easel Discount?
We love our learning tower, so I was sure the easel would only make us love it more. My daughter certainly enjoys using it, but I find a few things a bit frustrating and I don't believe, overall, that the quality matches the price.The first thing I noticed was that the chalkboard and the white board surfaces are made of a very thin material, I suppose with a harder surface between them. When you press on one area, it causes a change in another. This doesn't really affect functionality in a substantial way, it just feels cheap. Then the tray that is meant to hold paint/chalk/marker cups is secured using what the directions refer to as "hooks." They're not hooks, they're just screws that are only inserted partially so that their heads can be "hooked" into the easel itself. They don't seem long enough for this purpose, as they wobble when inserted as far as they can go, and I picture the holes being stripped more and more each time I move the tray from one side to the other. That's the other thing, in order to reverse the easel, you have to remove the tray and replace it on the other side. Not a huge deal, but it's not the quick and easy flip I pictured when I ordered.
The biggest thing for me is the fact that the easel does not attach securely to the learning tower. There is a lip at the top that allows the easel to rest on one of the sides of the learning tower. Nothing locks or clicks into place, and the sides and bottom are not secured in any way. It's not that heavy, so I can see a curious toddler accidentally knocking it off and hurting themselves all too easily.
It's a neat concept, but the design and safety features could use a lot of work.
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