Customer Reviews

Little Tikes Mission Design Easel

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is an absolutely fantastic easel for young children. We've had ours for about three weeks now. My two year old loves it, and so do I.

This easel has a white board on one side, and a chalkboard on the other. The white board has a very clever magnetic strip and clip(invisible) on the top that allows you to easily change drawing or painting paper for your child. This easel does not support a roll of paper, but that is fine by me. Our previous easel did, and I hated using roll paper because the edges were so jagged and my toddler would rarely wait for me to finish tearing off the piece he'd used (which was usually messy when it was covered in paint) and sliding down more into position. The magnetic clip on this easel is very easy to use, making paper changes quick and easy and certainly less messy.

The trays on this easel do not detach, but they fit snuggly to the easel, making them easy to clean. Our previous easel had trays that didn't detach, but didn't fit snuggly either, and the paint just dripped down in between the tray and easel. The only slight hiccup with this easel is that the trays on both side are rounded. I can see this as potentially making larger paint jars a little unsteady. But this is still a phenomenal easel.

After mentioning its practical benefits, let me also add that this is a beautiful easel. It is a lovely natural hardwood - no metal brackets or plastic trays, etc. The hardware (screws, etc) are all cleverly hidden. There is a wide shelf on top of the easel that could hold plants, toys, etc. It is also a very large easel, and very steady. My son knocked over the old easel all the time, but this one he'd have a hard time knocking over.

After suffering with a cruddy easel for six months, I am thrilled to have this one in our home.

Words of advice! Break in your chalkboard before using it. With any new chalkboard, you should completely chalk the whole surface, and then gently rub the chalk in (and eventually off) with a felt chalkboard eraser. You should do this anytime you wash the board as well. Make sure you use only "chalkboard chalk". Sidewalk chalk, for example, can damage chalkboards. It has binding agents in the pigments that will stick to chalkboards. Also, crayola for example makes some drawing chalk that looks just like chalkboard chalk, but it is for paper or other mediums, not chalkboards.

Whiteboards - I find that the low-odor dry erase pens don't erase very well. My "regular" dry-erase pens do erase well, and they oddly enough will remove any stuck on low-odor ink. I'd invest in a bottle of whiteboard cleaner to remove any paint or other substances that get on your board, and always give it a clear water rinse after any use of a cleaner or paint.

Did I say it already? This is a fantastic easel!

I bought this easel because it was so highly reviewed here on Amazon, and I have been very disappointed with it. In fact, I've been so disappointed that I'm selling it and am planning to buy a different one.

Good aspects of the easel: It's gorgeous -- it's made of solid wood & it looks great. It's also a great height for a 2-3 year old. Also, though we didn't try the chalkboard, it's not plastic & I expect that it works quite well.

Bad aspects of the easel: The magnetic clip that is supposed to hold the paper does not work. It does not even hold one piece of paper. And since the top of the easel is squared off (see picture), I can't use clips or clothespins to hold the paper either. So I've been taping the paper up each time. As my son can fill a piece of paper in about 2 minutes, this is a major pain! Another big problem with the easel is that the trays are extremely shallow and rounded, so I can't imagine how they would hold a jar of paint. Last, some aspects of the easel did not seem to be good quality -- for one thing, the magnetic strip that is supposed to be stuck to the white board (part of the clip that's supposed to hold the paper) was glued on crooked & keeps falling off to boot. Also, it looks like one of the trays got chipped and then was filled in with wood filler & sanded down -- definitely noticeable, and I was surprised that Little Tikes had the gall to sell something obviously damaged as a new product.

The easel looks great, but since it won't hold paper without using tape, and since my son can't use it for painting, I really don't see the point of owning it. Next time I make a purchase of this sort I plan to do it in a physical store, rather than online, since I think I would have realized this easel wouldn't work well if I had been able to look it over in person. Also, the shipping cost of this item ($35) made it impractical to return, so I'm having to sell it used to someone local and therefore am not getting all of my money back.

My recommendation: Don't buy this overpriced, impractical easel -- instead, try to buy something in your local area that you can examine in person.

We bought this easel for our daughter's 2nd birthday. She loves it and so do we. First of all, it's beautiful and compliments any room. There are some easels out there that you wouldn't want in your living room or den.
This easel is built to last. It will be with your family for years and years. It's safe and strong. It can not be tipped over by a child.
The side trays are nicely attached and will never fall off like they do on cheaper easels. It's also great because two children can use it at the same time.
The only thing that I can say about improving the item.. is to include some markers, chalk and an eraser. For the money, it should come with some supplies.
Yes, this easel is a little more expensive (especially when you have to pay for the shipping) but well worth it!!

We purchased this easel as a Christmas gift for our son. My husband and I were thrilled to find something that matched our decor perfectly!!! We were even happier when we got it in our home. The easel is easy to assemble and extremely sturdy as well as nice to look at. Our son loved it the minute we put it together!!!! I now always have some chalk in one tray & crayons in the other with a piece of drawing paper on the magnetic strip so he can just create and draw anytime he wants. I love the magnetic strip as opposed to a paper roll. Much neater and easier to switch from one project to another. The trays are a generous size and the wide,flat top can hold items out of a toddler's reach while you are busy switching projects. Once again, I cannot stress how happy we are with this product!!!It was definately worth every penny spent and will be with us for many years to come!!!

After researching many different easels I finally decided on this one, even though it wasn't magnetic. The look is great! It can go in any room of my house and still look nice. The chalk board is waxy, but the more my 22-month-old uses it the more the wax comes off. The magnetic strip on the whiteboard side will hold up to 4 sheets of crayols floor pad sheets (which are good quality paper and almost fill the whole white board)
Instead of using dry erase markers (which always stink) I have started using crayols window markers. My daughter loves the big ones, these come 4 marker to the set (also there is a 8 packet with smaller markers) and clean off with water and don't stain the whiteboard. She loves it. I can hardly get her away from it. My husband and I love to sit with out daughter and color on it too. Its the perfect heighth for a toddler (for year to come) and for us to sit on the floor and color with her.
As far as it not being magnetic (reason why I gave 4 stars)I figured I can always by magnetic strips and put it around the outside and it will still look nice.
One of the biggest reason I liked this easel is it well made and I don't have to worry about it tipping over onto my little tornado. She crawls under it, stands in under it, shakes it, and has tried to sit on the tray and it doesn't budge. We can even throw a blanket over it for a quick fort.
It took my husband and father about 1/2 hour to put it together.

Although this easel is by far the nicest looking one around, I can't believe at this price that it isn't magnetic on either side! I was so disappointed when we first tried it out with our magnetic letters and numbers and neither side worked! It has endless possibilities for children to be creative on both the dry erase as well as the chalkboard side as it is but why skimp on this one little detail? As a teacher myself, I'd probably have chosen differently if I had known ahead of time...I just assumed at this price it would have all the bells and whistles.

It is very sturdy and very attractive, don't get me wrong! I simply think it has the potential to be even better.

Slightly disappointed,
Teacher Momma

Our little one may be to young and not the artist to be but find this item still nice. It sits out in the tv area and looks nice, we use washable crayons on the white board. Four stars because the chalk doesn't adhere to the chalkboard. Other reviewers called it waxy. This easel will last a long time, and is easy to keep clean. Extremely sturdy. Yes we love it even though it's used at short intervals and only been two months. Can see the expense even out through the years and passed on to others.

This easel is very sturdy and looks nice in the room. However it arrived damaged twice. The second time there was a split in the wood on one of the legs, but I kept it anyway because I didn't want my kids to have to wait for a third one. The first one was so badly damaged that it wasn't usable so I sent it back. My kids seem to like it. I wish the whiteboard was magnetic. The chalkboard also doesn't erase very easily. A normal chalkboard eraser doesn't do the trick, so I've been using damp clothes or baby wipes. It seems to erase easier using sidewalk chalk rather than regular chalk. It also seems to have sort of a wax film on it. Perhaps that will wear off as it gets more use. My 3-year-old and 20-month-old seem to like it, and it looks nice, so I would give it a decent rating.

This toy is fun, educational, durable and looks nice (which is an added bonus for me. I had almost bought the Melissa and Doug easel until I saw it in a store and it looked cheaply made. I love the hidden magnetic paper clip and the easel itself was very easy to put together.
The only complaint I have is directed towards Amazon and CEVA. The shipping and service was horrible. Amazon kept saying it had been shipped when it had not and Little Tikes did not give the product to the shipper until three days after it was suppose to be here. To say the least, I was not thrilled when it did not arrive on time for my son's birthday. As for the product itself, I definatley think it was worth the wait. I paid $100 for this and would have paid more.

I purchased this easel for my 2 1/2 yr. old this Christmas and we are both very happy with it. Assembly was fairly simple , complicated only by the weight of the pieces, which make it durable and safe. The height is perfect and I don't anticipate him growing out of it for a few years. After shopping around, this easel was the best bet for my money.