Customer Reviews

Melissa & Doug Deluxe Standing Easel

5 star:		(120)
4 star:		(30)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

This was a Christmas gift last year for my 6 yr old. I researched a lot before purchasing this, and this is one of the only one's that was tall enough for her. So many of them are made for small children and are not adjustable. It was easy to assemble and is good, sturdy quality. I don't think a day has gone by that she has not used the chalkboard or the dry erase board to practice something she's learned in school or to play games. Every time she has a friend over, the visiting kid goes right for it also. It's definitely the most popular thing for kids in my entire house. We did buy a pad of paper to clip sheets onto the board to drawn on, but she never used the paper very much. However, it would be very easy to add a roll of paper to the center and draw on paper. And the price on Amazon was half the price at toy stores! I highly recommend this for smaller or older kids, since it's adjustable in height and nice quality.

My girls got this easel for Christmas 2009. The chalkboard never worked well, you could barely even see the chalk on it and we did follow the directions for priming the chalkboard. The white board would not erase. I had to end up covering the white board with clear contact paper which erased better the the board itself. Then after six months one of the legs broke off,I glued and taped the leg back on, then another leg broke off! At that point I just put it in the trash.

I am very glad I got this for my daughter's 5th birthday. She loves it. It is just the right size but has room for her to grow. (the drawing surfaces can be adjusted for height.)
It is well-made and sturdy. The trays are roomy and the chalkboard works perfectly if you rub it with a piece of chalk before the first use. My only complaint is that the dry-erase board is somewhat difficult to erase. We solved the problem by filling a small spray bottle with rubbing alchohol and spraying that on before erasing. My daughter was just disappointed to find that she cannot erase it herself.
Otherwise I am totally happy with this product and would recommend it to anyone with young children who love to draw.

I recently purchased this for my son's 3 year old birthday. He loves to draw and paint, so this gift was a real winner. The only drawback, which resounds with other reviewers is the chalkboard side. Thanks to previous reviews and suggestions, I knew to repaint the chalkboard side with chalkboard paint. This is not a difficult process, but a bit time consuming for the busy mom. Thankfully, the chalkboard piece slides out of the wooden frame, so there was no taping or difficulty painting it. It is now a perfect chalkboard! Barring this issue (which led me to only give 4 stars), it's a great product. The fact that it has two sides, makes it great for my 5 year old to play along, with minimal arguing.

I am a preschool teacher and was thrilled to receive this as a gift for the classroom. Many people have mentioned trouble with the chalkboard. I did not experience this. Here are some pros and cons:
Pros
1. adjustable height, we keep it on the lowest setting and all my kids can reach the top
2. 2 kids can use it at once
3. nice paint trays that can be removed for washing

Cons
1. Poor quality, warping after 2 months of use
2. Kids can easily unscrew knobs. Had to superglue them on (except the paint tray ones)

Overall it is ok, although I think it is way overpriced for the poor quality.

We sell baked goods at a farmers' market each Saturday. I was looking for a STURDY, wind-resistant whiteboard that I could set up like an A-Frame Menu board to catch people's eye as they walked by. You may laugh, but after pricing the flimsy "presentation-style" whiteboards for grownups, I discovered this Melissa & Doug Deluxe Standing Easel, and it is PERFECT--AT A FRACTION OF THE PRICE! The bright colors are fun (I LOVE the BIG clips to attach signs I've printed on the computer), and using the whiteboard, we can instantly update information or add a "Special" we want to sell before the end of the day. I can write a message on the chalk board to grab their attention when coming from the other direction, or "thank you for stopping by" when they leave, depending on how we position the easel in relation to our displays.

It was fairly straight-forward to assemble. I set the adjustable height to its tallest option which makes it easy for customers to read as they approach our tables. However, I did leave the plastic trays off in order to make it easier to fold and stow in the van.

Don't be afraid to think outside the box, Mom and Dad. This Melissa & Doug Deluxe Standing Easel may be just what you've been looking for to get YOUR message out there!

Oh, and I plan to order another Melissa and Doug Standing Easel for our three-year-old grandson for Christmas because I think kids might enjoy it too. :-)

I purchased this Easel for my daughter right before her 2nd Birthday. Because it is adjustable she was able to start using in right away. It is very simple to assemble and it's sturdy and great quality. One side has 4 cup holders and and extra slot for paint cups and supplies. It is really easy for kids to reach. The other side has an area for crayons, chalk, an eraser or whatever your child is working with. We don't use the chalkboard site quite as much as the dry erase side. Mainly we use this to paint. You can clip paper to the easel or purchase rolls ( we bought 3 about 8 months ago and still have 1 left and we paint ALl of the time.) My daughter LOVES the easel. She gets hours of use from it and I love that she is being creative and using her imagination. This product was a great investment and it is made well so I feel certain that it will be able to be used by my youngest child as well. Melissa & Doug make great quality toys that last for years and this easel seems to hold true to that. It was a great purchase and I would highly reccommend it and I would buy it again!

We got this as a birthday present for our two year old daugther. I was concerned about earlier reviews with the chalkboard, but found it was not at all an issue. Yeaaa! I, and my non-mechanically inclined self, and my 2 year old put it together in less than an hour, since my husband declined to participate in this fun-filled activity. I'm sure it can be done faster but when you have a 2 year old looking for the pieces you need it takes some extra time (especially when they end up underneath the bed). I found the directions and diagrams to be quite clear. They have helpful notes about how the numbers need to be facing each other and how the head of the screw should not be above the wood, etc. All useful bits of info that insure proper construction.

We haven't used the dry earase yet, as I'm not sure there are many washable dry erase markers on the market. At 32" tall my daugher likes to climb onto the paint tray to get a little higher, but we gave her a stepping stool and that helps her to reach the highest points on the easel. (To it's credit the easle handled the extra weight she was placing on the tray.)

It does look like putting it on it's highest setting gets tricky because there's not much space at the top between the front legs and the back, so I think it takes more planning to put the screws in on that top setting.

It sounds like it used to come with some rolls of paper . . .if it did, it no longer does. I would think it should include at least one roll. Other than that no real complaints. The no fuss packaging was nice. I spent no time cursing over hard to open plastic or excessive, wasteful materials as it had none of that. Oh the two boards (chalk and dry erase) did appear to be slightly warped/bent when I opened them up, but it doesn't seem obvious now when fully constructed, so no big deal in the end. We haven't yet tried the paper roll holder as we haven't ordered any paper, so I can't comment on that either. We did get the extra (i.e., ordered seperately) paint cups and they of course fit nicely into the paint tray and are a smart addition.

Glad we finally ordered this. It does seem that the price on this easel fluctuates by as much as fifteen dollars or so although I've never seen it at it's full asking price. Would definitely recommend this (and already have to friends)and I think (hope!) it will be one of those things that grows with our child for years to come.

One more review won't make much of a difference, given the hundreds of stellar ratings for this product, but with Christmas 2010 approaching, I just wanted to add my voice to those very happy with this product. We got ours one year ago, and it has proven to be a classic in our house, now covered with paint and chalk dust -- a great sign that the kiddos continue to play with it on a regular basis!

I really don't have anything negative to say about this easel. It's made with nice, sturdy, well finished wood. The height is adjustable. It's pretty easy to put together. The colors are pleasing to look at. The paper roll mechanism is clever and easy to use, so it's a snap to roll out and secure a new piece of paper for the next big painting masterpiece. And Amazon sells a wide variety of M&D poster paints, which are pretty reasonably priced, for when you run out.

The price is great, too, especially when you get no sales tax and free shipping. Compare this easel to the Crayola one or other more plasticky ones in the brick-and-mortar retailers' catalogs, and I think you will agree that this one is the best combination of attractiveness, durability, and fun!

Highly recommended.

My twins seem to have everything, and yet want to play with nothing.
THey have been into art lately so we bought them the easel and several accessories.
WOW what a great product.
We bought two of them and me and the wife had them together in no time. I do suggest to pay attention to the larger holes as you put it together as I did have to switch one around when it came time to put the boards on. That was the only glitch I had.
The twins could not wait to try these things out. We got the paper roll (Ingenious method for the paper roll) and got the paints with the spill proof cups, and the color coordinated brushes and let them go to town.
We have TWO DIFFERENT professionals here I tell you. They loved it!!!
Paint got all over the easels white board. We were worried, but it cleaned right off with a damp paper towel.
They chalked it up, and the chalk board was great. It Erases well. The dry erase board is good quality too.

We are so happy we got these. They twins love them, and we love them!

Thank you for such a great product