Customer Reviews

Melissa & Doug Magnetic Wooden Alphabet

This is one of the greatest toys I've ever seen. The letters are made of wood and the front is painted with a smooth, bright, shiny enamel. The best part is that the entire back of the letter is magnetic, not just a little piece like those cheap plastic magnetic letters. These will not fall off and they are plenty strong enough to hold artwork up on the fridge. The come in a durable wooden box with a clear plastic top that slides on and off. They are much bigger than the plastic alphabet magnets so they are easier for little kids to handle without choking. There are both upper and lowercase so there are plenty of letters to make words. My daughter loves playing with them on the fridge and dishwasher. We even gave a set to her 1 year old cousin as a birthday present. I would recommend them to anyone. Believe me, they are well worth the price and your kids will be able to hand them down to their children.

Like a lot of people, I grew up with those plastic alphabet letters on my fridge. So when my son was around 2 years old, I figured it was about time to get a set for our home. We were fortunate enough to get this set as a gift. I was truly impressed! This set is by far superior to any others I've seen on the market. They're large and colorful, and the entire back of the letter is a magnet. Not just one little square. They really stay put on the fridge! I also like that they're wood. Sure, bite marks would probably show up more on the wood than on plastic. But overall, I think the wood is far more sturdy and durable. All the letters come in a nice wood box with a sliding clear lid, making it easy to keep everything together. You really couldn't ask for more!

I thought these were SO COOL, then I had them tested at a local free lead testing for kids toys and they came back POSITIVE. Further research at Healthytoys dot org showed that the magnets contain a MEDIUM level of LEAD!!!. If you child is extra careful not to touch the magnet parts then I guess these are fine, but if your child is like mine and likes to touch the entire thing and then put his fingers in his mouth, these are too dangerous.

Healthytoys dot org lists lots of toys as both safe and unsafe, according to brand. It's good to be careful these days.

I discounted the lead warning from a previous commenter and bought these any way, I wish I hadn't. Went through the rounds, my son had elevated lead levels that were traced back to these letters. I'm not sure who M&D are paying off to get their product on the shelves with poison in it, but they need to be slapped upside the head repeatedly. DO NOT BUY THESE LETTERS! Even low levels of lead if exposed chronically can lead to a 7-8 IQ point deficiency, and other developmental delays. Do your research parents, it's NOT worth the risk.

My kids have both kinds of magnets, these and the plastic letters with the little magnets in them. They love to play with all of them, but they get frustrated when the plastic ones just slide down the fridge, or when the magnets fall off. The plastic ones end up under the fridge; their thicker profile and poor magnets are a bad combination. This kind is MUCH better; they're lightweight and completely covered with magnetic material on the back. They don't fall apart and they stay put! Less frustration for the kids, less hassle for me: It's all good!

I bought these because I am usually very happy with M&D toys and was trying to avoid buying plastic. These letters were much thinner than I was expecting, and the magnets are pretty weak. They are difficult for my 2-year old to grab. The worst part about them is the colored paper front - I really thought they would be solid wood, painted over. Any drool or other liquid will quickly ruin these, as I quickly found out about ten minutes into play time. I am SO disappointed!

All I must say is that these letters are soooo durable. The back of the letters are all magnetic where as the plastic ones only have a little piece of magnet to hold them to the refrigerator, so everytime the fridge closes one always seems to fall off, but NOT these they hold on and I really like that. The colors are very bright and they have helped my 2 year old learn her colors. I only wish they made more differnt colors than just 4. Another thing I love is that these come in upper case and lower case so you have more letters to make into words. They do cost more than the other ones but well worth it.

I have purchased many Melissa & Doug toys, because I feel quality and safety is worth the higher price tag. But I was not pleased with the magnets. All of their other wooden toys are painted, so I expected the letters to also be painted. They aren't. Instead, it is a paper lining over the letter, which easily came off into my sons mouth moments after opening the package. My friend purchased cheap plastic letters at a local store, and is much happier with hers. I wish I had done the same. For now, they are packed up until my son gets over his sucking on everything phase.

If your child likes to put toys in their mouth, these letters won't hold up to the drool.

We bought these letters for our 2 year old grandson. As he played, he put one of the letters in his mouth. To our surprise and horror, the letter started to disintegrate! We took it away from him, and gave him a set of plastic letters we had, which do not disintegrate when munched on by a teething child.

I bought this set for my son as he likes to play with our current magnets. However, he put one in his mouth for about three seconds and it started to fall apart. These magnets are supposed to be wood- but it's more like a very thin balsa wood with a thick painted paper glued on top. Not what I was expecting.

On top of that, this set has a lead warning on HealthyStuff.org. It contains medium levels of lead - much higher than what is safe or even acceptable for toys.

I used to really like Melissa and Doug toys when they were actually hand made in the USA. Now everything is made in China and apparently they are not keeping on top of their lead (and other toxins) levels in their toys. I won't be buying any more Melissa and Doug items.

I'll be tossing this. I don't even feel comfortable sending it to Goodwill.