Customer Reviews

Melissa & Doug Primary Lacing Beads

5 star:		(34)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I love this toy - and my 22-month-old twins do as well. I would just caution that the two smallest beads, while the size of very small plums, are still just small enough that they could get lodged in your toddler's mouth if they were inclined to try to get the whole thing in. I wouldn't trust my kids with this toy unsupervised for at least a few months yet (or will only let them play with the half of the beads that are substantially larger.

This item is great for a child 2 years and older. The item will challenge the 2+ and even an older child will have fun with the beads. The beads and strings are extremely durable and safe. It comes with two strings. Even when the beads are put in a childs mouth the paint or wood does not chip off of the product.

Purchased for my 2 year old.....we have not only used it as suggested but found many other ways to play with the beads. We roll them across the table to each other, separate them into color groups, shape groups, etc and we stack them.

Bead threading sets are a valuable toy for young toddlers to practice fine motor skills, color recognition, and sorting and for older toddlers to work on sequencing. While this set provides a nice variety of colors and shapes, we found it to be unusably bad for threading.

Interior surfaces of the beads are rough and splintery, so they don't slide easily on the string. Wood grain is coarse and not able to be filed to improve the situation. We introduced this around 18 months. Through 20 months, my daughter found this set frustrating and difficult to manipulate. I thought this was because the skill was too advanced for her.

This weekend I finally gave in and purchased another set of higher quality beads with smooth holes that slide easily on the string, but are otherwise similar sizes and shapes. She was delighted to find that she could independently manage bead threading with the higher quality set. She now happily spends 15-20 minutes at a time concentrating on bead threading.

Also, after very little use, paint is chipping from the Melissa and Doug set.

This set is lower priced than most but we found it to be a poor value.

This is a plain ol' great toy! First of all~no batteries required!!! I have childre from ages 8 to 3 playing with these and they all have their own way to make it fun. It really has helped with my 3 year old's small muscle coordination, and the 8 year old uses them as her "beautiful jewels. I would highly recommend these to anybody whose child may need a little help in their hand/eye coordination. They are made out of very durable wood and the strings are nice and long. The different shapes and colors are a great tool for teaching colors, shapes, and patterns. You won't go wrong with these! PLUS they are made in the U.S.A! Hooray! I love all of Melissa and Doug's toys.

my daughter is learning pattern concepts and basic colors and shapes with this toy. excellent product.

for a M and D product this was very disappointing. The wood pieces are nice from the outside, but the area within the hole of each piece is like particle board. When the string rubs against it, paint chips and small wood pieces fall out. if the interior where the hole is were coated like the exterior of the beads, it would have been the perfect learning tool for my little one. VERY DISAPPOINTED. Am looking for plastic version now.

I like this toy a lot! It has a great educational value and i am sure that my child will play with it for a long time. BUT, the insides of the beads are not polished! It is difficult enough for my 18 mos old daughter to get the string through the hole, so you'd think that the pulling will be easy. But the string gets stuck and my daughter gets frustrated. Very disappointing! My husband is going to polish it himself. I hope M&D can improve this little problem.

UPDATE: I contacted Melissa and Doug about the roughness of the inside of the beads. They appologized and mailed a new toy free of charge. So i'm changing the number of stars to five!

The lacing beads can be used to improve sequencing skills, to promote recognition of colors and shapes and to increase fine motor coordination skills. Is an excellent investment for everyone!

Use beads with typical and special needs children in regular and adapted form. Kids just love them (starting at age 2).