- Save 15% each on Qualifying Items offered by Amazon.com when you purchase 1 or more. Here's how (restrictions apply)
Special Offers and Product Promotions
Frequently Bought Together
Product Details
Would you like to give feedback on images? |
Product Description
From the Manufacturer
Time to Block around the clock! Combines shape sorting and learning to tell time; it's two toys in one! Place the colorful numbered shape pieces in their proper places on the face of the soundly-built clock; and move the hour and minute hands to make learning time fun.
Product Description
Melissa & Doug Wooden Shape Sorting Clock
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
131 of 134 people found the following review helpful
Format:Toy
Durability:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Educational:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fun:
5.0 out of 5 stars
I recently bought this toy for grandchildren, ages 3 and younger, for when they are at my house.
Previous reviews complained that the shapes of numbers 5 and 6 might be confusing, and so I avoided this purchase for a while. BUT, the one I bought is NEW and the 5 is the pentagon shape and the 6 is the hexagon shape, so that is no longer a concern. Look at the picture of the product above - today the picture I am looking at on this page shows the correct shapes for 5 and 6, so it appears that Melissa and Doug have corrected this problem! If you were to purchase an older or used version of this clock be aware that it may have the wrong shapes - but the newest ones I would presume are correct. Mine is.
I rate this toy 5-star. It is certainly not a bells and whistles toy, no noises, no lights. Thank goodness. But I think there is a lot of value in this toy.
This is a concrete hands-on way for children to begin learning about not only clocks, but also shapes, order of numbers, and more, depending on the age and stage of the child. It is a toy that can grow with a child, one to be taken out and used for a while, then as interest wanes, put it away for a while, and then bring it out later for a child to explore at a different stage.
Please keep in mind that children will probably get more value out of any toy, where a parent, grandparent, teacher, sibling, babysitter, etc. first sits down and talks with the child about the toy and maybe models how the child might use the toy. Then expect them to try using it for different things - like stacking, or pretending that one piece or another is food for a doll, or whatever - and that is OK too - keep in mind kids learn in different ways than we might expect. (Of course keep an eye on younger children to make sure they are not putting pieces in their own mouths, pretending it is their own food!)
There is obvious shape-matching value for younger children.
A child might take the shapes outside of the "puzzle" and line them up - in numeric order, or just to compare shapes, colors or whatever.
With an older child, you might introduce time-telling vocabulary, in relationship to where the clock hands are.
Previous reviews complained that the shapes of numbers 5 and 6 might be confusing, and so I avoided this purchase for a while. BUT, the one I bought is NEW and the 5 is the pentagon shape and the 6 is the hexagon shape, so that is no longer a concern. Look at the picture of the product above - today the picture I am looking at on this page shows the correct shapes for 5 and 6, so it appears that Melissa and Doug have corrected this problem! If you were to purchase an older or used version of this clock be aware that it may have the wrong shapes - but the newest ones I would presume are correct. Mine is.
I rate this toy 5-star. It is certainly not a bells and whistles toy, no noises, no lights. Thank goodness. But I think there is a lot of value in this toy.
This is a concrete hands-on way for children to begin learning about not only clocks, but also shapes, order of numbers, and more, depending on the age and stage of the child. It is a toy that can grow with a child, one to be taken out and used for a while, then as interest wanes, put it away for a while, and then bring it out later for a child to explore at a different stage.
Please keep in mind that children will probably get more value out of any toy, where a parent, grandparent, teacher, sibling, babysitter, etc. first sits down and talks with the child about the toy and maybe models how the child might use the toy. Then expect them to try using it for different things - like stacking, or pretending that one piece or another is food for a doll, or whatever - and that is OK too - keep in mind kids learn in different ways than we might expect. (Of course keep an eye on younger children to make sure they are not putting pieces in their own mouths, pretending it is their own food!)
There is obvious shape-matching value for younger children.
A child might take the shapes outside of the "puzzle" and line them up - in numeric order, or just to compare shapes, colors or whatever.
With an older child, you might introduce time-telling vocabulary, in relationship to where the clock hands are.
95 of 104 people found the following review helpful
Format:Toy|Amazon Verified Purchase
Durability:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Educational:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Fun:
3.0 out of 5 stars
This is a fairly attractive clock. We've had it around for the past couple of years and it's seen a fair amount of play. I had bought it hoping it would be acknowledged as a clock, perhaps used as a learning tool of sorts, but neither of my children have ever played with it this way. Instead they remove the pieces, scatter them about, sometimes (rarely) use it as a puzzle, but mostly they just like those small brightly-colored wooden pieces. Which is a shame. The pieces are rapidly losing paint, and Melissa and Doug just isn't a company I trust enough to have their paint chips floating around in my children's environment. Their toys are made in China, and they've already had a recall in Canada for excessive barium in toys. I didn't even know toys could have excessive barium until I read about that recall.
That's not my only gripe.
When I bought this clock, I assumed it was wooden. But when you remove the pieces, it is clear that the material the base is made of is MDF, you can see the unfinished MDF inside the holes. Later, when the pieces begin to lose paint, you find that they too, not surprisingly, are made of MDF. So my first gripe with this puzzle is one I have with a great number of Melissa and Doug products: They advertise a wooden toy, and it's deceptive marketing.
Okay, so Melissa and Doug fudged a little on their description. What might have been wood once upon a time is now thinly pressed layers of sawdust and resin, but it was wood in a previous life, and that still counts, right? It's intentionally deceptive marketing, but does any of that really matter in the practical sense?
I think it does.
Medium density fiberboard (MDF) is nasty stuff. Containing a higher resin-to-wood ration than any other pressed wood product, MDF emits VOCs for at least a few months after manufacture and emits urea formaldehyde for the duration of its life. I doubt there have been any studies on using pressed wood for a child's toy that may be mouthed and is nonetheless handled frequently and in close proximity to their faces during day-to-day play. There have been studies suggesting urea formaldehyde is a suspected carcinogen; others show that incidences of leukemia and lymphoma increase through prolonged exposure of VOCs in the indoor environment.
Bottom line, most MDF is not something you want in your home in any form, and it's probably not the best thing to make a child's toy out of. There are ways to manufacture MDF which use resins that do not contain formaldehyde which are supposed to be environmentally friendly. I contacted Melissa and Doug to find out if they use these formaldehyde-free resins in their MDF. They've got really friendly customer service, but no one available could provide me with that information. I was told they'd get back to me. I'm still waiting.
In the meantime, I think I'll just stick with the old adage: You get what you pay for.
For three times the cost of this clock, you can buy a very similar one that *is* made of wood (not MDF, not particle board, not plywood) in the USA: Hickory Dickory Dock Clock. If I had it to do over, I would do exactly that. It doesn't have the fantastic range of colors, but I guess it just depends on your priorities. I want a safer toy, one I feel good about my kids playing with. I want a toy without MDF, heavy metals, and other toxic substances. I don't feel confident this Melissa and Doug clock fits the bill.
That's not my only gripe.
When I bought this clock, I assumed it was wooden. But when you remove the pieces, it is clear that the material the base is made of is MDF, you can see the unfinished MDF inside the holes. Later, when the pieces begin to lose paint, you find that they too, not surprisingly, are made of MDF. So my first gripe with this puzzle is one I have with a great number of Melissa and Doug products: They advertise a wooden toy, and it's deceptive marketing.
Okay, so Melissa and Doug fudged a little on their description. What might have been wood once upon a time is now thinly pressed layers of sawdust and resin, but it was wood in a previous life, and that still counts, right? It's intentionally deceptive marketing, but does any of that really matter in the practical sense?
I think it does.
Medium density fiberboard (MDF) is nasty stuff. Containing a higher resin-to-wood ration than any other pressed wood product, MDF emits VOCs for at least a few months after manufacture and emits urea formaldehyde for the duration of its life. I doubt there have been any studies on using pressed wood for a child's toy that may be mouthed and is nonetheless handled frequently and in close proximity to their faces during day-to-day play. There have been studies suggesting urea formaldehyde is a suspected carcinogen; others show that incidences of leukemia and lymphoma increase through prolonged exposure of VOCs in the indoor environment.
Bottom line, most MDF is not something you want in your home in any form, and it's probably not the best thing to make a child's toy out of. There are ways to manufacture MDF which use resins that do not contain formaldehyde which are supposed to be environmentally friendly. I contacted Melissa and Doug to find out if they use these formaldehyde-free resins in their MDF. They've got really friendly customer service, but no one available could provide me with that information. I was told they'd get back to me. I'm still waiting.
In the meantime, I think I'll just stick with the old adage: You get what you pay for.
For three times the cost of this clock, you can buy a very similar one that *is* made of wood (not MDF, not particle board, not plywood) in the USA: Hickory Dickory Dock Clock. If I had it to do over, I would do exactly that. It doesn't have the fantastic range of colors, but I guess it just depends on your priorities. I want a safer toy, one I feel good about my kids playing with. I want a toy without MDF, heavy metals, and other toxic substances. I don't feel confident this Melissa and Doug clock fits the bill.
47 of 49 people found the following review helpful
By KSL
Format:Toy
My daughter received her 1st Melissa & Doug wooden toy for Christmas and boy do we love the ones we have purchase since. Any way, this clock is made of wood. The clock has 12 brightly colored shapes for each number of the clock that your child can take out and then place back into their own place. The hands of the clock are 2 different colors - the minute hand is marked minute and is red and the hour hand is blue. Printed under the hands of the clock have the numbers so your child can find what numbers go where on the clock. Also printed are the seconds and minutes in the 5 minute pie shaped increments that are also different colors. Also included are how to tell time from Quarter Past, Half Past, Quarter til and O'clock.
I love good toys that actually grow with your child and being that it's made of wood, it should last quite nicely for generations! For teaching time, I think this is terrific! Defiantely a 10 Stars!
I love good toys that actually grow with your child and being that it's made of wood, it should last quite nicely for generations! For teaching time, I think this is terrific! Defiantely a 10 Stars!
Most Recent Customer Reviews
1.0 out of 5 stars
Peeling paint
It's been weeks since I purchased this shape sorter and I am still finding paint from the blocks on my floors.
Published 6 hours ago by Salvatore Diomede
5.0 out of 5 stars
Telling the time
I just started talking to my three year old about telling the time. I love the wooden pieces and the shape of them, so he could say the shape and tell the time. Read more
Published 2 days ago by Renita
4.0 out of 5 stars
Great
My 2 yr old loves to pour all the shapes out and put them back in over and over. Great for learning shapes colors and numbers.
Published 10 days ago by Keri
5.0 out of 5 stars
Simple clock to little one
The clock has vivid color. Each number comes in different shape. Easy to teach your kid about time.
Wish there could be gears so that by moving minutes hand would result in... Read more
Wish there could be gears so that by moving minutes hand would result in... Read more
Published 17 days ago by LC
5.0 out of 5 stars
Wooden Shape Sorting Clock
My grandchildren will be playing with this for a while. They are more interested in the shapes and colors than they are with the time. Read more
Published 20 days ago by Rhona A. Blackwell-Ready
5.0 out of 5 stars
Timely Assistance for ESL Preschooler
This is a great aid for an ESL preschooler learning to tell time. Since he knows most of the shapes, colors, and numbers, this is a terrific help to help him read his Thomas the... Read more
Published 23 days ago by Happy Camper
4.0 out of 5 stars
It's nice
Nice solid wood materials. I bought this for my niece who is learning to tell time. She's more interested in playing with the pieces than learning, though.
Published 25 days ago by Elston22
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great educational toy
We love this clock. The puzzle colors and shapes add to the experience, and it's super cute. Quality is great!
Published 26 days ago by Jacqueline
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great learning toy
I have just gotten this clock for my 2yr old niece. I think it will be a great learning toy. The Clock is made of thick, brightly painted wood and is very well constructed. Read more
Published 1 month ago by L. Pazdernik
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great!
I purchased this on Amazon for my 3 year old daughter. It has been great to use when teaching her first the colors, then the shapes, the numbers, and then eventually (hopefully) to... Read more
Published 1 month ago by Evas_mama
