Deluxe Floor-Standing Wooden Easel Ages: 3+ Requires: Adult assembly

What We Think Fun factor: Durability: Ease of assembly: Educational factor: Novelty factor: The Good: Two-sided easel lets children create art with a variety of different media. The Challenging: Art supplies and paper must be purchased separately. In a Nutshell: Easy-to-clean 2-sided art easel offers ample space for creative expression.

Kids can create art with paint, chalk, pens, crayons, markers, and more, all at one convenient station.

The integrated butcher paper roll makes it easy to pull the paper through either side of the easel. (Paper sold separately.) View larger.

Pull the paper through to either side of the easel for your child to paint or draw. Once the painting is complete, the paper can be torn neatly against the top of the frame and set aside to dry, and a new length of paper can be pulled down for the next art creation. The easel includes sturdy clips that can hold oversized individual art papers onto the easel's surfaces.

Art Made Easy
Early childhood education experts say that working on easels offers a variety of valuable learning opportunities for the preschool-aged child. Painting or drawing with large strokes encourages motor development while giving the child the opportunity to experiment with color, shapes, and the varied textures created by different art media.

Our preschool-aged toy tester enjoyed working on the easel, whether she was drawing with chalk or painting with poster paints. In fact, her creative output increased significantly with the easel. She especially enjoyed mixing paints to make different colors. Like many children her age, she likes standing while engaged in creative play, and the easel makes it much easier for her to draw and paint large pictures without having to reach awkwardly across a table surface or kneel on the floor.

Cleanup, Simplified
As everyone knows, art can be messy, so that's why parents and caregivers will appreciate the easel's easy-to-clean design. The trays and art boards are held in place with screws that have large plastic knobs for easy loosening and tightening. This allows the trays and board to be easily removed, and washed individually in the sink. (We strongly recommend using only washable paints with this toy.) The easel also folds flat for easy storage: just unscrew the crossbars and close the stand for easy storage against a wall or under a bed.

The easel also includes two plastic storage trays: one tray is a long trough, perfect for holding pens or chalk; the other has four spaces for paint cups and additional sections for paint brushes and other supplies.

Unfortunately, art supplies are not included with the Melissa & Doug Deluxe Easel. However, you can purchase the following accessories separately: the Melissa & Doug Deluxe Easel Companion Set, which is a collection of art supplies for the easel; and the Melissa & Doug Deluxe Easel Paper 3-Pack, which includes three large rolls of paper.

About Melissa & Doug
Started in the garage at Doug's parents' house in 1988, Melissa & Doug has grown to become one of the most popular toy makers in the world. Their toys have garnered dozens of parenting and "best toy" awards over the years, and have been featured widely in national print media and on television.

One of the company's points of pride is that their toys are thoroughly tested for safety, and meet all US consumer product safety regulations. The toys are tested at the factory of origin during various phases of the production process to assure that every toy meets the company's stringent safety requirements every step along the way. In particular, the paints and coatings on Melissa & Doug toys are tested frequently to be sure they meet or exceed government recommendations limiting heavy metals and lead in children's items.

Since day one, Melissa & Doug has been in compliance with every US consumer product safety regulation and will continue to stay compliant as the laws continue to evolve, assuring parents that their children can have a safe childhood while playing with Melissa & Doug toys.

What's in the Box
Two-sided art easel, instructions, and all necessary hardware for assembly.

The Jumperoo helps encourage healthy development. View larger.

Bright colors and fun music engage visual and auditory senses. View larger.

The Jumperoo is a safe and comfortable place for children to sit and play. View larger.

Stimulating Interactive Play
Everything your baby needs at play-time can be found in this Rainforest Jumperoo. Its newly designed frame both allows you to open it up from the top, and lets the seat rotate 360 degrees so baby can play and interact from any side. A fun seat and toys at five locations on the platform engage baby all the way around, and an electronic toy at the front has motion, music and lights that can be activated by baby spinning a drum. (Mom or Dad can also activate an option for four minutes of continuous play.)

Little explorers will also enjoy playing with the Jumperoo's many animals and toys, including a bobbling elephant, a monkey swinging from a vine, a parrot hanging from a bead bar, a clear spinning bead ball, a tiger that plays hide and seek, a spinning lizard that makes rattling sounds, a tethered chew toy, and a stack of chips with eye-catching graphics for baby to explore.

Encourages Healthy Development
The Rainforest Jumperoo is designed to help encourage healthy development. Moving, spinning, and jumping in a baby jumper enhances large motor skills. Secondly, the variety of textures integrated into the rainforest toys provide tactile stimulation, while the bright colors and fun music engage your child's visual and auditory senses. This educational system also enhances learning through discovery; baby's actions make things happen, helping him to understand cause and effect. Finally, reaching and grasping onto the baby jumper's toys fosters eye-hand coordination.

Easy to Use, Move, and Store
Parents will appreciate the quick take-down and portability of the Rainforest Jumperoo--the frame pivots to a nested position so it can be tucked away when not in use, and it simply folds so you can carry it from room to room. And no doorway is required to use this toy, making it a breeze to set it up anywhere.

The Rainforest Jumperoo includes a motion sensor that encourages kids by rewarding them with lights and sounds when they jump, has a weight capacity of 25 pounds and maximum height 32 inches, and requires three "AA" batteries (not included). It also measures 32.0 x 43.125 x 37 inches (WxHxD).

Aimed at 4- to 10-year-olds, the 6-by-4-inch Leapster is sized for little hands and comfortably shaped with safe, rounded edges. The 2-1/4-inch touch screen is ample for most of the gaming activities; although a little cluttered when used for the art and drawing modules. Buttons are suitably placed on either side of the unit for thumb-operated control. The right side features "A" and "B" buttons for selecting settings and answers while the left has a multi-directional gamepad for game play. A pen is also attached for drawing, selecting tools and settings, and dragging and placing objects. The 3-inch backlit display makes games visible in the dark (although parents will prefer that the Leapster is shut off at bedtime) and the animated graphics, while not completely state-of-the-art are well done and suitable for this age range.

As with the manufacturer’s LeapPad products, the Leapster does require the purchase of additional cartridges to expand its capabilities. Kids can choose titles with their favorite characters to play educational games with. The star-studded list of celebrity narrators includes TV personalities, such as SpongeBob Squarepants, Thomas the Tank Engine, and Dora the Explorer; and movie stars, such as Nemo, Cinderella, Ariel (The Little Mermaid), and Batman. Leapfrog’s own cartoon star, Tad, is narrates a few as well. While stocking up on the extra software titles can get expensive, it also gives parents some control and input on which characters they’d like their kids to learn from. And, characters for these titles are appropriately matched to the maturity of the targeted grade level (pre-K through 4th grade).

Starting up or hitting the Home button takes players to the main menu. There is one staple pre-loaded game that children will likely come back to again and again. Rabbit River is based on the Frogger game format, but with an additional learning element. In letters mode, kids guide their bunny to hop floating logs to the other side of the river while jumping on specific letters to identify them or spell out a requested 3- or 4-letter word. In numbers mode, the bunny must land on specific numbers on the logs to skip count by twos or form a correct equation. The other pre-loaded activity is Color Corral, an interactive coloring book designed to boost creative problem-solving skills. This module is like a kid’s version of Photoshop and offers a variety of scenic templates, colors, tools, and moving icons that kids can combine for an infinite number of possibilities. The included manual gives suggestions on how to reinforce these math, reading, and art concepts in the real world. .

Each game offers multiple skill levels so kids can ease into new territory at the beginner level and challenge themselves with more advanced learning problems as they understand the concept. If kids are stumped at any point during a game, they can hit the Hint button and receive a friendly push in the right direction from an animated tutor, Edison the firefly. Edison also appears automatically if kids answer a question incorrectly several times in a row and coaches the child to reach the correct answer. The Pause button lets kids stop the game for a snack break and pick back up again where they left off.

Designed for portability, the Leapster fits easily in a backpack or tote bag and is ideal for more purposeful edutainment on the go, whether it’s a quick game on the bus ride to school or hours of playtime during vacation travel. This learning system runs on four AA batteries or on a rechargeable battery pack when combined with the Leapster L-Max Recharging System (sold separately). Leapster covers this handheld device under a 3-month warranty. --Cristina Vaamonde

The Lamaze Freddie the Firefly offers: Stimulates baby's vision and auditory skills Soft velour body and multiple textures on the wings keep baby engaged Tethered ladybug teether and knotted antennae perfect for chewing

Large eyes. View larger.

Child-Safe Design
Made to be safe for newborns and young children, Freddie features a soft velour body that's ideal for cuddling and busy wings with a peek-a-boo mirror for interactive play. Multiple textures keep your baby interested, encouraging her to explore. Additionally, the rings clink together, and the tethered ladybug teether--which baby can pull out or store in a cute little pocket--and knotted antennae are perfect for chewing. For added fun and to aid small motor development, there's also a ball that squeaks when squeezed.

Freddie comes with a 90-day limited warranty.

Knotties

Click clack rings

Crinkle wings

Squeaker

Mirror

Pull out teether

High Contrast Black and White patterns

What's in the Box
Firefly toy and Lamaze link clip.