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We received our John Crane Tidlo double-sided easel from the Wooden Toyshop, and I was very impressed by the super-fast delivery.
It arrived flat packed and I was a little concerned about how light the package was, I thought that once assembled it would be flimsy and easily pulled over by my 19 month old. However my concerns were misplaced as once I had assembled it, it looked and felt like a really good quality toy.
Easy
The assembly itself was very easy, it only required the use of a Phillips screwdriver, there was very little to do and was so self-explanatory that instructions although useful were hardly needed.
Once we had opened the outer packaging Emily squealed with delight when she saw the picture on the box and could not wait for me to get it out and put it together, luckily it only took me about 10mins.
How
Our children, Emily just turned three and Ashley 19 months love to draw, chalk and colour, so this toy although rated age 3+ was perfect for them. Being double sided it meant that they could use a side each without fighting. Emily loves the whiteboard side as not only can she draw on it using whiteboard felts but it is also magnetic which means she can use her alphabet fridge magnets on it too. She spent hours drawing pictures and rubbing them out with a cloth. Ashley preferred the chalkboard.
It's
The roll of paper at the top of the easel pulls down over the chalkboard and is secured loosely at the top by a piece of wood. However there is nothing to grip it at the bottom so it has a tendency to try and roll back up again and if the children press to hard while drawing or painting the paper starts to unroll.
The shelf underneath is really useful to keep the chalks, crayons, magnetic letters etc on, and just comes out far enough to catch any drips of paint. However because it is fixed it prevents the easel from being folded up for storage so you need a large space to keep it in or remove the shelf after each use.
I can see this toy being used for a long time to come especially by Ashley as he is that bit younger, however he is quite tall for his age and is almost the same height as Emily. As it is now the easel is a perfect height for both of them, I’m not sure if they will find it as easy to use when they grow taller.
There are a few changes that could be made to this toy, and that is that there could be a better way of securing the paper for drawing and painting on, The legs could be made extendable so that it can be used for even longer and it could be made to fold for better storage. Although these changes may improve the toy it is still a good toy.
All in all my children love this item and get hours of fun out of it and happy children means happy mum and dad.
Happy
This product retails at £34.95 and I feel it is great value for money. I would recommend this to friends and family, and on a scale of 1 to 5 I would give it a 4.
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