Developing Creativity With The Melissa And Doug Easel

Creativity in toddlers helps them to develop mentally and emotionally. Developing creativity in your toddler is an important part in helping them grow and learn how to analyze and solve problems. It’s so much more than coloring. It’s building a life long skill.

From very early on Lucas showed an interest in art through coloring. After an incident in which we found his artwork all over the hallway walls his grandmother figured out the perfect gift.

She got him the Melissa and Doug Easel.The easel features a chalkboard on one side and a whiteboard on the other. It also comes with clips so you can clip paper to it for paints, crayons, or markers.

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Why The Easel Is Perfect For Developing Creativity

Kids go through coloring books and coloring pages like crazy. This is all well and good until they happen to run out just at the same time that you paid rent. The chalkboard on the Melissa and Doug Easel is great to continue developing creativity in your toddler.

This easel grows with your kid both in height and activity. While a chalkboard is awesome no matter what age the other side gives you options for both paper and crayon, use as a white board, or paper and paint.

There are so many different mediums you can use with this easel. Which makes it perfect for your child to explore their creativity for years to come.

How To Encourage Your Child To Draw

Just start drawing with your child. Put the crayon, chalk, or marker in their hand and physically show them how to draw a circle. They will see the colors and want to try new ones.

Try drawing their favorite cartoon characters, if you need help search YouTube for how to draw them. Your child will get an absolute kick out of you drawing the image of their favorite cartoon. Lucas loves when I draw Sarah and Duck on his chalkboard.

Take time daily to draw with your kid showing them different shapes, letters, and numbers. As your child learns to draw them they will also start connecting words to the drawings. If your child has a speech delay this is a great way to help them to learn new words.

As your child starts drawing daily you will notice that they will start doing it on their own more and more. We do not have to worry about timing screen time with our son because we give him strong creative outlets.

Your toddler wants to learn, wants to explore their creativity, and wants to test their limits. Give them what they want and then they will move from activity to activity on their own.

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Why You Will Love Melissa and Doug’s Products

What makes Melissa and Doug’s products unique is they aren’t made with cheap plastic and they aren’t noisy and electronic. They are real wooden toys that encourage imaginative play.

I loved it even more when I found out Melissa and Doug are real people and not just a cute name. Melissa and Doug have been together for 30 years and are raising 6 children. They started this business together, built it together, and all with one goal in mind.

Melissa and Doug wanted to create toys that would spark children’s imaginations. The mission is to build toys that can stand up to the destructive nature of toddlers while encouraging children to use their imagination.

The products Melissa and Doug create help with developing creativity in children. Creative play helps to build problem solving and analytical skills.

The Melissa and Doug Easel

When we first got word that Lucas was getting an easel for Christmas we were pretty happy with the choice. When I saw that it was a Melissa and Doug product I was ecstatic. I knew it was a quality product that would stand up against my almost 3 year old little man.

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The Easel Assembly

The assembly process was easy to understand and the instructions were clearly written. All in all it only took about 20 minutes to assemble.

The wood used is sanded smooth so there is no worry of splinters if your child touches the wood. There were no tools needed to assemble it either. The easel came with an Allen wrench and you barely use that for any assembly.

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Additionally the easel allows for height settings. If you have a tall toddler like I do you can adjust the height easily so your kid can reach all areas of the chalkboard and whiteboard.

What Comes With It

You get all the great starting stuff for using the easel right away. A large pad of paper, a marker, an eraser, and chalk. Grandma being grandma went ahead and purchased additional accessories like a roll of paper and the paint set.

While we aren’t playing with paints yet, mainly because I don’t trust my kid to not paint the entire house, I especially look forward to doing that with him. As an artist and painter myself this easel is fantastic for boosting creativity in your toddler or child.

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Toddler Easel

When Lucas started coloring and drawing we had crayons and papers absolutely everywhere. We would accidentally step on and break crayons many times throughout the day. Once we got the Melissa and Doug Easel this, for the most part stopped. While we don’t let him use the dry erase board we can clamp pieces of paper up and he has little holders for all his crayons.

So instead of crayons being strewn all over my living room the toddler easel has encouraged my son to color in one spot. This makes clean up a lot easier, and it protects his poor crayons from his mother stomping all over them.

Final Thoughts

We are extremely happy with the Melissa and Doug Easel. The refill options on supplies are great, the easel is solid with no dangerous paint that will flake.

Additionally, the easel is a great size for our fast growing toddler. The height adjustment options on the chalkboard and whiteboard means Lucas can comfortably draw and express his creativity without issue.

Have you tried any of Melissa & Doug’s products? Let me know what your thoughts are in the comments below. If you have questions about this easel go ahead and ask and I will do my best to answer them. Follow me on Pinterest for more like this and pin this to your products or parenting boards.

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Developing Creativity With The Melissa and Doug Easel