Holiday Shoppers Guide

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.