Alex Toys Magnetic Artist Easel

This easel was the hit of Christmas for my 18-month-old nephew.The adjustability of the trays, white board, and chalk board is terrific and I hope the easel will last long enough for him to use it for many, many years.The two trays are large and have very well-designed compartments.The paint tray holds four standard non-spill paint cups (from Melissa & Doug or various other brands) perfectly.The lowest height is perfect for an 18-month old.If your child can walk about, s/he is tall enough to use the easel.

Assembling the easel was not difficult just took some time and I am glad I did it before Christmas.There were two real quality issues.The holes drilled into the legs are countersunk on the backside so that the screws slip in nicely.BUT one of the 4 legs had screws countersunk on the wrong side.Luckily I had a No. 10 countersink, but was worried about compromising the integrity of the leg by added drilling.Had I not had the tools, which are not common household tools, I would not have been able to put the esel together, and there would have been no present in time for Christmas.

The four legs you see are 6 pieces 2 sets of HALF legs joined by a hinge at the top and 4 lower legs that join to the upper leg (hope your screw holes are drilled correcly).Because the four legs are not single pieces, the easel is a wee bit rickety and I fearthat over time, with readjusting the height, the easel will become less sound nd a leg with break.

Also, the colorful plastic safety nuts are really bute, but not designed for long wear and frequent adjustability.The threading is just plastic no interior metal threads.One nut was not threaded well and so I used it on the least load-bearing part.I suppose I could find metal nuts when these wear out, but the colored ones are so cute and safer.

My nephew is not rough, but leaned on the trays to reach the top and he is young and experimental.He LOVED to paint brush in both hands going at the same time.Took a small taste or the red paint and also briefly experienced the feel of painting his leg before he discovered that he could make wonderful designs moving the paint on the paper around with his arms and eventually his face.It was great.He was not rough or destructive, just got his whole self into it.For that reason, I am worried that the legs in 2 pieces screwed together in the center and held with a plastic nut will not withstand the passionate way in which he paints.

An easel is an amazing toy for any child.S/he will share it with friends and other siblings.S/he may use it very often.An easel that is adjustable is intended to grow with your child (or children).And so it should be built solidly to last.An adjustable easel that does not make it long enough to need adjusting is pointless.This easel is made OK, just not as well as it should habe been.My easel growing up did not have a white board, was not adjustable, and not as amazingly cute, but it was TOUGH.You would need an axe to break it.

The chalk board is great I recommend getting a box of several-colored bright chunky chalk.Funny how very youg children who have never seen an easel know exactly what it is for.We were are all greatful for the chalkboard he wanted to paint all the time, so being able to guide him to the chalk came as a relief when we were not in the mood for a painted baby and the chalk is accessible to him at any time.He would wander by it, put a toy down, scribble a bit, experiment "drawing" with the eraser through his drawing, and then leave his masterpiece.He would be back in an hour.

All in all, I am thrilled.He loved to color and finger paint, but it was a project to get the supplies out at his age and required 100% supervision.He didn't think to ask to paint or draw the supplies were put away.With the easel (now in their kitchen) he can create whenever.And he does often picks up chalk as he walks by, scribbles carefully, and goas on his way.Art is so good for his creativity and mind and imagination and the easel makes it so much more accessible just a wonderful thing!

I recommend getting a large set (8 10) non-spill paint cups with lids.Theye have color-coded lids and you can pour pint in them and just reseal the cups so it is easy to set up and clean up.Several brushes with thick handles and bristles.Lots of chunky chalk and an eraser.LOTs of washable paint.Extra rolls of paper.I bought a set of Crayola paints, but they were gone quick the way he lays the paint on.I am thinking of buying the large jugs of paint.

OH the easel does not come with a floor mat as depicted, but a large garbage bag does the trick.But the paint washes off floors and everything else very easily anyway.

SO buy and set up well ahead of time in case you get the defects I found countersunk hole on wrong side and bad nut.Fixable, but you may need to get the tools and hardware to fix them,

The plastic screw caps have plastic threads unlike the Melissa and Doug easel with metal threads. The plastic threads strip very easily and we had to glue several cap back on after transporting the easel to my daughter's house. I don't know if we can find any caps to replace them; will see how long this easel last. It was the only easel with a magnetic white board. I emailed the company on Dec 26 and have yet to hear from them. Very disappointed in the caps, this easel may not last if we cannot replace the caps, if you don't need the magnetic white board buy the Melissa and Doug brand.

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I purchased this easel for my 2 and 4 year olds for this past Christmas.The price is a bit steep for the quality.Some of the screws would not tighten so we had to find one that we had in the house to hold better.Another has fallen out since then so the chalkboard is not completed secure at this point.Also the bars that go on the sides are both for the right side so we had to put one backward which makes folding up the easel a bit awkward.I don't think the chalkboard is the best quality as the chalk does not show up very well.

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I purchased this for my kid's birthday after carefully reviewing the different options on Amazon.It was the most expensive easel but the only one that combined white board, black board and magnetic board.

There are so many things wrong with this item that I returned it to Amazon after a few weeks.

Most of these issues are, in my opinion, related to poor product design.If ALEX TOYS goes back to the drawing board, literally, and fixes these design flaws, they could have a winner on their hands despite the higher price tag.

WOOD FRAME

The whole easel is made of untreated, unstained natural wood. This looked great on paper... but is a horrible idea: any kind of pen or chalk will write on it and the ink from even the most washable pens will stain the wood permanently.Within the first 3 days, the easel was covered in little color marks that are very upsetting considering the price paid.You may not care (after all, it's a drawing easel), but in my opinion this makes it look very dirty and cheap. A workaround could be to coat or stain the whole easel.

TRAYS

The easel comes with two trays: a blue and a red one. They are made of relatively sturdy plastic, but there are only two little holes on the red tray used to attach it to the frame and they are too close to the border.As a result, and unless your kid is old enough to never ever push downward on the dray, it's not a question of if, but just when it will break. Mine broke within the first 24 hours.

BLACK BOARD

Even after having seasoned the black board as indicated several times, I could still not get it to work properly.I'm not sure if it's because it's a low quality board, but the bottom line is that my kid never used it because no amount of chalk will make a drawing contrasted enough to visually stand out.

PAPER ROLL

There's a slit at the bottom of the white board to hold the paper from the roll in place . However, it's not flush with the board, which makes it almost impossible to drive the paper inside of it.I've tried four or five times, each time tearing the paper, then I gave up. This is the biggest defect in my opinion, and something so easy to redesign that it can only mean that ALEX TOYS hasn't tested their product in real conditions.

ASSEMBLY

Not complicated, but very time consuming and frustrating.Depending on the height at which you want to fix the white and black boards, you need to use different size bolts, and the user's manual does a terrible job at clarifying which ones to use.

BOTTOM LINE

I was willing to pay a higher price for a good looking, high quality easel. What a mistake... Ikea's easel (http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/50021076) is much simpler, much higher quality, doesn't require any assembly, has the same feature (except for the magnetic board) ... and only costs $14.99!

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Well, I read some of the other reviews about the chalkboard side of this easel and I should have listened. The dry erase and paint side are AWESOME. I set up the paints/markers in the morning and my daughter enjoys it all day long. As for the chalkboard side, I did what the directions said and more. I used several pieces of chalk and rubbed them horizontially and vertically all over the board, then erased it with a paper towel. I repeated this process 3 times and it's still difficult to write on the board. The board does not grab the chalk. I even used 2 different brands of chalk. I'm thinking about painting it with black chalkboard paint to see if that will work.

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