Melissa & Doug Locks & Latches Board Wooden Educational Toy

Product Information

He loves to open the doors and listen to the sounds that the metal pieces make as he tries to put them back together. Probably a bit early for him but he occasionally plays with it though he can't open all the latches yet. She feels so proud and accomplished when she unlocks each door, and is already working on learning to luck them back up.

This latch puzzle is very solidly made and has a variety of different type latches to capture the imagination.Latches and hindges are not sharp and don't catch on other items that come in contact with the board. And if you want to see for yourself, here’s a short clip of Clara opening her latch board on Christmas morning.

I taped off the edges with painter’s tape and then used some leftover Dark Mahogany stain to give some color to the top (I also beat up the top a bit beforehand to make it look a little weathered). She still needs help on some of the latches, but after a couple more weeks, I think she'll have them down!It captured my great-grandson's attention immediately and kept him occupied for a long while as he opened and closed the latches repeatedly. Children can also play simultaneously making it versatile depending on the ages and cooperation level of the children playing.

Even with older kiddo's I wouldn't let them play with it unsupervised because even an adult could pinch a finger with this particular latch. The wood piece shown above was just a scrap piece of plywood that we were using to temporarily figure out our desired board size. I was expecting them to be a lighter metal and not constructed as strong as it was- many other toys from other companies just do not compare to this!Once my daughter gets her hands on it, she does start playing with it, and is pretty focused on it, but she's barely 18 months and this toy is probably better suited for older children (perhaps 2 or 3) who can figure out how the different latches lock and unlock the doors. Also, have a look at our soft booklet toy with locks and latches that you can easily take with you on a trip. The toy continues to hold his attention, llikely because some of the latches are easy, but some are more challenging.