Latches Board product reviews

I first came across this puzzle board, at the last daycare centre I worked at where my manager had purchased this for the babies room. It was a real hit with the children who were really into opening and shutting doors at the time and were curious about how things worked, so this was a great little investment which fuelled their brains and encouraged their thinking.

Last year for Christmas I decided that I wanted to purchase one of these for my daughter who was almost 1 and a 1/2 at a time, it was proving very difficult to source one as I couldn't remember what the name of the product was but I soon managed to come across one at Nurtured. The price was $49.99 but I thought it was well worth it for the enjoyment have seen children get out of it.

On Christmas day she opened this up and her Dad automatically said that this was the best present we had got her. My daughter loved it, the bright colours were very inviting and made her want to explore it some more. The board is made from a nice strong wood, and sits nicely on the carpet or on a table top without moving around, making it nice and easy for little hands to use.

There are 6 brightly coloured doors, each one a different colour and with a number from 1 to 6. Each of the doors has a different type of golden latch or lock which you open to reveal animals. The locks are quite big so are easy to open and shut for children, a great way to build on there hand-eye co-ordination and also their manipulative skills. This board provides so many different experiences and is a great educational learning tool, it teaches colours, counting, number recognition, animals and animal sounds.

The only problem you may face as a result of this toy is that your child may become an expert at working out how to open even the trickiest of locks and latches around your house .

My daughter got this puzzle out brand new from our local library recently.

It is on a nice strong wooden board, which does have to stay put either on the ground, or nicely laid out on the table.

The golden locks are quite big, and the latches too, so that her little hands were easily able to work the locks and latches to open and closed positions.

I grade this Melissa & Doug Latches Puzzle Board A+++ , it is a safe puzzle, its vibrant, has an excellent selection of latches to work with, and the best thing i found was, lots of kids came around and loved the latches board too, and i didn't have to worry about them wrecking it, as it is reliably sturdy, and not something that can easily be carried about by little folk, but instead respected and in awed with from little eyes!

Totally love Melissa and Doug products!

I absolutely love this "puzzle board" and so does my two year old daughter. At this stage she can open 5 of the locks, the only lock she can't open is number 2 as it is very stiff. The colours on the board are very vibrant, and I think this is a great teaching tool not just for counting, but colours and animals too, as under each door is a number of animals hiding just waiting to be counted. ie: 2 blue dogs or 6 orange fish.
The only issue I have is that it teaches children to open locks, so if you find this a bad thing then it's not the toy for you. But you never know, your child might need to unlock a door one day to help save a life.