Melissa & Doug 4 Wooden Classic Rainbow Learning Toys

What can I say? These toys are amazing for the kids. They just love playing with them, fitting the pieces together to the applause of their parents, aunts, and grandparents. These are toys that the kids want to continually use and I highly recommend them.

First, I'd recommend that you buy these in store rather than having them shipped because the box was crushed upon arrival. It was only shipped in a bag surrounding the box, so that's not terribly surprising, but it's disappointing if you were planning on giving these as a gift, which is usually the case with kids' toys. Each wooden toy comes shrink wrapped to keep all the pieces together and displayed well. The colors are bright and fun. Some of the wood is polished and treated while some feels more rough like raw wood. The shape sorting cube comes with 12 shapes, with matching holes covering 4 sides. One side slides in and out to remove the blocks and store them when not in use. The gear toy promotes skills including matching colors, matching design (the waves of one gear and the next need to match up), and fine motor skills to remove and replace the gear and twist them. The gears are made of plastic, not wood, though the base is made of wood. The ball on the top of the stacking tower is easily removable and isn't meant to secure the rings in place. The rings are symmetrical and can be placed on either direction for the same cascading effect. The wooden pegs are secured in their holes using clear bumpers, most likely to keep the paint from scratching off. It can be flipped over to hit them in again. I prefer open ended toys for my kids to encourage engagement and creativity so the toy can grow with them, and for the most part these toys fit that criteria. You can roll the rings or pegs down a ramp, or line them up and name them, or stack the blocks in a tower. I think this toy set is a great learning option for kids!