Pound & Roll Tower

www.melissaanddoug.com

There are a few toys that every kid needs. One of them is a shape sorter like I talked about here and another is some kind of pounding-with-a-hammer toy. There are tons to choose from but for the pounding toy I would highly recommend the Pound & Roll Tower from Melissa & Doug. The tower says that it’s for ages 2+ but we gave it to Little Moxie when she was 13 months and she took right to it. Sometimes we help her by pushing the balls down a bit so that it doesn’t take as many whacks but she certainly picked up the idea of beating the heck out of them until they fall down the tower. I was afraid that because of the age suggestion this would have to go back in the closet for a while, but it has been great and tons of fun. From the look of other reviews I think that most people would agree that most kids don’t need to be two in order to catch on.

Pound on!
I like toys that do more than one thing. Not all toys are going to be all that educational, I get that, but if you can add education to the toys and have them still be loads of fun so that the kido doesn’t know that there’s learning involved, that’s ideal. The Pound & Roll Tower by Melissa & Doug accomplishes lots of fun while simultaneously facilitating learning. Each side of the tower is a different color; red, green, yellow and blue. There is a corresponding ball for each side so when putting the balls back up we can talk about matching the colors, love that. Then when a ball gets hit down it clacks down the tower creating an auditory association with the visual falling of the ball. As soon as the clacking starts she looks for it to come out of the side at the bottom. Of course the hammering of the balls is great for hand-eye coordination (you have to get them ready for video games somehow right!) Really though, it is very good to begin to teach them how to connect the front of the hammer with the ball that they are aiming for and they are rewarded by the ball falling, clacking and coming out the side. You can also have them aim for a certain color which helps with following directives. The toy is made of wood and coated in paint and a coating. The safety conformity report can be found online stating that all of their materials for this toy comply with all required safety standards. Lastly, the hammer will indent the top of the toy, but all it does is add character and show how loved the toy is!

You can find purchase this toy directly from Melissa & Doug or from Amazon at: Pound and Roll Tower by Melissa & Doug