Building with #Melissa&Doug

Yep, age 2 ½ is young for the patience involved in building wooden vehicles, but patience is a good thing to practice for both Grandy and child! This Grandy is completely addicted to some introduction to process and how things work, and Jack is always so proud to show off a finished product. We’ve tried both Melissa & Doug and Creativity for Kids versions and prefer Melissa & Doug for vehicles. The finished product is sturdier and longer-lasting for tyke play. Most toy stores carry their fine products, and they are easily available on Amazon. We have built a monster truck, a jet plane, and a set of rescue vehicles so far. The kits come complete with wooden parts, glue, paints, brushes, and decal stickers – it is so hard to wait for the decal sticker part!!

If you use this link to shop for their products, Melissa & Doug might give a small percentage to support GrandyCamp with no additional cost to you - Thank you! And, that in no way influenced our love of these toys!

It makes sense to paint some parts before gluing (painting wheels before gluing to axles, for example) and to glue some things before painting. The white glue and paint don’t take very long to dry; you just want the moving objects (wheels and propellers) to be secure enough for play. Melissa & Doug encourage creativity with paint, so have fun! Ours look tidy because I usually did a base coat before handing the brush to the 2 ½-yr-old. He did some stickering, and re-stickering, and loved everything to do with wheels and axles, including counting them. We also have a supply of googly eyes we almost always add to a project – he especially finds humor in choosing two different-sized eyes. We have a race car to work on this week!