Extending our Melissa and Doug toy family

I wouldn't say we love Melissa and Doug toys but we like them a bit more than Hapé and unfortunately, there is not much other choice in Estonia. Ok, Goki, but I don't like shop assistants working in Looduspere, they should be much much nicer for the money I spend there. 

I guess it was in August when I had an urge to buy some more toys because nothing seemed to make him happy, so I bought this cutting fruits. He is able to cut the banana and the melon. The other ones are still too difficult. Contrary to that, he can use force to dismantle the other fruits. He is also trying to put it back together. It is still not an activity he would choose often, but I can sense he will enjoy it a bit later when his fine motor skills improve a bit more.

I sometimes read that this is a totally pointless toy, one should rather let the child cut real fruit. We do it with bananas, but this is clean and can be repeated over and over. 

Together with the fruits, I bougth him this stamping set, 4+. At the beginning it seemed like he is really too young for it, he tried to draw with the stamps, but lately he has figured it out and is stamping like crazy. He needs assistance as he closes the ink box and cannot open it on his own. And of course, he has to be supervised where he is stamping because...well, cleaning the carpet or dog is not fun. He also likes to play just with the stamps, take them out, put them back in, say "brm-brm-brm" or "sh-sh-sh".

Finally, the newest member of our Melissa and Doug family, a huge bead maze to replace the simple one we used to have.

The simple Melissa and Doug bead maze, which was replaced.

The new, more challenging bead maze.

I noticed him playing a lot with the simple bead maze like two weeks ago, then we visited several institutions where they had the IKEA one (where did they get it if there is no IKEA in Estonia???No fair) and he would spend 20 minutes playing with it on his own. Mother's dream. Seriously. So it was decided we HAVE TO buy him something bigger and more complicated. Got a really good deal on this one, bought it from a woman whose child didn't play with it much, but it was still half-price and in mint condition. We usually buy him new toys because people usually don't sell used toys which would go with what we believe in...and also we are lazy to look for good deals. Anyway, he loves it. And that's what's the most important.