Review: The Learning Tower

This is yet another post that has been a long-time in the making. Back in June, a beautiful Learning Tower arrived at our doorstep, complete with accessory pack. I was so excited at the thought of Nadia being able to participate in preparing dinners and breakfasts on Sundays. Back then, I was finally in the groove of cooking wonderful healthy dinners every night, but something got in the way of the wonderful new kick I was on: the end of our nightmare kitchen remodel. I say end because we really started the whole process back in March. Long story short, the first guy that was supposed to supply and install our cabinets took our money and never did the work. At the end of June, we finally accepted the fact that he was scamming us and then moved on to find someone else. Good ole' Jarvis, the nice man who purchased our old appliances off Craigslist, was kind enough to finish the job for us. We ordered new cabinets, he installed them, and now we finally have a brand-new kitchen. There's still some touch-up work for my not-so-handy husband to finish, but all the important stuff is in place and ready for lots of fall baking. We've been able to use our kitchen and thus, our Learning Tower for about a month now. What I thought might be kind of fun would be to include some journaling that I've been doing about how we use the Learning Tower at our house. You'll find that it's not just for helping out in the kitchen, we've found some other ways to use it as well.

Friday, August 15th - The kitchen is FINALLY done today, save a few finishing touches! Nadia and I prepared our first meal together in the new kitchen. Lunch. We made peanut butter and jelly. She pushed the Learning Tower up to the counter all by herself, climbed up, and was right there in the action with me. Little Miss Bossy told me which slices of bread to put the peanut butter on and where to spread the jelly. I felt SO much safer with her on the Learning Tower than standing on the plastic Ikea chairs that she was using to get a better look at what Mommy does in the kitchen. The Tower is so sturdy and stable, unlike the chairs. She won't be falling off or falling over anymore.

Tuesday, August 19th - Potty-training is in full effect! We have exactly 5 weeks until Nadia goes to preschool for the full 2 1/2 hours without me in tow. That's when we need to have her "trained" by. She's been doing pretty good so far, but this morning she told me that she went when she really didn't. While helping me make pancakes for breakfast, she inaugurated the Learning Tower with a little shower. Oops. Potty-training lesson #1 learned - Make sure to do a check before allowing Nadia to leave the bathroom. No real harm done though. Thanks to the nice finish, the Learning Tower cleaned up just fine. Only Nadia and I will ever know...

Saturday, August 23rd - Joe let me sleep in today! He and Nadia made breakfast for me. He's been experimenting with different flavors of pancakes; today it was banana nut and blueberry. He told me that Nadia was right there in the action, she got to stir the batter and add the blueberries. She's learned all the rules and is very careful to not touch the hot griddle when she stands on the Learning Tower both when she helps me and when she helps her dad.

Monday, August 25th - New use for the Learning Tower: as a step-stool to reach the forbidden gummy bears we've been using as a bribe for the potty. "But, but Mom, I need one." she says. I thought I heard her moving the tower while I was in changing Isaac's diaper, but didn't realize what she was doing until I caught her in the act. She'd moved it over to the other counter to reach the bag of treats. Note to self: put the gummy bears way up high out of reach of little 2-year old hands! It's amazing how sly little ones can be at such an early age. It is a testament to how kid-friendly the design of the Learning Tower is, though. It feels really stable and sturdy, but is light enough for a pretty average sized 2-year old to push around. This really helps when Miss Independent insists on doing things herself!

Thursday, August 28th - We lost Tadpole! Luckily, not permanently. If you're a little confused, Tadpole is Nadia's very best friend. She's this pink security blanket that I got as a shower gift before Nadia was born. It's the lovie that Nadia chose to bond with. Her original name was Night-Night, but one day, Nadia announced that Night-Night's new name was Tadpole and it's stayed the same ever since. Why Tadpole? Your guess is as good as mine. So, after a very long search, we discovered that Tadpole had been hiding under the Learning Tower. How she got there, I have no idea, although under the Tower is now on my list as one of the potential hiding places for a lost best friend.

Wednesday, September 10th - Thanks to a very successful shift in our potty-training strategy, Nadia has now amassed an entire zoo's worth of Schleich animal figurines. It's working though, she hasn't had an accident in three days. Number 1 and Number 2! I know three days isn't much, but the animals have been a great motivator. Of course, today alone she's collected three for pooping on the potty. Oh well, if it costs us $50 to never have to change another poopy Nadia diaper, it's worth it. She likes setting up her collection on the Learning Tower in the kitchen. The platform is surrounded by a little ledge which ensures her little animals aren't going to tumble off the side. Plus, the platform is right at her height, just like a table, and she can play with her animals out of her brother's reach, but in the same room as I am in while cooking dinner.

Friday, September 12th - We are on a smoothie kick around our house. Nadia was very interested in helping today and used the Learning Tower to climb up and turn the blender on and off, with my supervision of course. She was very excited to report to her Daddy when he got home that SHE got to make the smoothies today.

Wednesday, September 17th - Nadia used the Learning Tower to find the basket full of Ikea bag clips. It's not a big deal, they're harmless, but now spread out all over my living room. It's one of those Ikea purchases that I just couldn't resist. I'm always needing a bag clip for chips, etc., but I don't think I needed 30 of them. Of course, when you can get the whole bag for $2.99, why not, right? As Isaac starts to become more mobile, I'm going to have to remember that he can use the Learning Tower for unintended purposes as well. We'll have to lock down the kitchen like we did for Nadia. Luckily, our house is pretty open; so, I don't envision him climbing on the counters, but I'll have to be careful.

Sunday, September 14th - Seriously, could it rain possibly rain any more? It has been raining for going on three days. We've been cooped up in the house and are about to go crazy. We did find a new use for the Learning Tower, though. We removed the platform and threw a blanket over the top and made a nice quiet little fort for Nadia to play under. She needed a change of scenery. She took some books under there and was quiet for about 30 minutes. It was wonderful!

Thursday, September 18th - I probably shouldn't be writing this because I'm sure that Learning Tower creators would not be happy to know that I used the Tower to reach up on a high shelf today. I'm pretty small; so, I wasn't worried, but it did come in handy. Please don't reprimand me good people at Little Partners, I promise to use the step-stool next time instead. (**Actually, I just learned that The Learning Tower can hold up to 500 lbs.! It was perfectly safe for me to stand on The Learning Tower. Now I won't have to feel so guilty every time I do it.)

Monday, September 22nd - Easy Mac, how I love thee. Well, actually, how Nadia loves thee. She helped me make her delicious lunch of Mac n Cheese with turkey dogs today. I can't get over how excited she gets to help me, but how serious she is when she's doing it. I love it that she no longer has to worry about falling off a chair to when she's helping me. She can completely focus on the task instead.

That was my last entry. I've been trying to keep a pretty accurate journal to make sure that you know that the Learning Tower is for more than just kitchen prep. I obviously didn't include every thing that I wrote because a lot of my notes were simply about how we used it in the kitchen for breakfast, lunch and dinner prep. Nadia is still pretty young, but I think that the older she gets, the more and more we're going to love our Learning Tower. Right now, her attention span for helping Mommy isn't very long. She works for a little bit and then it's on to the next activity, but as she become more able to complete actual tasks for me, I think we'll spend more and more time together working in the kitchen.

On to the official review - based on a 4-star scale:

Functionality *** - The Learning Tower is a very sturdy piece of furniture. I say piece of furniture because that's exactly what it is. You cannot fold it up, or disassemble it easily which means that it will become a permanent fixture in your kitchen. If your kitchen area is small, you might want to reconsider whether or not the Learning Tower would make sense in your home. Luckily, we have a nice little space for ours where it is out of the way of all the cabinets and drawers, but it can easily slide over to the counter when we're ready to use it. It's substantial without being so heavy that Nadia can't slide it by herself which is important to note as well. Anything that Nadia can do to be independent works for both of us. Fewer battles and less time wasted!

You will have to assemble your Learning Tower when it arrives, but my husband was easily able to put it together in a matter of minutes. It didn't appear complicated at all, of course, I wasn't doing the assembling either. He didn't seem to struggle anyway.

The thing that sets the Learning Tower apart from say, using a chair or step-stool to reach the counter top is that the Tower is incredibly stable. It is not going to tip over, no matter what you do. Last year at Christmas, Nadia was helping my mom make cookies, and she completely tipped over off the stool she was standing on. Luckily, she wasn't really hurt thanks to the linoleum floor at my parents' house, but it would have been a different story if she had fallen as hard onto our kitchen tile. The platform has different levels that you can adjust according to the height of your child, or easily remove if your kids need a fort or puppet theater. Definitely a product that will grow with your family. Nadia can easily climb on and off the Tower by herself which helps with her independence as well.

Style ***1/2 - Like I said, the Tower is a essentially a piece of furniture. We have the cherry finish, but I just noticed on the Little Partner's website that you can now get it in a bunch of bright colors like apple green, red, pink and blue. I love the new fun colors and am a little sad that they weren't available a few months ago when we picked out our color. If you aren't into bright colors, you do have a natural wood option in addition to the cherry finish. The design is pretty simple and clean, and despite it's rather large size, I don't mind looking at it in my kitchen at all.

Price **1/2 - Here's the kicker: the Learning Tower is going to set you back a good $180 or more depending on where you buy it and what finish you choose. Now, before you quit reading, think about all the ways that we've used it: as a step-stool for kids and adults, as a stage for play, and as a fort. Some of the other ways that I've read about it being used is as an adjustable desk and as a puppet theater. I can picture Nadia using it as a doll house someday, too. I was always setting up chairs to serve as two-story homes for my Barbies, and I can see Nadia doing the same thing using the Learning Tower. If your child really enjoys being a part of the action in the kitchen, you will know that they are safe from falling or tipping over when using the Learning Tower. Perhaps with all the other uses, you could better justify the expensive price tag. I wish that I could be writing this post from the future, after having had the Tower in our home for many years. I'm guessing that by the time we are ready to hand it off to another family, we will have gotten our money's worth, although I know it's always hard to justify such a large purchase when making it.

We also have the Playhouse Kit accessory which is available for additional cost. The kit comes with 4 signs to attach to the Tower, and a set of red curtains. One sign is to make it a drive-thru, one a puppet theater, one a dollhouse, and one a lemonade stand. Honestly, I'm not sure the accessory kit will get used all that much. Maybe the lemonade stand sign and perhaps the drive-thru, but I don't think a sign to announce that the Tower is being used as a doll house is necessary. The curtains will be cute for Puppet Shows, but these would be easy to whip up on your own for a lot less money. If you're planning on splurging on the Learning Tower, you can probably avoid the Playhouse accessory kit, especially if your children are still pretty young.

Overall Rating *** - A sturdy, well-built product which has many functions. Your children will find lots of ways to use the Tower, and if you look at it as a multi-functional piece of quality furniture, you might better be able to justify the rather expensive price tag. If you have a little chef in the making, you will love this product. It's such a great way to help them more safely reach the counter top and let them really be a part of the action. I know that we'll continue to find fun ways to use the Learning Tower around our house, limited only by our imaginations.

**Where to buy** - You can purchase The Learning Tower from variety of different online and brick and mortar stores. Use this handy store locator link or visit the Little Partners website for more information.