Hellobee Boards

My LO is 18 months and loves it. We did the ikea hack and have the ikea play pots and utensils. She loves playing with them while we cook. She can climb up and get out herself which is nice. She uses it multiple times a day, whether we are cooking or not. I sometimes will give her play-dough or crayons to play with on it at as well.

We love ours. It's the One Step Ahead one. LO used it tonight to help with laundry. It gives him access to places he's too small for but safely.

Never heard of learning towers but now I am going to be looking them up for hours haha

We planned to do the Ikea hack, but LO did fine with just standing on the stool. We use it every day!

@shopaholic: I'm torn on it. We have the Little Partners learning tower, and I love it because it's sturdy and I don't have to worry (as much) when LO is standing in it (she had a bad tumble from a regular step stool). The only thing is - this thing is SO HUGE. We have a pretty big kitchen, but it's still constantly getting in the way. It's really annoying because I keep tripping over it as I'm trying to cook. Plus it doesn't fold up so I just leave it in one section of the kitchen and it takes up so much room. If I had to do it again, I think I would get something smaller (not sure if there's anything smaller out there) and one that folds up. It's nice that it's sturdy and safe, but it's such a huge monstrosity

We use ours every day, multiple times per day. We have the Anna White one, friends built it for us. Both sets of grandparents now have one after seeing how great they are.
I loke that she can get in and out on her own. She plays much longer when she is up with us for some reason. We also use it for most snacks. She knows she can eat and drink in her tower and we dont end up with food all over the house.

We use ours every day. We have the little
Partners one in green with chalkboard attachment. Worth every penny!

@shopaholic: I couldn't pull the trigger for the price and size of a learning tower so we went fir a more budget approach. We just got a set if foldable steps for the bathroom that we bring to the kitchen for cooking. It has worked out great! We got our last fall I think and LO is now 2 1/2.

Less than $30 on amazon right now. Here is the link:
http://www.amazon.com/Range-Kleen-SS2-Double-Stool/dp/B007EEG7M0/ref=sr_1_12?ie=UTF8&qid=1403992348&sr=8-12&keywords=step+stool+folding

What is the IKEA hack?

@Espion: http://www.ikeahackers.net/2013/03/lucys-learning-tower.html

I think LO would love one because she loves to see what I'm doing but we have no space for something like that!

@Happygal: You could use it in the bathroom as a stool I guess, but ours lives in the kitchen. It's really too big and clunky to be moving around. Ours pretty much stays at the end of our peninsula.

@Happygal: safety. If they stand on a chair, the likelihood of them falling over is much higher than in this tower. The tower keeps them safe. They can lean over and even mess around in it and you don't have to worry about them hurting themselves.

When do kids outgrow the learning tower?

@Happygal: We just use ours in the kitchen but it gets SO much use. My daughter is 3 and eats her breakfast, lunch and snack in it every day. Because she is standing at the counter I can be working in the kitchen at while she's eating and still talk to her and help her easily. We all sit together at the table for dinner but she really prefers the tower during the day.

She also uses it while I'm cooking so that she can stand next to me and help. I'm worried about what happens when DS is old enough for it - I can't imagine having room for 2! I guess DD can stand on a chair but she really loves the tower. She can move around all she wants and have a much bigger space to stand on.