This is where the Latches Board comes in. It is a large, solid wooden board with 6 doors. Each door is a different colour, covering the 3 primary and 3 secondary colours, the numbers 1 through 6, 6 different shapes and 6 different animals. In addition, each door has a wonderful, high quality brass latch and is held on with a similarly high quality brass hinge. That is an amazing amount of learning opportunities for one toy and while the price tag is on the high side, as soon as you receive this toy you can see why. This is one that will last and last.
The box recommends this toy for ages 3 years and up however we bought it for Felix at just 20 months as we knew it would perfectly suit his interests. We were right. He took to it immediately and played with it for a solid half hour before taking a break. Right away he mastered doors 3, 4 and 6 as they have the simplest latches. Door 5 with the door chain took another week to master, door 2 another week again and he has yet to master door 1. In fairness the latches on doors 1 & 2 are both fairly stiff and even I find door 1 a bit of a challenge!
Now that the new novelty value has worn off the toy it has cemented itself in with the firm favourites. We will play with it a few times a week. Initially Felix will spend time opening and closing the doors and latches and will soon invite me to play with him; naming and counting the animals behind the doors and naming the colours and shapes.
What toys have you blown your budget on? Was it worth it or did you end up with a serious case of buyers remorse?
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