letters are larger than the plastic

I purchased this toy because my son had lost some of his plastic letters and I liked that there were both upper and lower case letters so you can make more words. My eighteen-month-old boy can already identify many of the letters. Unlike the usual plastic letters, there are only four colors. No orange and purple. Kids like lots of different colors. There is 1 of every letter in upper and lower case included. This is barely enough to spell any words, and of course, very few with correct capitalization. So unless you want to invest in many kits to get enough vowels and repetitive consonants to spell a four letter word (and this set will make you want to)...don't buy this. The quality is horrible. Pressed wood that reeks of formaldehyde with a white paper layer on top and thin color paper (no paint on these). The quality is horrible. Pressed wood that reeks of formaldehyde with a white paper layer on top and thin color paper (no paint on these). The magnet layer is thin and is not cut well, leaving many black pieces out of the box to fall all over the place. The first thing my daughter wanted to do when we got these was spell "mama" and papa" on the fridge. Can't do it...there seems to be only one upper case A and one lower case a, and mixing the two in a word is definitely confusing. I would have assumed most of the extra letters would be vowels. I also dislike the "font", if you will, because the letters don't always seem clear to me or fully representational (like ones you'd print block style if a child asked you to). I think next time I would go with an upper case only set...when she asks me, "What's this letter?" it's a bummer that I don't know whether to tell her it's an L or an I. I'm going to get a new set, maybe with smaller letters for actually making lots of words...she's almost three and I'm not concerned about the choking hazard issue. Honestly...if choking is an issue, your child is too young for the alphabet anyway. I was thrilled to find this toy half-off at a discount store, after putting it on our wish list for our 1 year old. However, she put the letters in her mouth, which made the stickers immediately deteriorate. Otherwise, it's a GREAT toy. She enjoys pulling them off the fridge and was thrilled when she discovered how to stick them back on. We also have a board that covers our fireplace, which we painted with magnetic and blackboard paint (for future use with chalks) and they stick on very well. Our daughter loves playing with these letters, and we can teach her the alphabet, even if she's eaten all the stickers. The good news is there's no risk in swallowing the magnets, because they cover the entire letter. We do keep the small caps for future use, though. They are too small, so we keep them in the box. When we painted our son's big boy room we did part of one wall with a magnetic primer and chalkboard paint. We thought it would be great to get some letters and numbers, but quickly found out the the cheap plastic ones do not stick to the wall (even with 3 coats of the magnetic primer). My in-laws suggested these and they are great! My son (who is 2, almost 3)has been playing with them for about 6 months now and loves them! They are sturdy and they never fall from where he places them. That is a big frustration with other magnets we have tried on his wall. We are planning to get the numbers for him as well. Smooth Fitness 7.35 Folding Treadmill Malem Ultimate Bedwetting Alarm - Blue 1 Tone w/Vibration DEWALT DCK555X 18-Volt XRP 5 Tool Combo Kit - Hammer/Recip/Circ. 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They are colorful and larger

It works great on sheetrock walls with screws or nails. I couldn't do what I wanted: find hidden nails in window frames. Turned out the nails were too small and deep for this. I won't get rid of my electronic stud finders, on tough problems I will probably need them all.

I bought these because I am usually very happy with M&D toys and was trying to avoid buying plastic. These letters were much thinner than I was expecting, and the magnets are pretty weak. They are difficult for my 2-year old to grab. The worst part about them is the colored paper front - I really thought they would be solid wood, painted over. Any drool or other liquid will quickly ruin these, as I quickly found out about ten minutes into play time. I am SO disappointed!

They are colorful and larger then the plastic letters many are accustomed to. But we like that because although we bought these for our three year old, our one year old is drawn to them as well. (I am not saying there are necessary safe for the little ones, but by a mile harder to swallow then the plastic ones of yesteryear.)

There are some signs of wear, a few bite marks. But no peeling like other reviews had mentioned.

We like that they have upper case and lower case letters so that we have the ability to create words like Jello or Eggs.
The magnet part is the whole back of the letter so they stay stuck really well. They hold papers on the fridge with great reliability but still are easy to unstick (even for little fingers) when you want to move them around.

I was expecting better quality from Melissa and Doug since I have some of their other products.
These DO NOT fall into the better made quality I am used to. The letters which I thought would be all wood are not.
They have a paper coating which will come off with use. But the part I hate the most is the acrylic sliding cover that comes off wayyyyyyy to easy. All the child has to do is tilt the box just a little and the lid slides right off as well as all the letter we just put back in the box! This could have been prevented by just putting a little lip on the lid so it locked into place just a little but still allowing the child to remove and replace the lid. Since these are not going to last long and the price was ok, I will replace with better quality ones later.

Fridge Letter Magnets are wonderful. My three year old enjoys learning to spell new words while Mom is at work in the kitchen. We enjoy these together. However, you'll need two sets of these, as they only include one set each of uppercase and lowercase letters. These are durable and are packaged in a small wood box for future storage. An old-fashioned favorite all young children enjoy.
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