As any parent will know, one of the joys of having young children is to see their little faces light up on Christmas morning when they first set eyes on all those brightly wrapped presents, and then proceed to rip them open in anticipation - only to end up playing with the box by the end of the day.
Amongst the Santa Sack of delights awaiting my son this Christmas Day morning was an Early Learning Centre Counting Peg Board which I had bought him as a little stocking filler. When I first spotted this in my local Early Learning Centre, it appealed to me straight away. The picture on the front of the box showed a sturdy wooden counting toy which looked well designed, was bright and colourful and would stand the test of time. Alas, it was not to be.
The Aim of the Game =================
The Counting Peg Board is not a game as such, but an attractive looking toy which is designed to help your toddler learn to count. Constructed of a very light pine wood, the Peg Board comprises a 10" base with the numbers 1 -5 printed along the front. Each number is printed in a different colour as follows:-
1 = Blue 2 = Green 3 = Yellow 4 = Orange 5 = Red
Above each number is a round hole into which a peg is placed. The pegs are made up of different colours which correspond to the coloured numbers. The pegs are positioned in order of ascending height. Now, as this is a counting toy, there obviously needs to be something to count, and here is where the beads come in. These brightly coloured wooden beads slide onto the wooden pegs, and again, are colour co-ordinated with the pegs and the printed numbers. Essentially, rod number 1 holds one blue bead, rod number 2 holds two green beads and so on.
Obviously, the main aim of the Peg Board is to encourage your toddler to learn to count by using the various coloured beads. As I have already mentioned, the various parts to the Peg Board are colour co-ordinated which makes the learning process much easier, straight forward and enjoyable for young children. Basically, if young Billy tries to put the three yellow beads on the green peg numbered 2, he is going to have one bead left over, and may therefore realise (in time, and maybe with a little help from mummy or daddy) that he needs to try the next rod along which will quite happily house all three yellow beads. This is a very simply format, but in my opinion, is an excellent way for toddlers to learn.
Design
Now in principal, this is a fantastic toy which is both enjoyable and educational. However, the design definitely leaves a lot to be desired, and from what I can see, a lot of fine tuning should have taken place before this product was put on the market.
First impressions of the Peg Board shout out what a good quality toy this is. The entire Peg Board is made of what looks like a good quality light pine wood and it does look fairly sturdy. Unfortunately, there are two major faults with the design:-
FIRSTLY: Ideally, the base of the Peg Board should, in my mind, be rectangular, and on first inspection, it does look that way. However, and I would add that this is quite difficult to see from the photograph on the box, the underside of the base is slightly rounded, the only flat part measuring approximately ½ an inch. So, instead of lying nice and flat on the table while your child is placing counting beads onto the pegs, the Peg Board not only rocks backwards and forwards, but topples right over, throwing the beads everywhere.
SECONDLY: Those pegs I told you about? Well, I should have mentioned that they are not fixed into the holes. No, they are just placed in. Not so much of a problem, you may think, but the pegs do not fit properly. They are loose. They wobble about. In addition, they are also slightly rounded at the bottom, and therefore, when the Peg Board falls over due to the rounded underside, not only do the beads decorate your living room floor, but so do the pegs.
Due to the poor design of this Peg Board, before allowing our little man to play with his new toy, we had to take a trip to our local Woollies to buy some "Araldite Extra Strength Superglue Plus" to stick those blighters in! It worked!
Age Range =========
The Peg Board is designed for children between the ages of 18 months and 3 years. Personally, I think at 18 months, a child would be a little too young to get the true educational benefits of this toy, but would enjoy playing with it all the same. The Peg Board is said to help develop hand to eye co-ordination and fine motor skills.
Price =====
I paid £10.00 for the Peg Board just prior to Christmas, and having checked the ELC website, the price still remains the same.
Is It Worth The Money? =================
If the design was better and if it didn't fall over at the slightest knock, I would say yes. This is a great idea in principal and, as I mentioned previously, it is an attractive looking toy, but in my opinion, it is no good paying out good money for something that does not do its job properly. Therefore, where the ELC version of this toy is concerned, I will have to say a definite 'NO'. In reality, this cost me £13.00 instead of £10.00 because we had to buy glue to fix the pegs before it could be played with by my 2 year old.
Further Information *****************************=========
If, after reading of my unfortunate experience with this Peg Board, you wish to go ahead and buy one, the ELC catalogue number is for the product is 108806.
Website Address: http://www.elc.co.uk/
Many thanks for reading.
NB* Please note that the manufacturer recommends an age range of 18 months - 3 years, and not 12 - 36 months as stated above. The Ciao options did not allow for an 18 month age group.
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