Dear Mummy, as you know we are big fans of Melissa & Doug toys! We buy a lot of our items discounted from Achica online. Melissa & Doug is an American manufacturer and purveyor of children’s toys. The company was founded by Melissa and Doug Bernstein in their basement in 1988 and they sell their toys throughout the world. They produce all sorts of toys from fancy dress, to train sets, to arts & crafts!

This week we are reviewing Melissa & Doug Wooden Fridge Food and Melissa & Doug Sandwich Making Set.

The first set is called Wooden Fridge Food and contains 9 pieces of carved wooden items, we bought it for £9.99.

It contains:
1) Milk
2) Orange Juice
3) Butter
4) Swiss Cheese
5) Peas
6) Strawberry Yoghurt
7) Ice Cream
8) Ham
9) Waffles

It seems very Americanised and probably because Melissa & Doug are an American Company. The wooden items are painted and waxed in colourful brights and their edges are rounded slightly and not sharp. It shapes are very tactile and I love holding them and putting them in my mouth. Great for role playing, I have a little shopping bag that I carry around and I pretend that I am doing my weekly shop. My mummy also asks me to identify each food item, the colours on the packaging and to count each item which as a great additional learning activity.

The other Melissa & Doug set that I have is the Sandwich Making Set which comes with 16 pieces. We bought it for £9.99. The attention to detail is amazing on this set and even the bread has coloured shading on the edges which makes it look real. I also love the wooden packaging tray that it came in, as I use it to serve the food on, very 1950’s looking! All the wooden elements stick together with hook & loop and make it easy for small fingers to add and subtract the ingredients. I love making sandwiches!

It contains:
1) 4 x Bread Slices
2) Burger Bun
3) Burger
4) 2 x Tomatoes
5) Gherkin
6) 3 x Cheeses
7) Knife
8) 2 x Lettuce
9) Ham When combined these two sets make a fabulous collection! We have great fun playing shop and pretending to be on a picnic. I love preparing sandwiches with the bread and butter and using the knife to spread and cut up the slices. I like making daddy a burgers and pouring him an OJ. I also use the cartoon of milk to make tea.
What a fabulous range of role playing toys. Melissa & Doug do other sets of wooden food and I can’t wait to add to my collect. Hopefully next time it will be ice cream or cakes!

Love Bella x