Melissa and Doug Cutting Food Box

We purchased this item for our then 20-month-old daughter to go along with her KidKraft Large Kitchen and, although I thought it was super cute, it was largely ignored for months. Now, at 2 1/2, my daughter loves this toy and plays with it frequently. It is a great toy to keep her occupied while mommy makes dinner, and it encourages an interest in veggies (an area in which my daughter needs all the encouragement she can get!) Overall a terrific toy, but probably a bit advanced for most 2 year olds, so you may want to pay attention to the "age 3 and up" label on this one.

This toy is quite nice. My son got it for his third birthday and has been playing with it a lot. It's neat that it actually makes a noise that sounds like cutting a vegetable because you have to slice through the velcro. I will say that it's a little hard for him to cut the tomato because it's kind of small and hard to hold while cutting it. And he hasn't quite figured out how to put them all back together. It's kind of a puzzle, too! I have a friend who has had them for a while, and she says her paint is chipping off and starting to look pretty bad. And it seems like the velcro could wear out pretty easily. It wouldn't be that bad to glue more velcro circles on it, but I think it would be hard to paint it and match the paint exactly. He's only had it for a few days, but it's a hit so far! He also really likes the pizza kit and the sandwich-making set.

I bought this for my son when he was about 18 months old and he abolutely loves it! It holds his attention 2 to 3 times longer than most toys. He loves the crunching noise made by cutting through the velcro. In addition, despite the vast number of blocks, books, toys etc. that I've purchased to help him learn colors.....this toy has proven to be the best tool we've found. The colors are vibrant and the pieces are very sturdy. We've loved every Melissa and Doug item we've purchased. I just ordered the sushi set and can't wait to get it.

This toy was brought to my house from my sons speech therapist. He took to it right away. The food makes realistic cutting sounds as the food velcro is separated. Since then we have bought the fruit as well. He has learned the names of the food verbally and in sign language. We have now bought this toy for all of his friends because when they come over they all want to play with it. Fantastic toy.

We purchased the Melissa and Doug Cutting Food Box along with the Melissa and Doug Wooden Sushi set for our sons at Christmas.

Here's four reasons we enjoyed this toy so much:

1. It was perfect for quiet play and indoor play during winter.

2. We reinforced good eating habits during meals with the playset.

3. Our sons learned a lot of vocabulary, especially verbs like cut, slice, chop, and mix.

4. Our sons had lots of FUN playing with the food box!