Overall, I really like this calendar. I bought it to help explain timelines to my 3.5 year old son who seemed to think that everything happens "tomorrow." This was great for being able to show him the numbers of days before an event, however, it would have been nice if it were bigger so that you could put two events on one day. It also would have been nice to include duplicates of some of the events. I'm sure most people's kids have sports practice or dance or music lessons more than once per month. It would be nice to not have to move it around every week so you can truly give your child a glance at what is going on that month. I like and dislike the fact that the magnet holder board is attached. It's a nice feature, but it would be equally nice if you could detach it and hang it separately or off to the side. You want your calendar to hang low enough fro your child to see it, but when you put it down that low, it makes the lower part hang too low and little curious fingers tend to play with the magnets that aren't in use. So it would be nice to be able to detach it and reattach is easily. This would also give you more options of where you can hang it in your house if wall space is limited. Overall, I recommend it for families trying to teach their kids the days of the week and to look forward to future events, but it would not suffice as a long-term family calendar.

LoriBaggett

USA

This product allows children to learn about calendars and the passing of time by letting them use small wooden magnets to identify the month, year, and day. It helps them count by providing the numbers for each date. Melissa and Doug have included holidays, events in the lives of diverse families, weather magnets, and "party" magnets. Your little one will enjoy the fun of arranging and rearranging the magnets to plan events, note events which have happened, and learn! As always, Melissa and Doug's products are well made and durable!

Kbando

Maynard, MA

My mother-in-law gave me her Melissa and Doug Magnetic Calendar last summer, when I decided to homeschool my daughter in kindergarten.  I got it home and was so excited to put it up in the classroom.  I discovered that we were missing a few pieces, so I called Customer Service and told them I needed to order some parts for the Magnetic Calendar and she said they would send me the parts for free if they could find them.  They could not find two numbers, but they found the rest.  I think that is great customer service since I am not sure how old this calendar was.  My daughters love that calendar and look forward to change it out at the end of the month.  They love picking out the different activties we will be doing for that month.  It is helpful, because they know what they have to look forward to.  I would reccommend this calendar to any with kids.  I wish the calendar folded inward so that you can not lose the pieces.

ckk04

Milwaukee, WI

My three year old daughter got the Melissa and Doug Magnetic Calendar for Christmas.  It has been well loved at our house already.  Almost every day now she wants to do the calendar which means finding one or two magnets to put onto today's date.  I try to emphasize the month, day and date while we do this and slowly she is catching on. While I love this calendar because it is brightly colored and very well constructed, there are a few things that I wish were different.  It comes with dozens of magnets - holidays, activities, weather, etc - but I wish that they had given a few more blank magnets (mine only came with one) so that we could create some magnets that our family would use.   The other thing that I do not love about this calendar and wish was different is the fact that you cannot really fit more than one magnet in each day.  I like to do the weather each day with my daughter so if we put the sunny magnet on, it is hard to fit another activity on the square as well.  Because of this I wish the squares were bigger or the magnets smaller. Overall though I think it is a great product and one that we will be able to use for years.

WolgFam

Aurora, CO

My three-year-old daughter is constantly asking questions about time and I was always on the lookout for something that would help her understand basic calender concepts, like months, weeks and special dates. When I found this calendar, I was so excited because it is so well-made and isn't messy like a dry-erase calendar can be.  It has been really fun to put special events on the calendar and have a visual representation to help her comprehend when things will happen. I also was very pleased to discover that that the set includes little magnetic blocks for weather. Each day, we put the word magnets together to make the full date and count how many days until the next big event. Then we look outside, check the weather and place the matching magnet at the top of the board. The pieces are easy for her to manage and are very sturdy. Though I love this set, there were a few things that held me back from giving it a fifth star. First, it needs more blank customizable magnets or more general magnets (like appointment, practice, etc.). There are only two birthday magnets and we have several months with more than one family birthday in them. Also, some of the magnets are so specific that they wouldn't apply to many people. Second, the year magnets for my set only went through 2013 and I plan to use it well beyond that. I wish they had devised a system for constructing the year that would work at least a few years further into the future. Third, I wish the individual date squares held more than one magnet. We have a doctor visit and tumbling the same day but we can only fit one on the spot.  However, we are really enjoying the set and are pretty sure it will be a great learning tool for years to come!  

ChknXing

Des Moines, IA

My daughter is obsessed with being the "calendar helper" at her school, so when I came across the Melissa and Doug monthly calendar, I knew it would be the perfect Christmas gift.  The calendar is magnetic, and it unfolds to show the calendar part and a blank white part.  All the unused pieces can be easily stored on the blank white half, which gives the child a great visual of all the pieces they have to use.  Because the calendar is magnetic, my daughter can play and play with the pieces, but it is easy for us to then put them back in the "correct" orientation to figure out which day it is, etc.  The best part of the calendar is all the special occasion pieces included.  These range from holidays to ballet class to swimming and play dates, etc.  My daughter loves to pretend to plan out her week or month with all these fun pieces.  She has only had the calendar a few days, and she has definitely already gotten our money's worth out of it, with hours of play to come, I am sure!

elizabethbb

Signal Mountain, TN

I like the overall size of this calendar. It is definitely engaging and appealing to look at. My 3 year old is a little young to understand months etc, but I thought this would be a good start for him. He has already enjoyed looking at all of the little magnets with me. I think that the calendar could be improved by including a magnetic marker that you could place on the current day. Then you could say things like, look this is today and it is 4 days until your birthday etc. I like the variety of events and activities that are included with the calendar. However, it is a shame that there is only space to put one on each day. For example, you cannot have that it snowed and that you have a dentist appointment on the same day. There isn't room. Overall though I do really like this calendar. It is very good quality and sturdy. Just need to find somewhere to keep it so all the little pieces don't get lost. I think that this is a great activity to do with kids as you can sit down at the beginning of the month and go over all activities that will be happening. I also think that it is a very educational product.

cliffycon

Smyrna, GA

My almost-two-year-old learned the days of the week and I wanted to give her some kind of visual representation so she could start to see how it works in real life.  Well, she loves to look at the calendar but it's definitely more toward the 5-6 and up age range.  It's fun for me, though, and we added a "today is" to help her get the picture.  For now it helps *,e* stay organized and we keep it safely out of her reach with all of its tiny parts!  If you've never owned any Melissa and Doug toys before, prepare to be addicted because they are an AWESOME company.  The parts on this are very small and easy to lose (although they're sturdy and would be hard to break) but if you ever lose anything just call the company.  Their customer service is unbeatable and they offer replacement parts for their toys at an extremely low cost.  One last word to the wise is that you're gonna have to customize this calendar.  There *will* be magnets you don't use, unless your child plays every sport and practices every religion, so just make those into the ones you need.  Easy with a bit of paper and glue.

AlyssaBrooks-Dowty

Gilbert, AZ