Construction set

I have a few dad's in my center who work in construction. So, when I saw this item I knew it would be perfect for some of the children in our center. I can actually name off 4 children off the top of my head who will greatly enjoy this. I was pleasantly surprised when it came yesterday to see how good it actually is. There are so many fabulous parts and the pieces all look sturdy enough for the classroom. There are some very small parts, so this will probably never see the inside of my 2 year old classroom; but my threes and fours will have a blast with this. I'm sure some of the smaller parts may bend and break eventually; but I consider that reasonable wear and tear.

Now my praise for Discount School Supply: Their orders always come very fast! The order was put in Friday and the entire order was delivered yesterday. That's less than 2 business days! When the order came I went through everything. one of the tractors had the bucket broken off. I contribute this to the shipping and handling. The boxes were pretty beat up when they got here and the set was at the bottom corner of one of the boxes, so I am sure that this is where the damage happened. When I called to let them know, I was planning on them just sending me the replacement tractor. No, they are sending me an entire new set! I don't have to send back the set I just received either. Now that's customer service! I have experienced the same thing with other orders in the past with Discount and have always been impressed.

Set of play dishes

I had a set of these in the classroom with my last classroom as a teacher. I got them here. I think the first day one plate broke. After that, the set lasted until I left. I don't know if it's still there; but I would think it has lasted. I am a firm believer in trusting children. You give them things to use, show them how to use it respectfully, and everything will be fine. 90% of the things that broke in my classroom (sound bottles, picture frames, dishes, etc...) was because of me, not the children.

So, these dishes are sturdy. The stand up to the accidental droppings on the carpet. When they do break, it is usually into large pieces that are easy to clean up.

I would say that if you are just starting out in trusting children and want to give yourself some practice in trusting them, this is a great item to start with. Plus it's reasonably priced. I tell you, once you begin to trust children, you will do most of your classroom supply shopping at IKEA. They have some GREAT things!

Another Recal!

There have been a lot of recalls lately. The majority of them have been for lead paint. I told you a while ago about the recalled paint brushes. This week it is a growth chart. What's nice is that the suppliers keep track of the things that we have bought in the past years so they notify us personally. I have taken to checking this site daily to see what else is recalled. There are things that parents will donate to the center that have been on that list. There have also been things that I know the parents have bought and so I post it for them.

Apparently it's the black paint on this item. Of course, the only danger to the children is if they are licking the paint, but you never know! I can say that we purchased this so long ago that it is no longer in use anyway. I will probably not be calling the 800 number for my refund. We got good use out of it, we used it enough to make it worth the cost. It wouldn't be right of me to ask for that refund.

Responsible dealers

We got these in the mail the other day from Discount school supply. Why? Well, these were reacalled for high levels of paint in the handles, so they did the responsible thing and offered a replacment. The great thing about it is that we had ordered these shaving paintbrushes so long ago, before I was even here, that half of them were either tossed or no good anyway. I have to give Discount School Supplies a big star for being so resonsible that they went back into their past orders and contacted us. When I called, they even knew how many I had previously ordered. So, they sent us two sets of the stubby chubby brushes to replace the shaving brushes.

I have to say, the stubby chubby brushes are great! They are a great size and perfect for making globs of paint on easel paper. I'm anxious to see how well they hold up in the classroom, but I have a feeling that these will soon become a classroom favorite!