The Learning Tower from Little Partners Inc. is an indispensable piece of furniture once you’ve tried it. You know the type - one you may not have thought to purchase for yourself but once you have it you don’t know how you lived without it.

Kids love to help in the kitchen. Little boys and girls learn invaluable skills by helping an adult prepare meals, do crafts and bake treats, and it’s a lot easier if they can reach the counter with no fear of falling off that rickety old step stool. (For the sake of future wives everywhere, please PLEASE bring the boys in there too! And maybe they can use it to clean the bathroom?) There’s great joy to be found in cooking with kids, but there’s also great frustration and many tears (not just the kids) if you don’t have the right equipment.

The Learning Tower is so much more than a step stool. Designed for children ages two to six, the platform can be lowered as children grow to enable children at any stage to be at counter height and is easy & quick to adjust to accommodate different age children. The sturdy, non-tip construction makes it very safe for toddlers and young children. The platform has four sides for safety and is roomy enough for two kids to be comfortable (and, we hope, working together without fighting? Does it come with something for that?) It’s made of durable sturdy hardwood with a durable high gloss finish that just wipes clean.

It meets all safety standards for home playground equipment, which is nice when you have kids that resemble monkeys (in actions, not looks). It’s, admittedly, a large presence in the kitchen but it’s such an incredible sanity saver that it doesn’t take long to get used to moving around it. We tested The Learning Tower with four kids from 18 months to 4.5 years and there was not one child who didn’t ask their mom to buy them one when they got home. (Well, the 18 month old said “Mama, MINE!” and tried to take it home, but I’d say that’s pretty much the same thing!)

The optional but way cool playhouse kit transforms the learning tower into an imaginative play space like a puppet theater or fort. We took The Learning Tower to a local preschool full of at-risk kids and set it up as a playhouse. The kids fought for turns in it (which we quickly put to a stop, but you get my point) and the creative play that came out was amazing. So amazing, in fact, that we left it there forever.

One piece of furniture that keeps kids from falling, allows them to help so you can keep your eye on them and they’re not flushing your bra and gain valuable skills & independence and keeps them entertained for hours outside the kitchen? I’d say that’s a hit.

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