Melissa & Doug Lace and Trace Activity Set: Pets - 5 Wooden Panels and 5 Matching Laces

My 6 and 3 year old love this toy. My 3 year old wanted something similar to my 6 year old’s sewing kit. She thought this was perfect! My 6 year old even sometimes prefers it! I find it relaxing myself. Helps with fine motor skills and keeps them occupied for an hour, plus! Love that the string colors match up to the animal! Perfect size for little hands.

Our 2yo granddaughter loves these. She looked at me like was stupid at first, like “Umm, what do you expect me to do with THIS?” LOL Y'all, it was hilarious! After I showed her and helped her do a couple she sat for the longest time quietly playing with this set. She’d bring them to me to pull the laces out for her so she could weave them through the holes again. She plays with them every time she comes to visit Nene & Pepaw. Melissa & Doug hasn’t made anything we’ve disliked in our home or that our kids or grandkids haven’t enjoyed.

This activity set is a big hit! The designs are super cute and easy for little hands to use. It’s a great mix of fun and learning, helping with fine motor skills while keeping kids entertained for a long time. Everything feels well-made and durable, and it’s perfect for quiet play at home or on the go. Definitely a great value and a fun gift idea!

I bought the M&D Lace & Trace Pets AND the Lace & Trace Farm for my almost-4-year-old. As I type, she's having a ball with the pets set. I can see hours of enjoyment coming, and I can certainly see that it's going to be a challenge for her hand-eye coordination skills -- something all kids need to develop. Speaking as an adult, I am absolutely tickled pink to have found sets of cut-outs that are made of something that's not going to bend or tear, like the ones I had when I was a kid. These cut-outs are sturdy, 1/8" thick wood. It's going to take a lot more than general wear and tear to ruin these puppies! In fact, I can even see getting them out for my grandchild(ren) to play with one day. They're that well-made. On that score, I give them a full five stars and would give more if possible. The laces, though, are rather another story. After less than an hour's play time, they're already showing signs of wear. They're made of some sort of braided nylon-type material that snags a little too easily on just about anything (including the pre-drilled holes in the wooden cut-outs), so I'm already reminding my preschooler not to let the cat play with them. Though they're color-coordinated with the edges of the cut-outs, my daughter hasn't noticed and probably wouldn't care if she did; I'm sure I'll be able to replace the laces pretty easily if they get too snagged and ratty. Still, it would have made more sense to make them out of something less "snaggable." One last thing would have made this a fully five-star item in my book: Some sort of lid on the box, or perhaps a soft-sided carrying tote. These sets come in a flat wooden box with two compartments -- one for the cut-outs, one for the laces. While the laces and cut-outs do fit back into the box with little trouble, there's nothing to KEEP them in the box -- no lid, no straps, nothing. If it had come with some sort of lid, problem solved, but I think I'm going to have to buy some sort of tote that zips or snaps shut, so my daughter can keep everything in one place easily. Still, as I said before, this is one heck of a durable set of cut-outs. I am very happy with the purchase and, more the point, so is my daughter!

Much higher quality then a lot of the other lacing cards that we own!! Great cardboard thickness that (so far) hasn't gotten too bent by multiple uses like the other lacing cards we've owned. Cute shapes. These are a little too hard for my three year old to do (he just turned three) but my 6 year old STILL loves these. Perfect age range would probably be 3.5 years to 5 or 6. Only recommendation for Melissa & Doug is that they should come in a better storage box. They have little wooden crate but it's open at the top so the kids loose the card and laces. I'd LOVE for this to automatically come with storage box that closes. Maybe a cute cardboard one where kids can open and close the lid? We've currently dumped them out into a plastic tupperware-ish type storage bin.

This is a plain ol' great toy! First of all~no batteries required!!! I have childre from ages 8 to 3 playing with these and they all have their own way to make it fun. It really has helped with my 3 year old's small muscle coordination, and the 8 year old has stopped stabbing her finger with a sewing needle since she has started practicing with these! I would highly recommend these to anybody whose child may need a little help in their hand/eye coordination. They are made out of very durable wood and the strings match the outer edge of each animal. You won't go wrong with these! PLUS they are made in the U.S.A! Hooray! I love all of Melissa and Doug's toys.

We just got our set of pets to lace and sew. My baby is 23 months old, and he likes doing it for a few minutes while I help him with it. Then he says he's done because it's a little beyond his ability. He has seen me sewing, so I thought he might enjoy it. He tends to poke the string in but he has trouble figuring out to grab it on the other side; it may take a while before he gets that. He does the same thing with the large wooden beads we string. Other people write that the holes shred the string, but I didn't see that happening at this point. The pets are even larger than I expected, and that is nice for his hands. I will store it in the box it came in, even though it doesn't have a lid. It has 5 strings in blue, orange, green, and red, which matches the edges of the pets. I guess some kids could get the string around their neck if unsupervised.

Our 3 year old loves these! They are fun and colorful so he enjoyed mixing and matching!! Great purchase and addition to his easter basket this year.

Excellent activity for the kids to do. Well made

My 2 year old loves these

Great! My 2-year old loves it and can keep him entertained for about 10 minutes but he gets bored past that and thus can't complete it in one go.

Muy lindo material y acabado.

Great item and kids love it.