stamp sets

[*Becky*]

Do your lo's like them? M got some money for xmas and am thinking of buying her one as we don;t have anything like that. I have seen a few melissa and doug ones - any particular ones your lo's like?

[cuckoochick]

C loves them. She got a cheapish set from boots last Xmas and enjoyed them but the stamp pads didn't last log and I've read that about the Melissa and Doug ones (I love everything Melissa and Doug!!) so you'd probably need to replace the stamp pads quite regularly.

If you do order any let us know how you get on. I'd like some alphabet ones as C can get frustrated writing bit wants to make words but gets cross if her letters aren't well formed but she doesn't have the motor skills for perfect letter formation just yet nor I the inclination to teach her!

[creations]

I'd like to tag along as I've been looking on and off at other stamp sets but not chosen any yet.

DS loves the letter stampers he has. I picked them up at The Range, 3 sets (so 3 different fonts, one is upper case, one lower and one is a curlicue type fancy letters).  They were smaller than I had planned on getting but actually turned out to be brilliant, great for fine motor and because they are quite small we can fit "Happy Birthday" etc onto a card without difficulty which I think would be hard with larger letters.  DS likes to have a real purpose to his 'work' so making birthday cards for friends is more his thing than stamping for the joy of it iyswim.
I'm having a hard job remembering if I got them last year or the year before but certainly he has had more interest since turning 2 and they've been used regularly this year.  Can't find them on the Range website but they are basically like these:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Dovecraft-Mini-Alphabet-Rubber-Stamps-30-Wood-Mounted-Stamps-Per-Set-/181254182623?var=480290390961&_trksid=p2054897.l4276
The packaging is less attractive than the Melissa and Doug but they work and depending on your budget you could get several sets of letters, shapes, messages, ink pads and blank cards or paper stock for the same price as the M&D set.

Ink pads in the Range come in different prices, I don't really know the difference between them but was very surprised that I was able to choose several colours for a fraction of the cost of whatever the other brand was.  Worth shopping around, they don't seem to be on the range web site either but I know they still sell them, and it's better to get the grown up type ink pad rather than a little kiddie one that is poorer quality and doesn't last.  Ours have not run out after a full year of stamping.

[creations]

Oh I also got a couple of other little wooden stamps from the The Range which were in a bargain bin, about 50p, one of them was 'Merry Christmas', it was pretty rubbish, we could make a nice-ish pattern with it but it was more of a square of ink colour and the text barely showed up.  No wonder they had them reduced as no one wanted them!

[*Liz*]

Jacob always uses letters backwards!! Although he can write simple words. He reverses them after looking at them.

The Melissa and Doug ones are lovely but do end up in a jumbled up heap  .

Megan has the princess set. Yes. They work well  .