One of the best features of the Learning Tower is that the platform height adjusts quickly and easily.

When the Tower is actually in your home, you’ll notice that kids of all different ages and sizes love to use it. This is true even if you just have one child–his or her friends will like it just as much as he or she does.

The adjustable height accomplishes two things: it gets kids to the right height for their size, making it easier for them to work, and it adjusts for their weight to keep the center of gravity of the tower low and safe.

The taller the child, the lower you want the platform. That said, the tower really is safe and stable. My eight year old daughter can safely stand in the tower even when the platform is all the way up (though that’s probably because she’s so tall that she’s not really leaning out against the side walls, but rather is reaching over them).

Adjusting the tower is a simple process. You don’t need any tools. All you have to do is lift the platform using the finger holes provided, raise or lower it to the height you want, and slide it into the “hooks” that hold the platform. The hooks are deep enough that there’s no way a child can bounce the platform loose, and it’s impossible to adjust with the child on it.

The platform is so easy to adjust that an older child (like my son when he was almost 5) can do it while standing beside the tower.

No tools are required. The platform is not required for structural integrity, so it simply rests securely in the “hooks” that are cut into the plywood sides.

Want to know more? Learn everything you need to know about the Learning Tower.

Layered birch means plywood, of course. Birch is a light colored wood and makes a high quality plywood without any “voids.” If you’re used to looking at construction grade plywood, this is a different product. Instead of the ragged looking edges where you can see how the different layers are made of scrap, in birch plywood the edges have a very clean layered look, like stripes.

The birch plywood used in the Learning Tower is clear of defects on both sides. The wood is very strong even when it’s had parts cut out (you can see by looking at a picure that the Tower has a lot of wood cut out of it). It’s also immune from warping and can handle a great deal of stress. There was a time when the towers were made out of regular lumber but there were problems with the seams on the top arches not holding together, so the move to plywood was made.

All of the exposed edges are nicely rounded and then a non-toxic finish is applied. There’s no risk of splinters. The wood is thick and substantial; this is part of what makes the Tower feel so sturdy.

There’s lots more to learn about the Learning Tower.

Children want to learn. It’s what they’re built for. They do it every second of the day, even when we’d rather they just sit still and be patient.

The Learning Tower nurtures this by getting them into a realm where “stuff” is going on, and where they can be an active participant in learning by doing.

And even if you’re not doing tasks that can be farmed out to them, the tower still gives them a great vantage point from which to watch, ask questions, and be with you.

More details about the Learning Tower

Just as children want to be able to do things alongside other family members, they also want to be able to do things for themselves.

Imagine what it’s like to have a racing mind and an (over)active body, to always be completely absorbed in what you’re doing and then eager to move on to the next activity. And then consider all the things kids have to ask us for, and how that must feel.

Sure, some things they ask us for are beyond their skills to get for themselves, but a lot of things are simply “out of reach.” For less than 50 cents a day, you can solve that problem.

Read more about the Learning Tower.

Kids want to participate in family life. You might remember back to your own resistance to helping out around the house and think that kids actually want to avoid helping out. But you’re remembering life when you were older. Toddlers are very enthusiastic about helping. (And older kids can be, too. It just takes the right kind of direction. It’s something we struggle with at home, but when it works, it’s magic.)

If you have just one child so far, they’re very focused on what you’re doing, and they want to do it, too. To them, the things you do in your daily life are not “grown up” things, they’re human tasks. They are watching everything you do to see how you do it, and remembering it for themselves. Naturally they want to try it out for themselves, either as play or “for real.”

The beauty of the Learning Tower is that it takes away one huge barrier to participating right alongside you. Size. It’s not your kid’s fault they’re too small to reach a countertop. And it’s not your fault you don’t want to do your chopping and cooking sitting cross-legged on the floor.

When you have more children, or if you already have a couple, this issue will continue but there’ll be one more part of it. In addition to copying you, your kids will be passionate about copying their older sibling or siblings. Because it fits more than one child at a time, the learning tower is a perfect spot for younger children to get up and work right alongside your older children. Or they can be up at the counter level next to a child who is big enough to stand on their own.

Go back to the list of learning tower features & benefits

Use the Learning Tower to help your kids eat healthier snacks. How? Whenever you can, get your kids involved in preparing snacks with you in the kitchen. Have them slice up their own fresh fruit or help prepare other healthy snacks. They’ll be much more interested in eating it if they’ve made it themselves, and had the pleasure of doing it with you.

For more on this idea, check out this blog post on healthy eating tips for picky kids.

…is not recommended, but it can be done. The stability feet are the four protrusions on the sides of the tower. They keep the tower from tipping over when it’s rocked side to side.

For years the Learning Tower was sold without stability feet. But one has to assume that some child or other managed to tip the tower over. (I suspect but have no basis for knowing that this was probably by pulling on the tower from the outside; it’s really hard to tip from inside.) The tradeoff you have to live with is that the increased stability comes with more potential for stubbing your toes.

Have more questions? Put them in the comments…

Read about how to adjust the tower’s platform.

One of the great things about the Learning Tower is it’s a step stool with an adjustable platform. You can move it from 11 inches off the floor to 19. It’s so simple even a kid can do it (but not one in the target ages of 18mo to 5 years).

Platform in top position

In this photo you can see the platform is in the highest position. This is where you want it for smaller kids because it gets them to the right level for working at the counter. You don’t want bigger kids at this level because then their center of gravity is too high.

(Note that this photograph does not show the “stability feet” that now come standard on the tower. These stick out laterally and prevent tipping.)

To move the platform, all you have to do is grasp the deck using the finger holes in it. Lift it up a bit and then slide it down the slot to the right level. It takes just seconds.

Because the “hooks” are pretty deep, there’s no chance that the platform will bounce loose or slip during use. It’s bomber.

Again, no tools are required. You can make the adjustment really easily.

This will come in handy for a lot of families where kids of different ages and sizes will want to use the tower. It’s a simple thing to move the deck down for an older child and then as soon as they exit the learning tower, bring it back up for the smaller child. Truly family-friendly.