A learning tower’s main goal is to offer the child the possibility to work on various practical life tasks together with an adult to improve fine motor skills and to offer the child a rich variety of sensorial experiences.
Since learning towers are most often used in the kitchen to help toddlers reach the kitchen counter, they’re also called kitchen helpers. They’re also called Montessori towers because they’re often promoted by the Montessori method. Learning towers are sometimes also referred to as step stools but a step stool is actually a much more simple piece of furniture with no side support and meant for older kids or adults.
There are tons of different learning towers available for purchase on the web, every one of them having their unique properties. In this article, I’m going to do an in-depth analysis of the differences and benefits of adjustable, convertible, and foldable learning towers.
First of all a quick glossary – what is meant by these terms.
Adjustable learning tower – a learning tower where the base height can be adjusted so kids could work and learn from a comfortable and ergonomic height as they grow.
Convertible learning tower – towers that have multiple functionalities, e.g. can be folded in half to create a chair and desk for your child. In this review, I’m considering all learning towers that have multiple functions as convertible.
Foldable learning tower – a tower that can be folded flat to save space when not in use.
When you want all of these functionalities, I’ve got bad news for you – you’re gonna have to make some compromises. I have not yet seen a learning tower to cover all three categories. If you have, please let me know and I will update this article.
Heck, most of the towers don’t even cover two of them. They are either foldable, or adjustable, or convertible. The good news is, that there is at least one manufacturer who produces awesome learning towers that are convertible and adjustable. More about it below.
(Height-)Adjustable Learning Tower Benefits
Adjustable learning towers offer the child a comfortable and ergonomic working position appropriate for their height. This will intrigue your child to stay in the tower longer, giving them more time to learn and develop their fine motor skills with the activities assigned to them. An ergonomic position is also better for their posture.
So imagine a 12-month-old toddler ‘helping’ their mother in the kitchen. The learning tower might be at a perfect height for them to reach the countertop. But then, at 36 months, when they have grown about 8 inches (20.3 cm), they would have to crouch to do the same activities.
I have heard from many families that their learning towers are still used by 6 or 7-year-olds, so if you want to be able to use this rather expensive piece of equipment for as long as possible, I’d definitely recommend an adjustable one (that’s what we did).
An easy choice is probably any of the classic learning towers as most of them have an adjustable baseboard – lower it to match the height of your child when they grow. Check this search link on Etsy to find an adjustable learning tower for yourself.
Convertible Learning Tower Benefits
Convertible learning towers give you multiple functionalities within the same ‘tool’, making them both cost-effective and a space-saving solution. Most often they can be transformed into a chair and desk, but there are also towers with other functionalities.
When we started looking for a learning tower for our 15-month-old daughter, we had two main criteria: it had to have adjustable height and be convertible into a chair and a desk. We didn’t want the tower to stand in the kitchen, useless, when not in use. Also, we live in an apartment and don’t have enough space for both a learning tower and child-sized table-and-chair set, so it made sense to get a tower that can be used as both.
If you get yourself a convertible learning tower, it will have at least two functionalities, hence increasing its time in use. When you’re cooking, it will be used as a kitchen helper, so your kid could reach to the countertop and give you a hand. The rest of the time, it can be used as a table and a chair set for snack time, arts and crafts, reading, etc.
The one we got, has even more functionalities. Besides the table and chair option, it can be used as a hight cair, a climbing frame with a slide, it has a magnetic blackboard for notes and drawing, and offers many more add-ons that you can buy with it.
So if you also don’t want that quite expensive piece of equipment to just stand in the corner most of the day, getting a convertible one might be a good idea. Check this search link on Etsy to find a convertible learning tower for yourself.
Foldable Learning Tower Benefits
A foldable learning tower enables you to fold it flat to save space when it is not being used. It is good for smaller apartments and if not used very often.
Such a learning tower typically has a hinge-system that allows you to fold it flat after the base plate is removed. While it sounds like they could be dangerous, they generally have a locking system so they can’t be folded accidentally. Check this search link on Etsy to find a foldable learning tower for yourself (not too many are available, so you’ll probably need to enable international shipping in your settings).
Comparison of Learning Towers by Their Type
Here’s a summary of a whole bunch of learning towers we analyzed when looking for the one for our daughter. Please note that the data was collected from September to October 2020, so if you are reading this article sometime later, things might have changed.
I have scored and sorted the learning towers based on the number of ‘yes’ answers they get in this table
| Learning tower | Is it height-adjustable? | Is it convertible? | Is it foldable? | Score | Comment |
| Leea Toys* | Yes | Yes | No | 2 | Can also be used as high chair + multiple add-ons (slide, magnetic blackboard, etc.) |
| MiraGrows | Yes | No | Yes | 2 | |
| TKP Designs | Yes | No | No | 1 | |
| MontessoriHOUSEbed (1) | Yes | No | No | 1 | |
| Fishers Hand Craft | Yes | No | No | 1 | |
| Kiddiedesign (1) | Yes | No | No | 1 | |
| Happy Tower (1) | Yes | No | No | 1 | |
| KidzWerks | Yes | No | No | 1 | |
| Whimsical Woods | Yes | No | No | 1 | |
| Sweet HOME from wood | Yes | No | No | 1 | Has blackboard on the back |
| WoodCraftsByDouglas | Yes | No | No | 1 | |
| MontessoriFurniture | Yes | No | No | 1 | |
| MECAN-WOOD | Yes | No | No | 1 | |
| Craffox | No | Yes | No | 1 | Has blackboard on the back |
| Climbambino (1) | No | Yes | No | 1 | Really good chair-desk setup |
| Climbambino (2) | No | Yes | No | 1 | Has blackboard on the back |
| Fussy Duck Design | No | Yes | No | 1 | |
| Wood and Hearts | No | Yes | No | 1 | |
| ToddlerInFamily | No | Yes | No | 1 | |
| MontessoriHOUSEbed (2) | No | Yes | No | 1 | |
| Kiddiedesign (2) | No | Yes | No | 1 | |
| Happy Tower (2) | No | Yes | No | 1 | |
| PIDkids (1) | No | Yes | No | 1 | |
| Exception Woodcraft | No | Yes | No | 1 | |
| PaPappa | No | Yes | No | 1 | |
| Architoyz | No | No | Yes | 1 | |
| Cedar Crest Trade Co | No | No | Yes | 1 | |
| PIDkids (2) | No | No | No | 0 | |
| BolzeBilla | No | No | No | 0 |
* The learning tower that we got.
Which Type of a Learning Tower is Best for Me?
Every type of learning towers have their own benefits: the long lifespan of the adjustable towers, multifunctionality of the convertible towers, and space-saving properties of the foldable towers. The best for you depends on the requirements you have for the learning tower.
As I have mentioned earlier in this article we got a learning tower that is both adjustable and convertible (check the full review of it here). It was the perfect option for my family but might not be the one for yours. So before making the purchase, carefully consider, which properties are essential for you in a learning tower, and then make the decision accordingly.