Now i know my ABC! (VTech Alphabet Phonics Teacher)

Member Name: moog27

Product:	VTech Alphabet Phonics Teacher
Date:	16/04/09 (205 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: educational, robust, attractive, reasonable price, some enjoyment recieved

Disadvantages: not as well designed as it could be

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
VTECH Alphabet Phonics Teacher
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After rummaging in my 5 year old brothers room looking for a fun looking toy to play with.....ooops I mean review! I discovered this Alphabet phonics teacher. The toy itself is made for robust brightly coloured plastic. As shown in the picture above it is a smoothly shaped board with various buttons on. The toy is about 12 inches in height and 14 inches wide and is the ideal size for children. The toy has many different features and is designed mainly for children ages 2-5.

The toy has a green slider switch which enable the toy to be switched on to one of the two volume levels. This is particularly useful as the quieter volume can be used if you want some peace! As you switch on the toy you are greeted with a little cheerful tune and depending on what activity has been selected you will be instructed what to do (for example it may say 'learn the letter sounds'). There is also a yellow repeat button which when pressed repeats the last thing that has been said.

At the bottom of the board there is a blue slider, which enables you to select one of the 5 fun activities. The first activity allows the child to press the letter buttons to hear the how each letter is pronounced. Although this seems like a relatively simple activity, it has really helped my brother with his spelling, as he knows all of the sounds. The consonants are blue and the vowels are red which also teaches children the difference between the two. At the end of the alphabet there are four shapes; a star, circle, square and triangle when pressed in the first activity they say the name of the shape, for example 'star'. I don't really have any criticisms of this activity as it is essential for a child to learn the letter sounds and they can also guess what they think the letter sound will be before they press the button to make it more fun.

Sliding the slider along activates the second activity. This activity teaches children about the letters that words begin with. Each letter button on the board has a picture above it of something beginning with that letter, for example the letter 'r' has the word 'rug' above it, there is also a picture of the object and on each picture the beginning letter is printed in Braille which I think is really good. When the buttons are pressed in this activity the word is read out and then it says what letter it begins with, for example; 'ant begins with a'. This is a useful activity although I found that with my brother it was better to develop it into more of a game, for example I would point to the word above the letter I was going to press and ask him what it begun with and then we would press the button to see if he had got it right. That extra bit of interaction makes it more fun for the child.

The next activity teaches children the letter name and the sound. When a button is pressed the voice says the name of the letter and then the sound, for example; 'M is the letter, m is the sound'. This is a very useful activity as it is often hard for children to like the name of the letters to the sounds and this activity is perfect for helping them develop their letter skills.

The fourth activity is focussed on putting letters together to form words. As the child presses a button the word is said and then it is spelt using the letter sounds. For example if the letter 's' is pressed the voice says 'peg, p-e-g'. This activity allows the child to learn about how the letter sounds are put together to form words, I don't really have any criticisms about this other than it could be made more interactive, for example the child could be given the word and then they have to use the letters to type it rather than just listen to a voice. Although this is a good activity, making it more interactive would improve the child's learning.

The last activity in the list allows the child to press buttons to hear tunes. Up until now the shape buttons have only said the name of the shape but in this activity they each play a different tune, for example the star shape plays the alphabet song and the circle plays old macdonald had a farm. The letters also play various tunes. This activity is fun for the child as it allows them to make little tunes or sing along to the known tunes, however my biggest criticism is that the tunes attached to the letter buttons are rather uninteresting series of notes and I think it would be a lot more fun for the child if they were tunes that were known to the child for example 'Humpty Dumpty'.

Overall the toy is probably more educational than it is fun which is a shame really as education could be made a lot more fun and it would drastically improve childrens development. The toy is robust and attractive and I have no complaints about the way it is made. Although there is a range of activities they are perhaps not as well thought out as they could be and simple adjustments could have made them a lot more interesting for the child. There are many good things about the toy such as the way it teaches the child the letters and how letters fit into words and I think that the Braille for each letter is also a marvellous idea. I do feel that the toy tries to sell itself as being very educational and complex in terms of the variation of activities but this isn't really the case. The toy cost us £18.99 from Argos and I would not say its good value for money but I couldn't say its poor value for money either! The batteries seem to have lasted well although perhaps because the toy is not played with as much as other toys! All in all, yes it is education and yes it can be fun for a child but their interest will soon fade in the toy and I think VTECH could have made the toy a lot better with just a few adjustments. I probably would reccomend this toy although it is very average.

Summary: an average toy