Smart Start Knowledge Keys (VTech)

Member Name: sue26

Product:	VTech
Date:	22/03/01 (246 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Very educational and durable

Disadvantages: The screen could be bigger

VTech have a very wide range of electronic learning toys that grow and develop with your child. Some of the best ones for children once they get past the toddler stage though are their wide range of computers.

I bought my son who is 6yrs old a VTech computer. It cost £15.99 from Woolworths and is suitable for 4 to 7 years old and is called Smart Start Knowledge Keys. It is a bright yellow and red laptop with blue and yellow keys. It has twelve activities which include:

1.Missing letter: The child is given a simple word with a letter missing and they have to figure out which one it is.

2.Find the word: They are shown a picture and question marks represent how many letters are in the word.They have to type in the name of the picture.

3.Scrambled letters: They are shown a picture and the name of the picture is scrambled up.They have to unscramble the letters. These are mainly 3 and 4 letter words so the are quite easy.

4.Alpha-order: They are shown some letters of the alphabet and they have to put them in alphabetical order.

5.Number order: This is the same as alpha-order except it uses numbers.

6.Addition: Simple sums for them to solve.

7.Subtraction: More simple sums.

8.Number flash: Some numbers are shown on the screen and then taken away, the child has to remember what they were and then type them in.

9.Same shape: They are shown a shape in a box, then several others flash on the screen, and when the matching shape appears they have to hit a key.

10.Match up: Six symbols are hidden under boxes and the child has to click on two of them to match them up.

11.Piano: The keyboard acts as a musical keyboard, here your child can make his own music using the musical notes which are also printed onto 13 of the letter buttons.


12.Music box.This has several preprogrammed tunes.

Every time the child gets an activity correct it plays a s
ound. It also has the function to turn the sound on or off and requires just two AA batteries. It is made from very strong plastic, so will last a long time.

All the buttons are only slightly raised from the base and don`t need pressing very hard for them to work. What also makes it slighty easier for young children is that the letters printed on the keyboard buttons are all in lower case.

Your child doesn`t need to be able to read a great deal to be able to use this laptop as the set up to each function only requires you to press 2 buttons. Press the activity button and the laptop will tell you to choose an activity in a clear loud voice, then you just choose your activity by pressing one of the 12 numbers on the keyboard.

The only problem I`ve found with it, is that the display screen is it a bit small(3cm x 7cm) so some of the little pictures aren`t very clear, but once I explained to my son what the pictures were he found it really easy to use this laptop.

It`s not that often I buy new toys but I think this one was well worth the money.

Summary: