I received the following product(s) for review purposes.
Mama’s Mission
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Making education fun is important. Incorporating education into fun is even more important. I try to buy products for my children that allow them to have fun while learning. Our children are growing up at a wonderful time where technology is taking learning and fun to a whole new level. Some children as young as two years old already know how to work a tablet better than their parents. Take advantage of their ability to learn and absorb new technology and material while they are young. It is never too early to
Educational Insights has recently released a new learning product called Hot Dots Let’s Master sets. These are for levels Pre-K to Grade 3. Each grade specific 2-book set is chock-full of important skills that children need to master at each grade level in reading or math.
We received the Kindergarten level Math and Reading sets for review. I sent these sets off to my daughter’s preschool to let the experts (5 year old’s) test them out. The following review was provided by the Educational Director Chaya T. of The Gan Montessori Preschool.
The children really enjoyed interacting with the dog pen and looked eagerly for the red or green flash. It’s not a toy that can be used on its own (without adult supervision) because the instructions are too difficult for a kindergartener or Pre-K student to read, but with an adult reading them, they do well.
The reading set was great, and the math set as well. While the material was a little basic (parts were easy enough for the 3-year-old students to do the Kindergarten work – see video below) some were on target for age appropriate exercises.
The method of testing and level of difficulty increases which is good, but you will find sporadic insertions of different skills which might need to be taught or re-explained to the student working. The interactive Ace the dog pen sends the same ‘error’ message (red eyes) if its being pushed in the wrong place, or if the student pushes the incorrect answer. I think there should be two different messages programmed (like a pre-recorded voice saying “remember to push the black dot”) and a different one for an incorrect answer. The red eyes seems a little threatening, perhaps another color can be used (yellow, or purple) that doesn’t send subconsciously negative feelings.
While it’s not useful in teaching new skills, because there’s no explanation of error, it does work well for drilling. Overall its a great product for review of skills.
These sets were a hit among the kids and the teachers alike. They will continue to be used in the classroom and we look forward to buying more for the younger children in the school. At The Gan we like to learn, but we also love to have fun. With Hot Dots in our classrooms we can do both!
Hot Dots® Jr. Let’s Master Kindergarten Math
“This two-book set with included “Ace”—the Talking, Teaching Dog™ pen provides children with 100 lessons on a variety of math skills from counting & numbers and patterns to time and fractions. Fifteen of the 100 lessons are challenge activities that prepare children for skills at the next grade level.”
The skills covered in this set are:
- Counting & Numbers
- Patterns
- Time
- Shapes/Geometry
- Fractions
- Measurement
- Math Facts
- Money
Hot Dots® Jr. Let’s Master Kindergarten Reading
“This two-book set with included “Ace”—the Talking, Teaching Dog™ pen provides children with 100 lessons on a variety of reading and language arts skills from reading comprehension and vocabulary to spelling and punctuation. Fifteen of the 100 lessons are challenge activities that prepare children for skills at the next grade level.”
The skills covered in this set are:
- Letter Recognition
- Reading Readiness
- Phonics
- Sight Words
- Punctuation & Grammar
- Two 50-page books, total of 100 lessons
- Hot Dots “Ace” pen
- Requires 2 AAA batteries (not included)
Meet Ace the Talking, Teaching Dog
Disclosure: Mama’s Mission received the product(s) mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com for review purposes. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers. All opinions are honest, true and 100% my own, I will never allow any outside influences, including free products, to affect my opinion. Mama’s Mission was not compensated for this post. The disclosure is done in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission 10 CFR, Part 255 Guides Concerning the use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.
Comments (4)
The cute character pens would make learning fun for kids, and I like that you can use it with different sets.
I love how these are not only educational but also fun for kids.
one of my favorite ways of teaching is by allowing child to have fun while learning
I like the Hot Dots because they are great learning tools for the kids, they learn as they play.