Educational Insights Hot Dots Beginning Phonics Flash Cards with Interactive Pen, Ages 3+

As an educator and mother to four, this set met my expectations for phonics learning. The cards were all correct and the package came with a pen as well, which self-checks the answers to the cards. My five year old loves these, and we have taken them in the car for a quiet activity multiple times. I wish they were easier to organize (on a ring or bound into a flip book) but otherwise they are a great resource.

This is a great item to purchase for toddlers starting to go into kindergarten. The pen is very durable as it is still holding up with me son pressing it down hard on the cards. I do like how it turns green for the correct answer and red for incorrect answer. I would be nice if the pen said yes that is right and no that is not correct as well, but it is nice it does sign.

My almost 3 year old is a learning machine. I wanted a way to encourage her learning in a way that is educational and fun. She really liked getting to use the hot dot pen and felt like a "big girl" I would definitely get her other sets of the cards to keep using.

First at all this hot dots set is the perfect way for my kid to learn the phonics in a fun and educational way. My 3 year old boy loves and enjoys learning with this set of cards The quality is great and I would definitely recommend it! Best way for kids to learn!

Great for learning

I loved Hot Dots while it worked. It came with a "pen" that would turn green if the kiddo got the right answer or red if they got the wrong answer. My 3 year old was loving it. As was my 7 year old. The only problem was about a week into using the item in our homeschool the pen started always being green when pressed even if on the wrong answer. It was still fun for my 7 year old but my 3 year old was no longer able to tell if they had the wrong or right answer

I would recommend this to preschool and kindergarten kids between the ages 3-6. Three of my children tested this product. My 3 year old needed some guidance and wanted to touch the actual picture instead of the dot. It was perfect for my 5 year old. He just finished kindergarten this year so he learned sounds but this is still somewhat challenging for him. My 7 year old just finished 1st grade and he said it was too easy. I really like that it changes colors and makes noise.

My daugher is 4 and just learning! She was excited to use the Hot Dots Jr mostly because of the cool pen that lights up and talks to her. It made sitting her down and working on something educational easy! I do think that this needs to be a guided parent/guardian toy. The pen will light up when they push the right answer. It is easy to guess which one is correct. I had to make sure she was saying the words and using her noggin to get the answer and not just pressing the pen against the cards. An older child may be able to do this independently but I also think it'd be pretty quick and boring for them. I would recommend to others but I would not say this is an independent toy.

I was excited for this to help my son learn better. He loves learning by interacting and play. The pen only lights up and makes a noise. I was really hoping it would help read the words as well. I think this is a great concept but I do feel like it could do and help so much more! My son doesn't show much interest in it after the first couple days

Overall, this is a fun toy. It has educational value, but it's definitely not a "do it alone" type of thing. There needs to be adult support and interaction. The pen has to be pushed directly on the center of the dot in order to give the correct feedback (there's also at least one card with an incorrect answer). The other tricky thing for our child is that she knows her upper case letters but hasn't yet mastered lower case, so she gets tripped up.