Educational Insights Hot Dots Phonics Fun! Set, Interactive Toddler Flash Cards, Ages 3+

Kids love these and it makes learning fun for them!!!!

[This review was collected as part of a promotion.] This is exactly what I was looking for! It is easy for the kids to use, gives them instant feedback, and they stay engaged! Everyone wants to start their classroom rotations with hot dots.

came in time as said. and great packing and great product. its a xmas gift for my youngest son to learn to get prepared for kg. know he is guna love it.

My 5 year old really enjoys learning and so he was really into this set! The cards included lessons to reinforce learning the alphabet, letter sounds, long and short vowel sounds, blending of sounds, digraphs, and more in an interactive and fun game format! Each card features a lesson such as find which pictures begin with the sound made of s and n blended together. Then the pictures each have a black "hot dot" below it that the child can use the Ace talking pen on to see if they selected correctly or incorrectly. Incorrect answers gently encourage your child to try again without making them discourage! It was great to have my son review and practice lessons he'd already mastered as he learned how the Hot Dots system works. Then, he was ready to move on to recognizing the difference between long and short vowels and blended sounds and it was great to be able to work with him on those concepts in a fun and easy way! Disclosure: I received this set for free to review on my website, A Mom's Take. Opinions are my own.

Perfect learning tool for my grandson. Keeps his attention with voice and lights as he works with it.

I am a first grade teacher and my students love these! They are very easy to use and help the students to become independent learners. I like them so much that I plan to get more sets of cards.

My kids (ages 3.5 and 6.5) both enjoy using this. The preschooler doesn't understand any but the easiest set of cards (beginning letters of words) but it will be a great teaching tool as he goes farther into school. He loves playing with the pen and picking all the answers though! The older one has fun using it as well. It definitely requires parent help and interaction for kids who can't read yet.

My preschooler (newly turned 4) loved playing with this. He was a little intimidated at first but then once he realized he was familiar with the letters he went whizzing through it. He enjoys sitting down and working through the flash cards testing his knowledge. It's nice to see he want to play something educational.

Hot dots sets are fun for both my almost 4 and almost 6 year old. They both find the pen engaging and fun to use. This particular set suited my almost 4 year old best as he is still learning how to sound out words. He was so eager to try this set that we went through the whole thing in two sittings. It was also exciting to discover that another hot dots pen we have from another set also worked on these phonics cards. However, the cute dog pen was his favorite. This set comes with an excellent lesson guide for parents to teach their child phonics rules and to provide guided practice when using the cards. (However, the set is pretty self explanatory if a parent does not have time to go through the lesson guide.) Then, the hot dots pen does a great job of providing support as the kid works independently. The cards were fun to go through and I know my child was actively learning phonics. However, I noticed that the way the cards were set up, especially the "Let's Read" section, that he just memorized the correct answers on the cards as opposed to actually being able to sound out the words and/or read the sentences printed on the cards when doing them again on his own. I also wish this set came with an organizer for the cards. However, I would still recommend this product. I received this product in exchange for an honest review.

So I have a closet full of Hot Dots & Hot Dots Jr cards and pens. They make wonderful car toys and fun review for concepts learned. This particular set -- Hot Dots Jr - Phonics Fun -- for some reason is not one of my favorites. This is a great all inclusive kit because it comes with the pen, but it doesn't come with batteries. It comes with 5 sets of double sided cards to help your child learn some (VERY) basic phonics. The sets are letter sounds, short vowels, long vowels, blends & digraphs, and basic reading. I think the reason I disliked this kit is because it included a 24-page book with teaching tips and extra activities and you cannot teach reading with such a limited and simple kit. I've taught 2 kids to read so far and this is missing so many skills necessary for reading (not the least of which is that they don't teach all the letter sounds) that they idea you could teach a child to read WELL with it, is nonsense. If you want to teach a child to read, use Logic of English's Foundations A-D. It IS a good product for basic review and the kids do enjoy doing the cards, though I'm not sure my blossoming reader or my 2 year old understand why they are correct when they play on their own. I do wish the cards were bound in books or even on a ring so that they stayed together better. I have done that with several of my other sets. As usual, the cards for Hot Dots Jr are full color and sturdy enough for what they are. The pens are fairly easy to use and even the two year old quickly figured out that you need to put the dog pen on the dot straight up and down.