I’ve often said that I have a special place in my heart for toys that both engage AND educate children. I am a firm believer in play, but love when toys activate the mind and get kids thinking and learning. The awesome folks at Educational Insights have come up with another sure-fire winner. You need to check out the Hot Dots and Hot Dots Jr. Sets from Educational Insights!

These innovative and interactive learning tools are designed to grow with your child. Beginning with the Hot Dots Jr. sets, your child can learn about patterning, shapes, colors, the alphabet….and move right into 5th grade standards based math…and everything in-between! These toys are Alphie meets the Tag reading system, and are kid-friendly, easy to use, and are designed t0 either give your child an extra boost of support, or an early head-start in the classroom by supporting critical learning skills. Check out the full line of Hot Dots and Hot Dots Jr. products!!

We received both the Hot Dots Jr. Patterns and Sequencing Set and the Hot Dots Jr. Getting Ready for School set. My kids instantly fell in love with these! At five (and just heading into Kindergarten) and three, the Hot Dots Jr. interactive sets are just right for my kids.

 

The Hot Dots Jr. Getting Ready for School Set features 160 self-checking school readiness lessons!! The set is broken up into five basic skill categories: Shapes, Colors and Patterns, Let’s Learn Numbers, Learning the Alphabet, and Uppercase and Lowercase Letters. The set comes with Ace, the Talking Dog Pen (which lights up and makes sounds and noises!) AND a Lesson Guide for parents! While the Hot Dots Jr. sets are simple enough for your child to do on their own, the lesson guide is awesome if you want to really stretch and extend your child’s learning, or include the Hot Dots Jr. set in your daily homeschooling routine. The guide gives you a wide variety of additional support activities you can do with your child as well as questions and almost a scripted walk-through of ways to use the cards most effectively with your child. This is perfect for parents just starting out doing homeschool preschool activities, or those that may not feel as confident developing their own material. And heck, this is great for experienced teachers too! As a former kindergarten teacher, I love the Hot Dots Jr sets! I love that they reinforce skills we have worked on, find them to be useful quick assessment tools, and love the in-depth approach the sets take towards learning important skills. I also love the variety they offer! If your child completes a set, there are TONS more to choose from (and you can begin working on the next grade level!) Choose a smaller more focused set, like the Patterns and Sequencing set we received for more intensive, skill-driven learning (or if your child needs extra support in a certain area) or try a larger more comprehensive set for an “all around, cover your bases” approach to grade level instruction. These are a wonderful supplemental curriculum tool for homeschoolers, and would also make a fabulous center in a classroom!

One very lucky reader will get to WIN a copy of the Getting Ready for School Set!!! You are going to love it!! If you don’t win, here is where you can BUY IT!!!