Review: Alphabotz

"I- am- a- ro-bot" This phrase came home from preschool with Lilly several months ago and has stuck around! She is a huge fan of anything robotic and loves the Robot Store that we have here in town. This love for robots, what she knows of them anyway, coupled with her current obsession with figuring out the alphabet ("a-d-f-g-e-r- Mom, what does that spell?" and invented spelling are common activities around here these days!), meant that I was more than happy to review Alphabotz--a series of flashcards with cute robot characters that help children master the phonics that make up our language. Now I know that Lilly at age 3 was a little young for any real reading "instruction", and I am by no means trying to push her forward in learning to read at a young age- but that is one of the reasons that I really like Alphabotz- A kid who is just beginning to show interest in learning the components that lead to reading can begin to learn in a very fun way! Click on Read More to see the full review!

Official Review (on a four star scale)
Fun Factor: *** 1/2 Like I said, Lilly was 3 when we got these and I knew that it was possible that they would be a little over her head- To some degree I was both right and wrong. On one hand, there were many things about them that she enjoyed- she liked learning the different names of the Robots on each card and liked when I read the information about them or told little stories about them. On the other hand, we had a 5 1/2 year old over recently who adored them and used them in ways that Lilly was not quite ready for. As a beginning reader, he delighted in using both the context clues in the pictures and the words to learn about the different robots and promptly lined them up in order of his most favorite to least. In my humble opinion, one mark of a good toy or game is its ability to grow with your child- to be used in different ways at different stages and still be engaging and fun- Alphabotz certainly does this! One of my other favorite features is the helpful information for parents and the games and activities cards that are included as part of the set. Teaching or supporting children in their learning doesn't come easily for all parents and even those of us who are former teachers always appreciate when products provide such tools to help us make the most of them.
Materials and Durability: **** These cards have held up very well after several uses and I would guess that they will continue to do so. I had suspected that we would be able to use erasable markers on them, but had not had the chance to try that out yet before we got an email update from the company touting this additional feature and way to use the cards! Lilly enjoys tracing the letters and drawing on the characters as we talk about them.
Price: **** A full set of 50 Alphabotz cards runs about $19.99- A pretty good price I would say for something that can be used for several years by each of your kids!
Overall: ***3/4