I will always rate you, if you are good enough to rate me, thank you! Happy Christmas everyone, I'l...
I will always rate you, if you are good enough to rate me, thank you! Happy Christmas everyone, I'll catch up with all my alerts and return rates next year!!!.....xx
Member since:09.07.2006
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Ravensburgh ABC Game
Yet ANOTHER "Santa" gift received by one of our girls at yet another Christmas party (seriously, their social life is WAY busier than mine)
It's a very sturdy cardboard box containing 26 pairs of cards. Hardly surprising, really, as it is an alphabet game.
The pieces are approximately 6½ cm (2½") square and made of good quality, thick cardboard. They are double sided. One side has the lower case letter, black print on a white background and the matching piece has a pictorial representation for that letter.
The reverse of both pieces is an orange shade with white writing; the lower case letter on one piece and the corresponding upper case letter on the other piece.
The puzzle comes with an accompanying leaflet with guidance of how to extend the educational value of the puzzle and four different suggestions of how the puzzle can be used to play competitive games with groups or pairs of children. It also details the words/pictures used to represent each letter (just in case you're struggling to work it out yourself!)
This is a great puzzle, and I much prefer it to the previously reviewed Opposite Puzzle by Grafix.
The pieces are self correcting, so the child knows when they have a correct match. It aids in letter recognition and hand to eye coordination. Memory skills are also developed and I particularly like the introduction of the upper/lower case comparisons and matching.
There are some obvious and well known pictorial representations for some of the letters (A for apple, C for cat and E for elephant) but a couple are a little more unusual and imaginative which, I feel, adds to the educational value of this puzzle (V for volcano, R for rose).
The illustrations are, on the whole, very colourful and appealing, and easily enough identified. The "queen" is quite androgynous looking however, and has been called a king on more than one occasion! My favourite is the zebra which has a very cheeky wee grin.
My only slight criticism of this product is that the lower case b, d, p and q all look very similar (I was always taught to do a small "flick" at the base of my "q" - maybe that's old fashioned these days, though) and can get confused. These letters are usually left until last when the puzzle is being done, but, because the jigsaw is self correcting, the correct solution can be arrived at eventually.
It's designated as appropriate for age 3+, which seems reasonable to me, although there is no reason you couldn't introduce this to a child younger than this if you wanted - there are no small pieces to constitute a choking hazard. (Although it does have the bog-standard "Not suitable for children under 36 months..." warning on the box)
With a manufacturers' RRP of £6.99, this might seem expensive, however this is very educational and not just some piece of plastic tat so it is decent value for money. It would also last throughout pre-school and into the early school years.
I would recommend this puzzle. It's sturdy, in a strong box and has superb educational value. It would be a very welcome gift for any child aged three or four years.
Available from www.worldwideshoppingmall.co.uk
(Review also posted on Dooyoo by me under the same username carcraig)
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