Learning Resources Reading Rods Alphabet and CVC Words, Learn to Read, Word Building Activities, Letter Blocks, Spelling Toys, Reading Tools for Kids, Science of Reading Manipulatives

The media could not be loaded. I think these are amazing and so good for learning! My great nephew is 3 years old and thus will help and encourage fun learning. The manual is also easy to follow for me and I never knew this way of learning when my son was younger. The blocks fit together with ease and are fun.

This is more of a teaching resource than something for a child to ‘play’ with, or work through on their own. It is in some ways equivalent to a visual aid, but – more than that – it is a practical hands-on tool on which a child can see how words are formed, and themselves form words.Their own name is likely to come first, followed by some of the simple words that are illustrated on the light blue and pink cubes – dog, cat, ant, etc.After they get going, and for a keen learner to do some voluntary ‘revision’ practice, they can work on their own, but most tasks will need a teacher to at least introduce a concept. That means individual teaching or, at most, small group work. Good for home learning – not at all good if there are more than three children using a single box of reading rods at the same time.The enclosed leaflet should definitely be read right through by the prospective teacher. Besides explaining how the various colour codes are to be interpreted (e.g. pink pictures represent words beginning with a vowel; blue ones a consonant), it offers many good ideas for demonstrating how words work.Some ideas in the leaflet come as a surprise – or did to me. The concept of rhymes is introduced (cat, mat, bat, etc.), as is counting the number of syllables in a single word (up to three in the examples – volcano, violin, …).Through use of these rods, perhaps a new generation of poets will emerge (and rhymed verse with a strict metre will come back into fashion)!Well, perhaps not, but at least the children’s reading is likely to develop alongside almost without specifically paying attention to that.The cubes are nicely made and presented in a stout box that – with reasonable care – should well outlast any one child’s period of need for exercises at this level.‘Yes’ to 3+ for building their own name from its elements – but mainly 5-6 plus for seriously beginning to read.

At first glance this just looks educational rods which are set in certain colours for learning. Such as the silent (E) being being white, vowels being red and so on.This set is a great way to introduce the more complex wording and practising of Constance files, word families and Affixes so a child starts to learn and use and understand suffixes.It’s very round nine, if a child learns by a hands-on approach, they are more able to retain information and learn quicker.This also includes a booklet with invert colour is QR codes to be able to download games to use alongside this at set such as Bingo as you can see in the photo. There are lots of different activities and games to choose from with the QR code to download and print off.This app can also be used in addition to assets within this range which can be bought separately.Make a note a perfect set for a home setting or an education setting.We’ve had fun playing the games, both learning, and my eight-year-old son has enjoyed this set whilst boosting his knowledge.Therefore, I’d highly recommend

These are a set of interconnecting blocks with individual letters printed on them which you can use to build words. There are two of each letter, showing both the upper and lower case on different on different faces of the blocks. The dividers it mentions are just a folded cardboard insert in the box with a single divider to separate vowels from consonants.The set is aimed at children at the start of their reading journey to help them with letter recognition and building simple, 3 letter words with a basic consonant-vowel-consonant structure. To assist with this, vowels are coloured red. There are also a couple of "blank" blocks in each colour for children starting to gain confidence with these sorts of words so that you can get them to figure out which letter might replace the blank to create a real word. There is also a little leaflet with suggested games and activities that you might play and QR code links to worksheets that you can download and print.As your child's reading skills improve, there are various other sets which you can buy which build on the same principle of interconnecting blocks with more groupings of letters and complete words. The downside is that following this system could get expensive with extra sets to buy.

This is a fantastic set which makes learning a bit more fun. I really like the colour coded aspect with consonants represented in blue and vowels in red, this helps kids get used to the different types of letters. You can start with a simple game of getting kids to organise the letters into vowels and consonants and then build up to building words. You use the blocks to build words, and you can do this in a number of different ways. The blocks are well constructed, and the box is also sturdy enough that it will last a while with care.I think this is really useful for at home, or teachers can even use this in pre-school/school. A lot of thought has gone into the design of this, and I am impressed.The recommended age is 3+ and I think that is appropriate, but would definitely base it on child's abiltiy rather than seeing that as a rule as some kids might not be ready for this at 3, and it could still be a useful set at an older age.