Vtech – Write & Learn Letter Pad : Learning the Alphabet the Fun Way

My husband and I are not big fans of electronic toys.  Some electronic toys my toddlers have been gifted with broke easily.  While those that are of high quality are very expensive which makes them an impractical choice for families who are just making ends meet.  Two thousand pesos would after all be better spent on two cans of formula milk than on one toy.

But when I saw this toy on sale at a baby fair I attended a month ago, I knew this would be an exception.  There were only three sets on sale and all the other toys were being grabbed like crazy that I immediately put the one I was inspecting in my cart.

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The Vtech Write & Learn Letter Pad is a very handy toy which can easily be taken anywhere.  The buttons on top allow you to choose which activity you’d like to do. The activities include letter writing, drawing shapes and doodle and draw.  The interactive letter pad has only the uppercase letters.  Whenever a letter is pressed, the letter name is said aloud and shown on the tiny screen below the letter pad.  There is a magic slate at the bottom for practice writing. A wide grip orange pen is attached to the pad by a string so there’s no need to worry about misplacing it.

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I’m so glad I bought it coz Jade loves it so! Whenever I need to do a chore, I give this to her and it keeps her entertained til I’m able to play with her again.

In the month that she has had this toy,  she has already had significant improvement in letter recognition. It is also a great first step in phonics as each letter sound is also played aloud.

As for drawing and writing, this toy is not highly recommended for that.  Whatever you draw on the tablet, it will say “a stroke of genius”, “that was good practice”, “that was beautiful” or “practice makes perfect” regardless of how different your drawing or writing is from what was being illustrated.  It is great though in encouraging my two-year-old Jade to scribble and write.

Jade’s First Masterpiece

Our typical morning usually includes a variety of activities to develop different skills.  We play with building blocks, smart stacks and shape sorters.  We tinker with tool sets and puzzles.  We create music with their toy drums, xylophones, maracas, tambourines and recorder(which Jade insists to call a flute).  We watch Playhouse Disney and Nick Jr. We pretend to be chefs, Handy Manny, doctors and whatever else we like to be.

We do a host of different activities but the one that my toddlers really love is our MESSY ART TIME.  Oh, yes, it wouldn’t be art if it wasn’t messy!  I’m glad I started our messy art time this year because this morning, my two-year-old Jade created a masterpiece.

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“PARROT”
by Jade
at age 2 years 8 months

Jade is basically left to herself when we’re doing our activities as I focus mainly on keeping Jakei from eating his crayons, putting toys in his mouth, and ensuring that he never runs out of things to do (bored toddlers can be very very very hyperactive). Imagine the surprise on my face when I saw her working on this painting.  Her paintings so far have consisted only of straight lines, uneven strokes, and circles.  I exclaimed how wonderful her painting was and asked her what she painted. She looked at it for a little while and said, “A parrot!  It’s a parrot, Mama.”

She’s far from being Picasso,Van Gogh, or Monet.  This “PARROT” could even just be a chance painting.  But what if she was blessed by God with very skillful hands and a creative spirit.  And even if she’s not, well, messy art time is fun anyway!

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her first painting activity when she was 1 year old