When my son was learning his alphabet, one of his favorite toys was the LeapFrog Fridge Phonics system. This is an updated version of those simple magnetic letters you probably had on your fridge when you were a child.
The Fridge Phonics system plays a song for each letter to help your child learn the alphabet and what sound each letter makes. This is a vital skill for learning how to read.
Although they’ve changed the look of this toy over the past few years, I imagine it’s just as durable as the LeapFrog products have been in the past. Our Fridge Phonics system ended up being dropped several times, but it still functioned perfectly. Unlike many toys, it did not seem to drain the batteries very quickly either.
The LeapFrog Fridge Phonics toy retails for $21.99, making it a fairly reasonably priced gift for a child. Some of the awards the product has received include American Baby Magazine Toys of the Year Award (2008), Children’s Technology Review Editor’s Choice (2006), Toy Industry Association TOTY Award – Infant/Preschool Toy of the Year (2005), and Oppenheim Toy Portfolio Platinum Award (2004).
When your child gets a bit older, you can use the magnets on their own to spell words and messages on your fridge. We have a rather large set of magnets since I purchased the lowercase letters expansion pack as well as the Magnetic Word Builder for my son. Even the grown up visitors to our home seem to have a hard time resisting arranging the letters to say “Hello” or “I am hungry.”
Does your child have the Fridge Phonics Magnetic Alphabet Set? If so, do you feel like it’s been a good tool for teaching him or her the letters of the alphabet?
photo credit: LeapFrog
