Giveaway from the Holiday Gift Guide – for Kids: “Teach My” Fun and Educational Kits

I see quite a few educational “toys” because I love things that are fun for Rosie and help her learn.  This one, the “Teach My” absolutely blew me away!  From the quality of the materials, to the fun ways to teach, and the easy interaction – it is awesome.  There is so much packed into this set, I don’t even know where to start!  I love “Teach My”!  The Teach My Preschooler kit amazes me every time I pick it up at the depth of information, smart teaching techniques, durability.  I could go on and on singing the praises of this set.  This would make an awesome, awesome gift for any child.  I give it a very enthusiastic “thumbs up”.

The first thing we played with (it’s serious learning, that feels like play!) is the “Magic Drawing Board”.  It’s a magic erase board, like a few others that we have, with a smart addition.  There are clear lay-over templates that can be traced onto the board.  They have the arrows showing where to start and what direction to go in.  One of the things I like is that this can be used for a long time with your child at different stages.  Rosie has been able to write all her capital letters for a long time but she struggles with the lower case.  She’s past the “A-B-C” stage and can make words now.  The transparencies would work great for a child just learning to write their letters, but it also worked equally well for Rosie.  She saw the magnet blocks on the side and was drawn to the horse.  Then she found the templates to spell the word and used them to trace it.  Finishing with the block and she made a fun picture!  Rosie was very excited about being able to put together words and trace them.  This is going to be something she plays (and learns) with for a long time – love it!  Have I mentioned it lately?  I love this!!  One suggestion?  Rosie got a toy for her birthday that had an envelope attached to the back to hold the pieces that you need to play.  Attaching an envelope to the back of the Magic Drawing Board will hold her transparencies nicely and help keep them from getting lost.  Now where is my glue stick?

When Rosie saw the flashcards her eyes lit up!  She loves flashcards (doesn’t every little kid?) and these are especially fun.  My first thought was that these were good quality and would last us a long time without getting sticky and crumpled (yes, I am fussy like that).  The drawings were cute (there’s an especially funny one of a nose that had her giggling) and the words are written clearly and in an appealing font.  Rosie is learning about word families in school and this fit in perfectly!  She played with them several ways – looking at the word and reading it, then turning it over to see the picture (brings out a “YES! I got it!”).  Also, we used them to identify and match words in the same family, words starting with the same letter, words that rhyme etc.  We even played the “memory” game with them, matching the same things as above.  Again, multi-uses for multi-skill-levels.  What do kids love as much as cards?  Well a tin to put them in, of course.  Rosie is fascinated by boxes, tins, and containers in general.  She instantly grabbed the tin and loves putting the cards (and a few other things) in it.  One of the techniques suggested in the materials is to cover the letters in a word and reveal them one by one, or to show what word families have in common.  There is a flashcard holder included that assists with this.  We could see through it, I wasn’t sure if that was intentional or not, I think I would prefer to have an opaque one.  Hmm, where’s my glue stick?  Have I mentioned lately?  I love “Teach My”!!

I’ve only talked about the reading kits, there are also math kits!  Similarly, they are fun activities that do serious undercover teaching *smile*.  And again, like the reading tools, they are adaptable to different skill levels.  The “Ready for 1-100” set comes with a book, a poster, cards, and foam numbers.  All very high quality, these will last.  The cards can be lined up to form a train!  How fun is that?  Rosie knows her numbers from 1-100 very well, but we were able to use the cards to challenge her to identify even numbers.  Odd number, counting by fives…  Sorry, I have to say it again – love this!!  There is even a bit of reading sneaked in, on the back of the cards is the written number, ie Forty-eight.  Gotta say it again, I love “Teach My”!!

I haven’t specifically talked about the “instructions” of information for parents.  Again, the multi-level direction of everything in this kit, impresses me at every turn.  If you are the kind of person that never reads directions, you will do fine with this kit.  I found the tools to be very self-explanatory and the materials for parents adds enhancements but is by no means necessary.  You don’t have to spend hours studying the directions or materials before you give it to your child.  On the other hand, if you are into education techniques and want to know the theory behind the teaching tools, all that information is included.  It tells you who developed each tool, what theories they espouse, what approaches they like and don’t like.  I fall somewhere in the middle and found it worked for me to jump in, then gradually add enhancements I read about in the materials.  As Rosie played, I would read the parent directions and pick up tips and ideas.

“Therefore, when designing Teach My Preschooler Ready to Read, we did our best to keep it simple and avoid confusion.”

While there is tons and tons of tools and games in this set, it is not a bit overwhelming or confusing.  I would say the designers of Teach My Preschooler succeeded in their goal of eliminating confusion.

One last word about the organization of the set.  Wow.  Wow.  Wow.  Part of what makes it easy and fun to use is the way it is organized.  There are large, clear (of course, how smart!) envelopes that hold the tools for each component – “Ready to Print” “Ready for 1-100” “Ready to Read” and “Ready for Math”.  All the envelopes fit inside a handy plastic tote.  It’s sturdy, cleanable, attractive, and organized.  Yup, you guessed it, I’m going to say, I love “Teach My” again!

The TeachMy sets are available for Babies, Toddlers, Preschoolers and there is also a “The Solar System” set!  You can buy them at:  TeachMy.com.  This is a great gift!

About Teach My

Teach My was founded in 2007 by Mom Entrepreneur, Christy Cook. Realising parents are the most important teachers, Christy scoured educational supply stores to find learning activities to educate her 18-month old son, Finn.

Not finding an all-in-one kit, Christy aimed to make it easier and less expensive for parents, so she created the award winning Teach My Baby, Teach My Toddler and Teach My Preschooler.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: All opinions are my own, unless otherwise stated. I was sent a Teach My Preschooler Kit for review. This disclosure is in accordance with FTD guidelines.