Today I would like to introduce you to the company called Educational Insights based out of Southern California. Educational Insights is the manufacturer of playful products with serious educational value, including subject-specific classroom products, teacher resources, educational toys, and games. Their products are designed by seasoned educators & parents who know that children love to learn when you make that learning experience fun!

When you visit the Educational Insights online web site you will find that it’s really easy to navigate. The web site has three tabbed categories which are the sections for Parents, Teachers and Classroom Jeopardy. Since I am a mother and grandmother…I could spend hours just browsing around their parent’s section of the web site.

My Review: Today I am reviewing the Hot Dots Jr. “Getting Ready For School” set from Educational Insights. This set includes “Ace” the talking, teaching dog along with 80 two-sided lesson cards and a step by step instructional guide. It is geared towards children ages 3-6, grades pre-K through grade 1. You will need two AAA batteries for the “Ace” dog pen. The set includes 5 sets of lesson cards: Set One is on shapes, Set Two is Color & Patterns, Set Three is Let’s Learn Numbers, Set Four is Learning the Alphabet and Set Five is Uppercase and Lowercase Letters.

We decided to start out with the set FIVE lesson cards which help children to learn Uppercase & Lowercase Letters. Once we had it all ready to go we sat down with 3 children in our family and demonstrated to them on how to use the Hot Dots Jr. and you will see in the video below me showing the kids how it is done. (sorry I am not good at doing videos or being in one! LOL)

After the instructional period the 3 kids got busy using the set. It was really fun to watch them giggle and laugh every time “Ace” the talking dog talked to them. To use the set your child simply looks at the lesson card and then uses the “Ace” pen to select his/her answer and he “Ace” lights up green when they select the correct answer and lights up red when they select the incorrect answer. I love how clearly “Ace” talks to them…in other words, you can clearly make out what he is saying and he says a lot of different things…like “correct”, “terrific”, etc.

The kids sat and played with this set for over 2 hours and they absolutely loved it! I love that they are learning important things that they need to know before starting school and they have fun while doing it. I also appreciate that they are learning as they go and when they select an incorrect answer…they can try again without feeling pressured to get it right the first time. This is the second time I am reviewing a Hot Dots Jr. set and we absolutely love them…matter of fact, these are some of our favorite products from Educational Insights and we highly recommend them to you.

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I would personally like to thank Educational Insights for sending me the product(s) to review here on the TCC Blog.

Disclaimer: Shelly H. has personally reviewed the product listed above. Shelly has not received any monetary compensation for her review. Shelly did receive a free product to try out so she could evaluate and use it for her review. Her thoughts & opinions in this review are unbiased & honest and your opinions may differ. The Two Classy Chics are not responsible for delivery/shipping of giveaway items won from this blog nor are we responsible for mis-use or injury caused by items won from the TCC Blog. Copyright 2010-2011, All Rights Reserved.