Can anyone recommend a toy that teaches letter sounds please, one of those "speaking" ones?

[Cadelaide]

Can't stand the things but DS borrowed one and he loves it.

Only trouble is it does letter names instead of sounds/phonics. I'd really like to get one that doesn't do letter names at all, just phonics only. I'm guessing vtech is the way to go, but I know nothing of these things.

Also it'll have to be ebay as I want to spend no more than, ooooh, about 35p.

[ChunkyMonkeysMum]

Try the V-Tech Bus. It's fantastic. DS1 loved his & it talk him all his letter sounds as you can play a game on it where it will ask "Where's the letter.....(letter sound, not name)" etc etc. There are also other games to play.
DS2 now loves it 5 years later !!!

Have a look at this

[ChunkyMonkeysMum]

Sorry, taught not talk

[ByTheSea]

Leapfrog's Alphabet Pal is cute too. It's a caterpillar that does both phonics and letter names, if I recall, and also colours and some songs. Bear in mind that some children take to some toys and other children take to others so it's a bit of trial and error.

[ChunkyMonkeysMum]

Yeah, we've got one of those too !!

[Cadelaide]

thankyou

[paisleyleaf]

We've got this on our fridge, which is good.
I notice it says unavailable, but may be on ebay.

[treacletart]

Haven't got one yet, but i'm hoping to get a Peppa Pig Fun Phonics for dd

[aWitchForLifeNotJustHalloween]

I'd say leapfrog leap pad every time, you can set different levels and settings so that it reads a single letter (properly, in phonics) or reads the whole word, tells the story, or gives you a sound profile of the story. Fantastic piece of kit

[MaLopez]

Was going to suggest vtech alphabet bus too.

[claudialyman]

just got vtech alfie the phonic bear www.argos.co.uk/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Search?storeId=10001&referredURL=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.argos.co .uk%2Fwebapp%2Fwcs%2Fstores%2Fservlet%2FSearch%3FstoreId. halfprice in argos. plays 26 tunes in addition to phonics so unluckily one of them bound to annoy. we got it for the music but seems to ask good questions re phonics. Soft teddy so might be good going to bed toy. DS (autistic spectrum) unfortunately thinks every new toy is The Work Of The Devil but has permitted this to stay on the bed so theres a vote of confidence.

[ThingOne]

I have the same one as paisleyleaf but my DSis (teacher, i/c literacy at her school) told me it didn't use all the right sounds. I'd not noticed as I'm normally running away at high speed from the tinny tune.

Children like it.

[paisleyleaf]

ooo I've not noticed either.

[DungeonButter]

the alphabet caterpillar is fun for grown ups too.
if you type in rude words that it recognises it giggles and says 'ooh that tickles'

win win.

[MrsKitty]

Vtech alphabet desk is great - keeps DS occupied for hours AND the voice on it is Justin Fletcher which makes DS love it even more! Picked mine up 2nd hand for £3 - Best money ever spent.

[Cadelaide]

Really DungeonButter?

Sounds like great fun, but I bet my older two would run off with it.

[DungeonButter]

Yes, only catch was that my caterpillar was french (long story), and i had to think of french swear words. Kept me busy for days.

[SweetNiblets]

DD had this which has now been passed on to DS who also loves it and it has really given them both the basics before starting school.

It has also lasted 5 years and still going strong

[paisleyleaf]

I do think it's good to get something in lowercase if you can.

[Olihan]

The only issue with those toys is that they don't teach the right kind of phonics. Reading in reception is taught using pure phonics, most of those toys, especially older 2nd hand ones won't use that.

With pure phonics you don't put the 'uh' sound on the end - so 't' isn't 'tuh' it's the same as the sound you make when you say 'cot', a sort of click behind your teeth. 'M' isn't 'muh' it's 'mmmmmm', same with 'n', 'f' 'v' 'z' 'r' 'l' 's', letters like 'b' 'd' 'p' 'k' 'j' 'c' are all much shorter sounds than you would normally say - try saying a 3 letter CVC word like 'dog' and you'll hear it. 'h'and 'p' are more sort of breaths of air than actual sounds.

It's all very dull but it would help him much more when he starts school if he knows how the sound should be, rather than having to relearn it all.

Having said all that, any phonics is still better than letter names or, worse american sounds .

[Cadelaide]

i thought pretty much all these toys "spoke" pure phonics nowadays, I'm sure the ones I listened to in the toyshop the other day did?

I'm going off the idea now tho', don't think I can cope with hour upon hour of Justin going "Mmmmmm".