Phone Smart Teaching Telephone Review
Type-A Mom Gift Guide - Gifts for Preschoolers
Written by Caroline Jorgensen
Wednesday, 19 November 2008
Does your child understand how to use a telephone? Does your child know their own telephone number? Would he or she know what number to call in an emergency? Learning Resources has created a new interactive toy called the Phone Smart Teaching Telephone. Educational, personalized and just fun - you might want to consider this toy for your home as well.
Purchasing the Phone Smart Teaching Telephone or learning more about it, at the Learning Resources website.
As soon as I pulled this toy out of the box, I realized it wasn’t your typical phone. (But with a listed price tag of $42.95, I expected it wouldn’t be.) This phone is all about teaching your children how to use a telephone correctly. To accomplish this, it is designed with three modes: Free play, Quiz mode and Emergency mode.
In Free Play mode, kids are taught how to dial numbers in the correct sequence. They can try dialing any of the nine preset telephone numbers (which are listed on a rotating dial on the handset). For example: Toy store, movie theater, etc. If the call is dialed correctly, a voice will answer at the location – like a real phone would. Or while the phone is on and in free play mode, the phone may also ask “Let’s call the bakery”, and then your child can use the given number to try calling the bakery. Pretty cool!
But the best part of this mode is the option to preset three of your own numbers and add a recorded message such as “You’ve reached Daddy’s office”. This option is a very fun and important teaching tool for your kids. And there was no doubt about it – my kids loved playing with this feature over and over.
In Quiz mode, the phone will ask children to dial the numbers that are asked – somewhat like “Simon Says”. It is another way for children to understand how to dial numbers in a sequence correctly.
In Emergency mode, the sole purpose is to have your child learn how to dial and memorize the number 911. No doubt about, this is an excellent feature about this phone.
Please note however, this toy is not appropriate for any child under three in my opinion - or for any child who does not know their numbers or have the attention span required for it. My two-year-old happened to be next to me as I put it together. While he was initially very excited to see a new toy phone, he tossed it aside within minutes because he was too young to understand what made this phone unique. But when I called in my 5-year-old, he had a very different reaction. He was enthralled and, with my help, he continued playing with it throughout the afternoon.
The bottom line is that this toy is not your typical toy phone – it is a teaching phone. For the best results, parents and children should play with this phone together. If it is not played with correctly, it could wind up in the toy box with the other, regular, non-interactive phones. But if you are willing to help your child use this phone properly as an educational tool, I think it is a very important purchase indeed.
If you are interested in purchasing this phone or learning more about it, please visit the Learning Resources website.
Type-A Mom Gift Guide - Gifts for Preschoolers
Written by Caroline Jorgensen
Wednesday, 19 November 2008
Does your child understand how to use a telephone? Does your child know their own telephone number? Would he or she know what number to call in an emergency? Learning Resources has created a new interactive toy called the Phone Smart Teaching Telephone. Educational, personalized and just fun - you might want to consider this toy for your home as well.
Purchasing the Phone Smart Teaching Telephone or learning more about it, at the Learning Resources website.
As soon as I pulled this toy out of the box, I realized it wasn’t your typical phone. (But with a listed price tag of $42.95, I expected it wouldn’t be.) This phone is all about teaching your children how to use a telephone correctly. To accomplish this, it is designed with three modes: Free play, Quiz mode and Emergency mode.
In Free Play mode, kids are taught how to dial numbers in the correct sequence. They can try dialing any of the nine preset telephone numbers (which are listed on a rotating dial on the handset). For example: Toy store, movie theater, etc. If the call is dialed correctly, a voice will answer at the location – like a real phone would. Or while the phone is on and in free play mode, the phone may also ask “Let’s call the bakery”, and then your child can use the given number to try calling the bakery. Pretty cool!
But the best part of this mode is the option to preset three of your own numbers and add a recorded message such as “You’ve reached Daddy’s office”. This option is a very fun and important teaching tool for your kids. And there was no doubt about it – my kids loved playing with this feature over and over.
In Quiz mode, the phone will ask children to dial the numbers that are asked – somewhat like “Simon Says”. It is another way for children to understand how to dial numbers in a sequence correctly.
In Emergency mode, the sole purpose is to have your child learn how to dial and memorize the number 911. No doubt about, this is an excellent feature about this phone.
Please note however, this toy is not appropriate for any child under three in my opinion - or for any child who does not know their numbers or have the attention span required for it. My two-year-old happened to be next to me as I put it together. While he was initially very excited to see a new toy phone, he tossed it aside within minutes because he was too young to understand what made this phone unique. But when I called in my 5-year-old, he had a very different reaction. He was enthralled and, with my help, he continued playing with it throughout the afternoon.
The bottom line is that this toy is not your typical toy phone – it is a teaching phone. For the best results, parents and children should play with this phone together. If it is not played with correctly, it could wind up in the toy box with the other, regular, non-interactive phones. But if you are willing to help your child use this phone properly as an educational tool, I think it is a very important purchase indeed.
If you are interested in purchasing this phone or learning more about it, please visit the Learning Resources website.
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