Fridge Words Magnetic Word Builder
by LeapFrog
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Toys and Games Reviews of Fridge Words Magnetic Word Builder
Customer Review: Wondering about fridge words/phonics letters...
Summary: 5 Stars
I was reading a few of the reviews on the fridge words word builder and came across a few reviews that mentioned that the letters for an earlier version of fridge phonics don't work with this toy. For those of you who want to know what the "word whammer" looks like, here's the link: Word Whammer Fridge Phonics I don't have the word whammer but I was worried that the capital letters of my fridge phonics (single letter toy) wasn't going to work with this word builder.
I had the "sun" version of "fridge phonics" originally: LeapFrog: Fridge Phonics Magnetic Letter Set and if you do a search you probably will find that the newest version is: LeapFrog Fridge Phonics Magnetic Alphabet Set - Styles May Vary which has a dog house and the leapster dog next to it instead of a sun. Well I can tell you first hand that the capital letters from the "sun" version works with this word builder. Also, be aware that the word builder has a blue belly version of the jet with red light lenses versus the green belly version with blue light lenses. I'm not sure which is newer but I'm tempted to say the blue belly is the newer look. I have the green belly jet and so far I have not had the "sticking" rubber syndrome that makes the unit detect the wrong letter (such as W for T) <knock on wood>. I don't know if my cap letters work with the blue jet but I'm tempted to say that it would.
So with that out of the way, I guess the most important aspect is how well this thing performs. I got this educational toy for my 3 1/2 yr old son and my 1 1/2 old daughter. It seems my daughter gets more out of the "phonics" part and my son loves the mechanical part (putting the letters in and out of the slots). It must be true that boys and girl's brains are wired differently so with that said, there will be people that swear by this thing and others whose kids just aren't "interested". I have the view that the more you introduce them to various educational skills the better. But then again, would someone spend 25 bucks on something only to have it gather dust? My advice is to find a parent's group or perhaps a parent friend who has this toy and borrow it or go to their place and let your kids loose on it. See what happens. If they like it, buy it.
Case in point, I bought a Skuut, which has rave reviews but it's just sitting in the corner now. My son does not want to get on that thing, but hopefully it'll get used by my daughter in the future; she seems quite amused when she rides things (go figure).
Customer Review: Highly Recommended
Summary: 5 Stars
I have a high opinion of the single-letter "Fridge Phonics" toy from LeapFrog. I not only love the fun, practicality, and functionality of it, but I also love the way it ties into the LeapFrog "Letter Factory" movie (which is fantastic in its own right). The "Fridge Words" toy builds on the "Fridge Phonics" toy in every way that I had hoped. My 2-year-old son is just as enthusiastic as he was/is with the "Fridge Phonics" toy, but now that he knows his letters, he has the opportunity to progress to full words. The way it talks him through building a word is flawless. 1) "Let's find the letters that spell the word 'dog'". 2) If a mistake is made: "we're looking for the letter 'D'. 3) If a "D" is placed, but in the wrong spot: "Put the 'D' in the spot with the blinking light. Etc. It's a very smooth way of challenging him and then assisting him, but only when he needs it.
I also am very happy that this version uses lowercase letters. My son knows the capital versions of the letters easily enough, but still has a hard time identifying some lowercase letters. This toy is great for reinforcing his learning of lowercase.
There is one specific feature that especially impressed me: backwards (and forwards) compatibility. All of the capital letters from the "Fridge Phonics" toy work in the "Fridge Words" toy (and vice-versa). This is really great, but it gets better. The "Fridge Words" toy comes with only one letter "O" and one letter "P". Curious, I took the capital "P" from the "Fridge Phonics" toy and used the lowercase "O" and "P" from the "Fridge Words" toy to spell "Pop". The toy recognized and pronounced the word correctly. This means it is programmed to recognize words that can't even be created using only the supplied letters. Obviously, LeapFrog was very deliberate in supporting expansion from the "Fridge Phonics" toy. They didn't strictly need to do this, but they did; well done. Also, all of the letter colors are the same (the letter "T" is blue in both toys, for instance). This matters because when it is talking the child through a certain word it helps them locate/identify letters by citing the letter's color: "We're looking for the letter 'T'..." "The letter 'T' is blue...", etc.
If you already own (and like) the "Fridge Phonics" toy, the "Fridge Words" toy is an obvious next-phase. If you don't own the "Fridge Phonics" toy, I still highly recommend "Fridge Words". It's a great, entertaining way to supplement your child's reading education!
Customer Review: it works now, thanks to another reviewer!
Summary: 3 Stars
Mine also did not work right, always saying the wrong letters. But after the help of another reviewer it works perfect. So thanks to that person. Now that it works my kids LOVE it! It has helped my 3 year old learn his letters and helped my 5 year old spell! The only reason I gave it 3 stars was because I should not have to fix a brand new toy to make it work! I just wanted to let everyone else know how to fix the problem. So i copied the reviewer's post....
From Reviewer: A. Feng
- First, in order to open the housing, you have to loosen twelve philips screws to get the two parts of the housing together. Not too bad; this can be done with an ordinary screwdriver.
- Next, in order to fix the issue of the stuck tabs, you need to separate the electronics plate from the housing. In total, there were eight small screws (you need a No.1 or smaller precision screwdriver) to loosen to completely get the plate off. Because I only had one that was a problem, I got away with loosening only five of the small screws. This freed up the assembly where the magnetic letters go.
- Once you get that assembly out, you need to separate the tab section from the magnetic section. Each of the assemblies has two small screws connecting the two parts, which needs to be undone. You can put aside the magnetic section
- Now you have the tab section. This section is composed of three main parts: the actual green tabs (six), a rubber gasket-type cover that they sit on, and the electronics backing which is pressure-activated based on which tabs are depressed. Once I looked at it, I realized that the problem with my device was that the rubber cover was stuck, which is why some tabs were depressed. (Therefore, swabbing it with alcohol would not have solved the problem). Once I worked it loose, I could reassemble the parts. Note that this can be very laborious if you don't have a pair of pliers and/or haven't worked with small parts before, as the tabs sit precariously on the rubber gasket!
- Once I reassembled everything, it worked fine... but it took about an hour to do (and a very patient wife!)
Customer Review: Great FUN even for the littlest of ones, while also LEARNING
Summary: 5 Stars
We are Americans who actually live in the U.K. but bought this item in the U.S. ona recent trip after our 2 1/4 year old son had such an AMAZING time with the Fridge Phonics Letter Set (which, incidently, we somehow received with the lower-case letters). He is very, very young but is extremely advanced for his age, linguistically, and so we knew he would love this extension of the Fridge Phonics system, and DOES HE EVER! After opening it for Christmas, he IMMEDIATELY wanted to use it and has played with it every single day since then! We also bought the Letter Factory and Talking Word Factory videos and, when used together, though only 2 1/4 our son is ALREADY recognizing all his letters and some beginning words! While in the bath two days ago he happened to notice his "little friend" and started saying, "-enis, -enis, that starts with letter P, puh, puh, puh" Both my husband and I were AMAZED! Later that day he also noticed, for the first time, that the supermarket is filled with words! He had already, at 15 months, pointed to the supermarket's store sign and said, "We are going to Tesco now", but while in the store this day, he pointed to some large letter stencils and said, "Look Mommy, Tesco has words in it! That one starts with K. K is for Karsten (his name)." I cannot tell you how shocked and excited my husband and I were to see him so enthusiastic about being able to "read" words! We really do enjoy ALL the Leapfrog products we have bought him or have received as gifts from others, but the Fridge Phonics series and Talking Letters/Words videos have been an EXCELLENT buy and provide us not only with a very early and eager learner, but a child who enjoys it all because he is, of course, having fun!
P.S. He now puts D into the Word Whammer and says, "D is for Daddy", puts R in and says, "R is for Rose (my name), and puts S in and says, "S is for Sebastian (his favorite doll)" none of which we have tried to make him learn or memorize, he just does it on his own!
Customer Review: AMAZING LEARNING TOOL!! WOW
Summary: 5 Stars
The other reviews given with 1 star do not apply to me. Most of those reviews look older so maybe they fixed all the bugs. I have a very talkative and super smart hyper little girl. I had a problem with her hovering next to my elbow and rambling consistently whenever I'm in the kitchen cooking or doing dishes. Now she has something educational to occupy her while learning too!! She has never gone to preschool and now I know that she will be more than ready for kindergarten. She had just about mastered recognizing all the capital letters so this was perfect timing for her to master lowercase and it happened quick. She also has a good concept now of letter sounds and putting them in an order. The 3 different settings are well thought out by leapfrog. She can experiment with trying to make her own words or be prompted to make suggested words. I am astonished with how much she learned in such a short amount of time. I can not say enough to praise the educational value of this toy for children learning thier letters and early spelling reading concepts. I often help by prompting her to change one word to another. if she makes cat I can ask her to change it to hat, can, or cot and give her promts with letter sounds. This has been a headache preventor in the kitchen and a huge confidence builder for both us regarding phonic comprehension. As long as you dont get a dud with the glitches mentioned in other reviews here I HIGHLY recommend this toy. The ONLY issue I see being a problem at all is the "tinny" sounds mentioned on the first review. It is a little strange that it's so hard to differentiate between the "F" and "S" letters and sounds. It is possible to tell which one if you listen real close. My daughter can hear the difference now after having for almost a month. I also want to mention that we got another leapfrog fridge toy (DJ radio I think) that will slide right down the fride but this one stays in place with NO problem.