Melissa & Doug See & Spell
by Melissa & Doug
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List Price: Our Price: $10.79 You Save: $9.20 (46%) Availability: Usually ships in 2-3 business days Category: Toy See more product details |
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Toys and Games Reviews of Melissa & Doug See & Spell
Customer Review: Excellent for learning and assessment of reading skills
Summary: 5 Stars
I knew I would like this toy, for multiple reasons. To start with, this puzzle associates the written word with the object,stimulates the learning of the alphabet, word formation, word recognition,... It is an attractive, well made, durable toy that also allows you to assess your childs or whoevers reading skill level. I can hide the picture and ask my son what word is next to it. Quickly I could see that he knew the names of a lot of the letters and could recognize some of the words.
We read to my son frequently and it is hard to assess how well he can read since he really wants us to read, but this puzzle is an interactive way to have a sneak peek at his progress in a fun way. You can also form words that are not on the boards to expand the reading vocabulary to include things like Scoobie-Doo... We did boo,moo, too...it is a tool to teach syllables sounds. You can transition well from one lesson to another with this toy, all the while reenforcing the reading skills and having fun.
It comes with a convieniant wooden storage box, great for puzzles. I would think it should come with a cloth bag to hold the letters though. I have a 3 year old and 16 month old so the pieces would otherwise be scattered constantly.
Some of the painted side of the letters were breaking away from the wood base, but a quick call to the number on the back of the storage box and the new pack of letters is on it's way to me. So I still give it 5 stars.
Educational, well constructed, stimulating, fun. Melissa and Doug have done it again! Amazon great price! approx. $12
Customer Review: Good Idea, Has Limitations
Summary: 3 Stars
I LOVE Melissa & Doug products. We have used them for years and years through two kids. Most of them are really good and well thought out.
This is a good product but fell a little short as a teaching tool.
There are tons of letters and words to work with and it has a lot of possibilities. But once your child knows letters and is ready to start spelling words (what I saw as the main purpose in this) the learning aspect of this is gone.
Because there are pictures on each side of each board and a cut out of each letter used to make up each word, there is no need for the child think of anything except for matching letters. There is no reason for them to sound out a word and find letters or to spell a word and try to read it. All they need to do is look at the picture and say the word.
I think a better approach would have been to have two levels of learning. One side of the board could have the picture and letter cutouts. The other side could have just the picture or just the letters. Children could then either have to spell out a word by looking at the picture or to sound out a word from just the letters without a picture clue.
It is a nice idea and great for fine motor skills, letter recognition, lower case letter learning etc. But it is very limited in learning options.
I suppose you could just take the letters and ask your child to spell a word without the boards but at that point, why not just get magnetic letters and nothing else.
Not my favorite M&D product.
Customer Review: Fantastic toy, and even better customer service
Summary: 4 Stars
My 3 1/2 year old daughter got this from Santa for Christmas, along with a few other Melissa & Doug sets. We are big fans of this toy company, so far all the sets we have purchased have been durable and well made, my daughter loved her alphabet puzzle with sound from last year, it still works great and looks brand new.
We got around to opening this set today, and she was all excited, and started to spell out several boards at once...then I discovered the problem, there were no letter "e" in the box, or "a"...only one each of the "d" and "o" letters. So being a long time purchaser of their products, called the number listed on the sticker on the back, and immediately was connected with a LIVE human being, no computer nonsense telling me to press 1 then press 2...that alone was amazing, lol...and the woman I spoke with took all the info quickly, and then without any hesitation told me a new set would be out to my daughter today...no asking me to return the defective set, she was quick, efficent, and very pleasant. This one problem with the set would not have turned me off to their toys, but with such quality customer service I am an even bigger fan than ever of this toy company...
Customer Review: Great toy for preschoolers!
Summary: 4 Stars
My son has sensory disorder, so the alphabet and letter recognition is just now showing up at 4 years old. He does know his letters, but now he is very interested in them. I got him this toy because I really like Melissa & Doug toys and Amazon was having a wonderful deal, so I purchased it. The letters and the pieces are very sturdy. The only thing I wish this toy came with is a cover. It does come in a wooden box, but it would have been nice if it had a cover for the top of it. My son loves trying to find the letters and piecing them in the proper place. He likes playing with the letters stand-alone too. As he gets used to letters and starts spelling or recognizing words, I can see this being even more fun. Even my older daughter who is 12 was having fun playing with him! I know she doesn't need help spelling, but she thought it was fun to play it with her little brother and find all the letters to match it.
The game also gives some hints on how to use this set in other ways. I think this will be a useful set for now and in Kindergarten.
Customer Review: Great idea poorly made
Summary: 3 Stars
I run a small preschool, of 6 children ages 2-5. I buy Melissa and Doug products all the time. Most of the time I feel they are very educational and made well. This See & Spell is not the case. The fake wood is all cracked and bits are coming off. Like it skips the sanding step when it was being made. The color cover for the letters is missing or coming out on a handful of the letters. The children have had it for less then two days. I noticed the cracks and problems the first day when one of the children asked for a lesson on it. Should have looked more closely before giving it to the children.
Idea itself is great. Very educational game and the children love it. Just some of the letters I have had to take away, so they don't get hurt. Just really disapointed in this product. It doesn't hold up to the high standards I have for Melissa & Doug products. Hopefully it was just a bad batch and no one else has this problem.