Phonics Tri-Blocks Tub, By Junior Learning - REVIEW

Nature/ Type:          Word-building blocks    

Rating:                     ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ 

Recommended age:  5 - 8 year-old 

Who would love this: Parents and kids who are looking for fun and engaging way to learn about the magic of word-building! 

I recently wrote a review about the “CVC Tri-Blocks Tub” by Junior Learning - an innovative blocks that introduces kids to the foundation of CVC words. But of course, we know words-building are more than just that; I think it’s complex little system in the vast language universe 😆. Today, I would love to share about the “Phonics Tri-Blocks Tub” by Junior Learning - another words-learning tool that we genuinely love! 

Why I love ❤️ this set: 

(1) 90 Word-Building Blocks With Lower Case Letters 

Within the big plastic tub with blue lid, you will find 90 Tri-Blocks with lower-case letter(s) printed on each main surface of the triangular prism. Sometimes, it’s a single letter (a short vowel or consonant); sometimes, there are two or more letters, such as a “long vowel (“ee”, “oo”, “igh”) and other types of vowel digraphs (“ue”, “aw”, “ay”). Our 7-year-old boy was extremely excited to explore these blocks; He combined vowels and consonants, and built CVC and CVVC words such as “sit”, rain”, “hear”. We formed words with split digraphs (eg “cake”), adjacent consonants” (eg “tree”), and multi-syllabic (eg “bedtime”). This set provides HUGE words-building possibilities, and I love the included booklet that gives us a quick guide to systematic phonics progression. 

(2) Colour-Coded & Attachable Word-Building Blocks

These blocks are cleverly-designed with attachable connectors; they provide us with a visual, tactile, multi-sensory way to explore the in-depth ocean of words-building. The letters are “colour-coded” to give “visual clarity” to the  word-formation (for example, in “rain” - the first consonant is in dark blue, the long vowel “ai” is in green, and the last consonant is in light blue). 

(3) Substitute Word-Building Blocks To Create New Form of Words! 

The blocks are easy to be snapped together / taken apart, and are “spin-able”. It was fun to substitute a letter or two, and explore what other new words we can create! For example, we can join common suffixes such as “ing” and turn a verb into “present continuous” form (eg “play” to “playing”). We can add a “s” to turn a singular to plural noun (eg “chair” to “chairs” / or a base verb into singular verb (eg “run” to “runs”). We can also twist a block and reveal a new word (eg from “cow” to “mow”). 

# gifted in exchange for review 

Where to buy this: 

https://juniorlearning.com.au/products/jl175-tri-blocks-tub?_pos=2&_sid=cd5bdf2ff&_ss=r

Enjoy the video!