WordScout Wiz, By Families Play Forever - REVIEW

Nature / Type:             Card game 

Rating:                        ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️  

Recommended age:     7 year-old ++ 

Who would love this:  Word game/ Scrabble lovers 

Fast-paced, fun, and perfect for the whole family - WordScout Wiz from Families Play Forever is a card game that keeps everyone on their toes. Big thanks to Divisible by Zero for providing a copy to try out!

Why I love ❤️ it: 

(1) Word Game Without Tiles or Big Board

Think Scrabble, but way faster - no tiles, no big board, and no waiting forever for someone to think of a seven-letter word. You’ll be using shorter words with just your letter cards. The game comes with 85 letter cards: each player starts with 5 cards, 10 cards go face-up as a stock pile, and the rest form a draw pile. On your turn, you try to build a word using your hand plus the top stock card. If you succeed, you get to keep all the letters from that word. Draw a card when turn ends. Play continues until the last stock card is used. Whoever collects the most cards that round wins. First player to snag 3 rounds is the overall champ. Best part? Each game only takes about 5–10 minutes, so it’s super easy to play again (and again!).

(2) Twists & Rules To keep Things Interesting

There are a few twists to keep things interesting. For starters, no two-letter words - every word has to be at least three letters long. Need new cards? You can swap them out, but only at a 2-for-1 deal. And the real game-changer? Wild Cards! Some cover a whole range like ‘A–M’ or ‘N–Z,’ and others are fully wild, ready to stand in for any letter you need.

(3) 10 Rule Variants

But wait - there’s more! The set comes with 10 fun rule variants to shake things up. Try ‘Elite Wiz,’ where only longer words of 4 or more letters count (no quick 3-letter wins here!). Or mix it up with ‘Vowel Wiz,’ which requires at least two vowels, and ‘Consonant Wiz,’ which pushes you to pack in 3 or 4 consonants. My favorite? ‘Kids vs. Adults Wiz’ - kids just need 3-letter words, while adults have to stretch to 4 or more (a sneaky way to even the playing field!). For an extra challenge, go with ‘Category Wiz,’ where your words must fit into a chosen theme like animals, places, or foods.

(4) Compact Pack For On-The-Go Play

The cards come in a bright, compact pack that’s easy to toss in a bag - making this a perfect travel buddy. Way more portable than Scrabble, it’s a convenient pick for any word-game fan on the go. 

# gifted in exchange for review 

Where to buy this: 

https://www.cowtrees.au/games/475-wordscout-wiz.html (Australia) 

Check out more reviews of games from Families Play Forever: 

• 4 To Win, By Families Play Forever 
• Speedomino, By Families Play Forever

Enjoy the video! 

Solar System Busy Book, By Busy Books Co - REVIEW

Nature / Type:             Busy book/ learning binder 

Rating:                        ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️    

Recommended age:    2-6 year-old ++ 

Who would love this:  Any kids who love tactile activities/ solving puzzles/ completing tasks 

Both of my kids have a cute fascination with completing tasks—they love the thrill of solving puzzles, sorting things, and discovering new facts. I’m excited to review the “Solar System Busy Book” from Busy Books Co, an Australian-designed and made activity book that offers a series of delightful learning experiences - perfect for fostering kids’ curiosity and sense of achievement while exploring the wonders of solar system! 

Why I love ❤️ it: 

(1) Learn About Solar System: Planets, Moon & Earth's Atmosphere 

I haven’t come across many interactive solar system resources, so this Busy Book is a refreshing addition to our home-learning collection. The kids love rearranging the planets and moon based on their distance from the Sun (we especially LOVE admiring Saturn’s iconic rings). The creative matching exercises have been a hit, helping us learn about celestial objects like satellites, comets, and spaceship. 🚀 We also delved into the moon’s eight phases and the five layers of Earth’s atmosphere. Seriously, who says astronomy is boring? 

(2) Beautifully Illustrated Pages With Solar-System Themed Activities

The book features many more beautifully illustrated pages with solar-system-themed learning activities. It includes letter matching (upper-case planets with lower-case rockets), visual pattern recognition, shape identification, star counting, numbered astronaut puzzle, space shuttle assembly, UFO color matching (with super adorable aliens), “find the other half” robot puzzles, and activities for learning more/less/equal and addition up to 5. This comprehensive binder offers a joyful learning experience. And the special bonding opportunities with the kids? Priceless! 

(3) Great Quality Reusable Busy Book 

The BEST feature about Busy Book - they are REUSABLE! The thick, glossy, double-laminated pages are securely bound with a durable round binder. All removable pieces are equipped with Velcro dots, allowing them to be detached and reattached countless times. Plus, the set thoughtfully includes two extra sheets of replaceable Velcro components. 

(4) Yellow travel Bag For Easy Travel 

I love the yellow travel bag with a zipper—it perfectly fits the lightweight Busy Book for easy travel. The sturdy storage box is a fantastic addition, offering excellent protection for long-lasting use. Simply amazing!

# gifted in exchange for review 

Where to buy this: 

https://www.busybooks.co/products/solar-system-busy-book

Enjoy the video! 

Letter Links, By FlexiQ Games - REVIEW

Nature/ Type:            Board game 

Rating:                       ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️     

Recommended age:   6 year-old ++ 

Who would love this: Parents looking for a fun and educational (phonics learning) game 

“Letter Links” by FlexiQ Games is a nice little addition to our kids board game collection: it has succinct and quick-to-learn game rules; almost zero setting up time, short and sweet game play (perfect for little people with short attention span), compact and travel-easy, and can be played almost anywhere and anytime. Thank you VR Distribution for providing a copy! 

Why I love ❤️ this game: 

(1) A Fantastic Game To Learn Sound Patterns 

This is a fantastic game for school-age kids who are exploring the wonderful world of phonology, and getting themselves familiar with frequently-occurring sound patterns. The set includes 60 double-sided card: one side of the cards features 3 letters (2 red and 1 blue) each, and the reverse side of the cards features images of 7 unrelated and random objects/ animals. The game rules is pretty straightforward: be the first player to find the magic “link” - match a letter (from one card) with an image (from another card placed beside it) that starts with the corresponding letter. For example, “D” matches with “duck”, “S” matches with “socks”, and “H” matches with “helicopter”. The winner is the little champion who won (collected) most of the cards by the end of the game. The mechanism is intuitive. The gameplay is fast, stimulating, and strangely addictive. Our two kids love it! 

(2) 2 Ways To Play, 2 Difficulty Levels 

I love that the game rules provide 2 different difficulty levels. In the starter level, players only look at the 2 red letters, and need only to spot 1 image that matches 1 of the 2 red letters to win. In the advanced level, players look at all the 3 letters and must call out 2 correct “links” to win a card. 

(3) Colourful & Appealing Images 

The images are colourful and appealing. I love the hexagonal cards design and image arrangement (that suits a multi-player game very well). With a wide variation combinations of 3 letters and 7 images in 60 cards, this game has an impressively high playability! 

(4) Stay Focus & Think Fast!

I love a kids game with educational value - not only does it allow the kids to learn about phonics sounds, it also trains the kids to stay focus, connect pieces of information, think fast and flexibly - and really, no one minds a little bit of competitive fun 😉. 

# gifted in exchange for review 

Where to buy this: 

https://www.bigw.com.au/product/letter-links-card-game/p/9900034244 (Australia) 

https://www.gamesworld.com.au/product/letter-links/ (Australia) 

https://www.thecoffeeapple.com.au/products/letter-links (Australia) 

Enjoy the video! 

WordXchange, By Prodijeux - REVIEW

Nature/ Type:            Board game 

Rating:                       ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️  

  

Recommended age:   10 year-old ++ 

Who would love this: Board-gamers who enjoy Scrabble / word games. 

Are you a quick-witted word game enthusiast looking for next-level challenge to unleash your inner competitiveness? Then - “WordXchange” by Prodijeux is THE GAME for YOU (thank you Divisible by Zero for another incredible game!) 

Why I love ❤️ this game: 

(1) Intense Word Game - Stealing Is Allowed! 

At a quick glance, you might think this is just another “scrabble-variant”; Whilst there are some similarities (such as the letter tiles in drawstring bag set-up), I find WordXchange a tougher game - more “cut-throat”, more intense, more unpredictable. The set contains 126 letter tiles (125 letters and 1 joker). The game starts with 5 randomly drawn letter tiles on central board. On each turn, player adds a new tile to the pool, and tries to make words using the tiles before the one-minute timer is up. The catch: stealing is a legitimate move in this new twist of anagram game! For example, if your opponent made a word “OAT, you can steal the word, add a letter “C, reshuffles the tiles and turns it into another word (eg “COAT” or “TACO”). All words must have at least 3-letters long, and we can’t steal a noun simply by adding a “S” and turns it into a plural form. The winner is the first to make and line up 6 words.

(2) Cool & Gorgeous Components! 

I love the mousepad size central board that doesn’t take up much table space. Formed words are displayed on white easels (14 included), facing the central board. It’s like a battle between gladiators, standing guard around an arena, waiting to crush your rivals whilst fighting for the last word! I love the transparent blue tiles. I also like that the letter distribution is printed on the central board for easy reference. 

(3) Joker Tile For Strategy

The joker tile elevates the strategy element of the game! Like Scrabble, it can represent any letter. However, in WordXchange, you can use it to “steal” a word by changing the value of the joker + adding a tile + re-arranging your opponent’s word. We can also replace the joker tile with a letter from the board, and use that joker tile to make a new word. 

(4) Elegant Velvety Black Drawstring Bag 

The drawstring bag is elegantly-done in velvety black. A timer is included, and the 12-page game rules include game strategies to truly master the game! 

# gifted in exchange for review 

Where to buy this: 

https://www.wombatstoyshop.com.au/word-x-change.html (Australia) 

https://www.madaboutscience.com.au/shop/word-xchange-junior.html (Australia) 

Enjoy the video! 

Rainbow Sentences, By Junior Learning - REVIEW

Nature/ Type:            Language learning set 

Rating:                       ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ 

Recommended age:   5 year-old ++ 

Who would love this: Parents/ teachers looking for creative and fun educational kit 

So, what’s next after the kids have learned about phonics and words? My view - It’s putting the words together and constructing sentences time! You might have seen my recent review on “Rainbow Phonics Tiles”. Today, I would love to share about the “next level up” learning tool - “Rainbow Sentences”, from the same amazing Junior Learning . 

Why I love ❤️ this set: 

(1) 160 Word Tiles For Sentences-Forming 

We were pretty excited to see a box with massive number of tiles with words on them - 160 of them, to be exact! There are 12 articles/pronouns, 17 adjectives, 39 nouns, 44 verbs, 37 prepositions, and 11 punctuation marks. A pretty impressive set with sufficient forms of word to test out your sentence-making skills. Be creative, arrange the tiles, put them into proper order. We can make sentences from “The cup is pink.”, “What a silly game!”, “How do I look?”, to “She found my blue bike under the little bed.” - and many more. All sentences can be formed using proper punctuation marks, complete with capitalised first letter of the first word in each sentence. It’s a really stimulating and fun exercise. It’s like building a solid Lego construction using whatever types of bricks we have at home. It sharpens the kids’ creativity, develops their sentence-building skills whilst learning the correct written-language rules. 

(2) Colour-Coded Words For Visual Clarity 

The words are “colour coded”. For example, the adjectives (“good”, “happy”, “cold”) are in sky blue colour, verbs (“use”, “found”, “went”) are in red, and nouns (“bird”, “school”, “Emma”) are in purple. I love the visual clarity of it, and how the clever design facilitates word recognition to help the kids with basic sentence construction. 

(3) Magnetic Tiles + In-Built Pop-Up White Board 

The word tiles are magnetic and can be attached easily onto the in-built, pop up whiteboard comes in the box. The white board has black lines on it to help guide the sentence-building. The magnetic feature makes it easy to arrange the tiles, inter-change and replace the words to explore different sentence-forming possibilities. 

(4) Self-Contained Storage Box 

I love that the tiles are encased in a self-contained storage box, held together securely with elastic band for easy storage and portability. Love it! 

# gifted in exchange for review 

Where to buy this: 

https://juniorlearning.com.au/products/rainbow-sentences?_pos=1&_sid=b71a42746&_ss=r

Check out my reviews on other Junior Learning products: 

• Spelligator, By Junior Learning 
• Rainbow Phonics Tiles, By Junior Learning 
• Rainbow CVC Objects, By Junior Learning
• CVC Bubble Boards, By Junior Learning
• Flashbot, By Junior Learning 
• Phonics Tri-Blocks Tub, By Junior Learning 
• CVC Tri-Blocks Tub, By Junior Learning

Enjoy the video! 

Spelligator, By Junior Learning - REVIEW

Nature/ Type:            Board game for kids 

Rating:                       ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ 

Recommended age:   5 year-old ++ 

Who would love this: Kids and parents, especially those who enjoy word-building games (like Scrabble)

 

If I must name a favourite words-building games for kids, “Spelligator” from Junior Learning is definitely in my TOP three! In fact, Spelligator is apparently the first-ever product of Junior Learning (created in 2009) and remains one of its top-sellers! 

Why I love ❤️ this game: 

(1) Word-Building Game With Colourful Chomping Spelligators! 

Spelligator helps kids to navigate the tricky world of phonics through joyous games involving colourful alligators! We love words-forming exercise - Spelligator throws in some competitive elements and fast-paced thrill in it, making this game simply irresistible! The set contains 4 plastic alligators (or “Spelligators”), 75 letter tiles, a word list, and a game guide. To play, each player takes a “Spelligator”, and spread all the tiles faced down on the table. Now, each player flips over a tile in turn, until a player can create a word by placing 3 tiles on the back of their Spelligator. The play continues until all tiles have been turned over and no more words can be made. The winner is the player with the highest stack of correct words. My 7-year-old and myself are loving the game! 

(2) Colour-Coded Letter Tiles With 3 Unique Shapes To Guide Letter-Positioning

The 75 lower-case, colour-coded letter tiles consists of 23 word beginnings, 27 word endings, and 25 middle tiles. The 3 types of tiles have their own unique shapes to guide the letter-positioning (eg the tiles “ss” and “ng” can only be placed at the end, “br” and “bl” at the beginning, and “ea” and “oi” in the middle). The tiles cover consonants, vowels, digraphs, blends - there are sufficient possibilities to form simple CVC words (like “sit”, “rat”, “bag”), as well as complex words like “church”, “draft”, “speech”, and “stamp”. 

(3) Very Helpful Word List 

I LOVE the handy word list - featuring words that can be built using the tiles, arranged in alphabetical order for easy reference. I did a rough count - there are around / over 700 words in the list! 

(4) Quality Components & Adorable Design 

I love the sturdy plastic tiles that give us a sense of “accomplishment”, watching them stacked up into little mountains of words. The tiles have hollowed-out design to snugly fit into the mould on the alligator’s back. The idea of a chomping alligators as tiles holder is such an adorable idea for kids! 

# gifted in exchange for review 

Where to buy this: 

https://juniorlearning.com.au/products/jl100-spelligator?_pos=1&_sid=d0c6be619&_ss=r

Enjoy the video! 

Rainbow Phonics Tiles, By Junior Learning - REVIEW

Nature/ Type:            Phonics learning set  

Rating:                       ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️

Recommended age:   5-8 year-old ++ 

Who would love this: Teachers/ parents looking for colourful words/ phonics learning resources to keep kids interested & engaged. 

Junior Learning has an interesting range of learning resources to explore the system of words-building and language. Today, I would love to share about “Rainbow Phonics Tiles” - another learning tool that we genuinely enjoy! 

Why I love ❤️ this set: 

(1) 90 Tiles To Form & Build Words 

Within the box you will find 90 tiles with lower-case letter(s), including single letter (a short vowel or consonant), A combo of two or more letters such as a “long vowel (“ee”, “oo”, “igh”) and other vowel digraphs (“ow”, “ar”, “ur”). Our two kids (4 and 7 year-old) love using the tiles to explore and form words (sometimes, completely by “chance” 🤣) by combining the vowels and consonants. They built simple CVC and CVVC words like “sun”, “cup”, “sheep”. You can also form words with split digraphs (eg “cake”), adjacent consonants” (eg “tree”), and multi-syllabic (eg “bedtime”). Our kids love the cute sounding words like “buzz”, and “chuck”. This set provides HUGE words-building possibilities with many common letter patterns. 

(2) Colour-Coded Tiles For Visual Clarity 

The letters are “colour-coded” to give “visual clarity” to the  word-formation. Consonant tiles are in sky blue colour, and common patterns like “ear” are in purple. 5 vowels (aeiou) are in red, and there are 5 additional “e” tiles in pink. Consonant digraphs like “ch”and “sh” are in yellow, and long vowel like “ee” is in green, etc. 

(3) Magnetic Tiles To Use With Pop-Up White Board

The tiles are made of cardboard with foam board, which gives them a chunky, tactile 3D feel. Each tile has magnetic sheets at the back, which can be attached easily to the pop up whiteboard comes in the box. The set also includes some white frames of different lengths (2 to 5 empty letter spaces), which we have been using for “guess the word” game. The magnetic feature makes it easy to arrange the letters, join common suffixes (such as “ng), and change a consonant/ vowel to make new word (eg from “bat” to “cat”). We can also use this with different Junior Learning resources for more engaging play, such as the “CVC Objects” set that I have previously reviewed. 

(4) Self-Contained Storage Box 

I love that the tiles are encased in a self-contained storage box, held together securely with elastic band for easy storage. 

# gifted in exchange for review 

Where to buy this: 

https://juniorlearning.com.au/products/rainbow-phonics-tiles?_pos=3&_sid=34225541d&_ss=r

Enjoy the video! 

Rainbow CVC Objects, By Junior Learning - REVIEW

Nature/ Type:             Objects that represent CVC words 

Rating:                       ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ 

Recommended age:   4 year-old ++ 

Who would love this: Teachers/ Parents / Kids who are exploring the magic of word-forming 

Junior Learning has a range of exciting resources that are versatile, open-ended, and SUPER FUN to play with. Today I would love to share about this amazing “Rainbow CVC Objects” set - a learning tool that our family really loves. 

Why I love ❤️ it? 

(1) 40 Objects - Short & Fun Words That Follow Pattern of CVC 

Unseal the box and you will find 40 objects of various sizes, shapes and types - all brightly coloured and visually-appealing. The kids were intrigued by these seemingly unrelated objects. They picked up the pieces one at a time, observed them closely, identified and named them, and finally, discovered the common connection - these are all CVC objects! Each object represents a three-letter CVC word which follows the pattern of consonant + vowel + consonant (hence, the acronym, “CVC”). They are short, fun, punchy words that young kids love making the sound of - such as “PIG”, “LEG”, “FAN”, and “BIN”. CVC words introduce young kids to the whole new world of sounds-blending 3 individual letters. I really love how adorable the illustrated objects are. My personal favourites are the cheese-stealing RAT, the cute BAT with two vampire fangs, and the friendly FOX with a smile. 

(2) Made of Quality Thick Cardboard With Foam Board 

The objects were made of thick cardboard with foam board, which gives them a chunky 3D feel. The BEST part? There are magnetic sheets at the back of these objects. The kids can stick the pieces on whiteboard, fridge, magnetic dry erase board, and more! The magnetic feature provides the kids with numerous play possibilities. 

(3) Multi-Purpose & Versatile - Many Ways To Learn And Play!

I LOVE how multi-purpose and versatile these CVC objects are! My four-year-old loves sticking them on a white board to create random (and sometimes ridiculous) stories, and it was great fun to watch her using her imagination in such creative way! We can also challenge the kids to write the CVC words on the white board, or use them together with other Junior Learning products such as the CVC Tri-Blocks, CVC Bubble Boards, and the magnetic Phonics Tiles for some words / pictures matching games! I love how the products work so well together. 

(4) Light Weight & Easy To Be Stored Away 

I love how light weight the pieces are. The box is easy to be stored away, and does not take up much space. 

# gifted in exchange for review 

Where to buy this: 

https://juniorlearning.com.au/products/rainbow-cvc-objects?_pos=1&_sid=9890f5d82&_ss=r

Enjoy the video! 

CVC Bubble Boards, By Junior Learning - REVIEW

Nature/ Type:             CVC words learning resources 

Rating:                       ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ 

Recommended age:   4 year-old ++ 

Who would love this: Parents looking for an interactive, fun learning aid for kids to explore CVC words 

My four-year-old has just commenced her alphabet and CVC words learning journey recently. I was excited to receive this CVC Bubble Boards set from Junior Learning and explored the wonder of word-forming with the kids using this tactile, sensory tool. 

 

Why I love ❤️ it: 

(1) Learn CVC Words In A FUN Way With 12 Double-Sided Bubble Boards 

So, what are CVC words? They are single syllable, three-letter words that follow the pattern of consonant, vowel, consonant (hence, the acronym, “CVC”). These are short, fun, punchy words that introduces young kids to the whole new universe of sounds-blending of individual letters. Examples of CVC words include cute things like “PIG”, “CAT”, “MOP”, and more serious objects such as “PIN”, “VAN” and “NET”. This set includes 12 double-sided Bubble Boards. Each bubble board has 3 pop-able bubbles on each side (6 on both sides), and every bubble has a letter printed on it. The 12 boards feature a total of 24 CVC words. They provide such engaging fun for young kids to “decode” the words. Kids can “pop” and sound each letter, one at a time, before blending them to form everyday familiar words (eg BUG, HAT, BAG, SUN, BED). 

(2) Light Weight & Compact 

I am genuinely impressed with how light weight and compact these 12 bubble boards are. They are easy to be stored away and brought around with us for on-the-go learning and practising. 

(3) Tactile Popping Experience - Keeping Kids Engaged & Focused 

I can’t tell you how much our kids (and the grown-ups in this house) enjoy the satisfying sound and tactile experience of popping. They keep the kids engaged and focused on segmenting individual letters with the popping process. I do wish the printed letters were a bit bigger in size, but the small font doesn’t seem to bother the kids too much. These boards are stress-releasing, delightfully “squeezable”, and addictive to play with in an adorable way. 

(4) Versatile Learning Resources 

I love how versatile these bubble boards are - they can be used individually for words and sounds learning, or combine with other Junior Learning resources for play and games. For example, I love using these bubble boards with the “Rainbow CVC Objects” set (stay tuned for my review on that, coming up soon) for words / pictures matching game. I’m loving these creative learning tools. 

# gifted in exchange for review 

Where to buy this: 

Junior Learning (Australia) 

Enjoy the video! 

Flashbot, By Junior Learning - REVIEW

Nature/ Type:          Innovative flashcards learning tool   

Rating:                     ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ 

Recommended age: 4 year-old ++   

Who would love this: Parents AND Kids who love learning with creative methods & games  

Sometimes, all you need is a simple idea to make a learning experience fun, engaging, and superb! Today, I would LOVE to show you this fantastic “Flashbot” from Junior Learning that the kids truly love ! Seriously, who would have guessed that flashcard-learning could be THAT fun! 

Why I love ❤️ this toy: 

(1) Innovative, Non-Electronic Flashcard-Flipper 

Flashbot is a robot with a retro look: square face, rectangular body, tracked wheels, two short arms, a funny narrow mouth, and a “no-nonsense” expression with a witty feel. The truth is, Flashbot is probably not your coolest thing in the room. It is NOT battery-operated, NOT an electronic gadget, DOESN’T produce flashing lights or audio sound, and DOESN’T do extraordinary stunt. Flashbot has only ONE job: When you feed a flashcard into its mouth, it swallows it, flips the card around internally, and delivers the “answer” by sliding the card out from its body. In short, it’s a “flashcard flipper”, and the kids are super LOVING it! I have never seen my kids spent that much time with flashcards before! The robot kit goes fantastically well with mathematics and spelling cards; the kids challenged themselves repeatedly, and excitedly checking the answers with their faithful Flashbot. This is a wonderful creation for independent learning, breathing fresh air into the world of flashcards! 

(2) Robot With Storage Tray Feature 

I love that when the flashcards fall out from Flashbot, they land neatly inside a green storage tray. There is also a slanted space at the top of Flashbot’s head where we can place a few flashcards (and use it in other creative ways!). 

(3) Expandable Learning Tool (Includes 20 Flashcards) 

This Flashbot kit includes 20 demonstration flashcards for us to have an immediate taste of this fun learning tool. There are a mixture of mathematics questions (“5+4=“, “5-3=“) and spelling challenges (“_at”, “_heep”), each with answer revealed on the reverse side of the cards. The GREAT thing is, Junior Learning has an amazing range of learning Flashcards (sold separately) that are compatible with Flashbot (Addition Flashcards, Decoding Flashcards, Multiplication Flashcards, Phonics Flashcards, Verb Flashcards, and more). I’m loving the expandable quality of this Flashbot! 

# gifted in exchange for review 

Where to buy this: 

https://juniorlearning.com.au/products/jl200-flashbot?_pos=1&_sid=c93106106&_ss=r

Enjoy the video! 

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! 

CVC Tri-Blocks Tub, By Junior Learning - REVIEW

Nature/ Type:          Word-building blocks 

Rating:                     ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️

Recommended age:  5 - 8 year-old 

Who would love this: Parents who are looking for multi-sensory, words-learning educational resources 

CVC words - the 3-letter words that follow the consonant/vowel/consonant pattern; the simplest form that introduces us to the magic of stringing-up alphabetical letters and building basic, everyday-words. If you are looking for cool educational resources that make words-learning engaging and stimulating, you should check out “CVC Tri-Blocks Tub” by Junior Learning. 

Why I love ❤️ this set: 

(1) 90 Tri-Blocks To Form Short and Fun CVC Words - This set includes a big plastic tub of 90 Tri-Blocks® . Each of the block is in a unique triangular form, with a lower-case letter printed on each surface (total 3 letters on each block). I love that these attachable blocks provide kids with a visual, tactile, and multi-sensory way to explore the “mystery” of building words! I love watching my 4-year-old experimenting the combinations, and trying to sound the blend of consonants and short vowels. I love the clever connectable design; it’s easy to slide and snap the blocks together, or to take them apart. We make “small and short” words such as “man”, “net”, “cub”, “get”, “van” and many more. (And if your kids are ready to embark on something more challenging and complex, Junior Learning also has a “Phonics Tri-Blocks Tub” which I will share with you next time!). 

(2) Colour-Coded & Smart Connectors - The blocks are colour-coded; the beginning consonants are in dark blue, short vowels in red, and final consonant in light blue. We usually start by dividing the blocks into 3 categories based on colours before we commence building the words. I love the visual clarity; it’s easy to learn the CVC and spelling rules using these blocks. I love that the blocks are designed so that the 3 types of letters must be connected in one orientation and sequence (ie in the order of “CVC”). 

(3) Clever Spin-able Blocks - The blocks, once snapped together, are “spin-able” to create different words due to the clever triangular design. It is super fun to twist and manipulate the blocks, and discover how many other words we can form with just a change of one letter (for example, “cat” and “can”, “beg” and “bag”). Sometimes, with some luck, we can even create 2 to 3 valid words at the same time when we rotate the triangle set as a row! 

# gifted in exchange for review 

Where to buy this: 

https://juniorlearning.com.au/products/jl176-cvc-tri-blocks-tub?_pos=1&_sid=25defb1f0&_ss=r

Enjoy the video! 

Cross Clues, By Blue Orange - REVIEW

Nature/ Type:          Word game 

Rating:                     ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ 

Recommended age:  7 year-old ++   

Who would love this: Anyone who loves word games (Codenames, Scrabble, and the like) 

There are certain types of games - you either love it or hate it. I think word games fall squarely into such category. Leisure Learning sent us this “Cross Clues” from Blue Orange for review recently. If you are a fan of “Codenames”, “Scrabble”, or any word games in general - THIS is for you! 

Why I love ❤️ this game: 

(1) Fun Word Game - Cross Clues is a cooperative party game about finding links between pair of words. The rules are pretty simple; all players are both clue-giver and clue-guesser. Each player draws a Clue Card, think of a clever “clue word”; and everyone else work together to guess the location on the grid where two code words intersected. The “clue” must be a single word and must not share a root with either code word. The game can be rather frustrating when you are stuck with a series of non-sensical combinations. BUT, on those occasions when we figured out clever associations between pairs of random words, oh that sense of achievement is so incredibly satisfying! For example, the clue for “Pig” and “Small” for our family is “Peppa”; “Banana” and “Dessert” is “Fritters”, “Smart” and “Costume” makes “Tuxedo”. The game is easy to learn, suitable for kids as young as 7, and generally, quick and sweet! 

(2) No Downtime - I love that everyone can participate simultaneously as both clue-giver and clue-guesser. There is never a “downtime” or dull moment; everyone has a clue card, and can shout out a clue whenever a player is ready. Players can discuss / argue/ fight amongst themselves, before coming to a consensus for each guess. 

(3) Awesome Replay Value - This game has great replay value - there are plenty of words for different combinations (no two games are ever the same). Included within are 10 Axis Tiles, 25 Clue Cards, 50 Code Word Cards (double-sided, 4 words on each card), and a 5-minutes sand timer. We can start with an easy 3x3 grid, before moving on to the more challenging 4x4 and 5x5. Alternatively, if you want  to ramp up the challenge, use the sand timer! 

(4) Work Cooperatively - The kids love cooperative games - everyone wins or loses together. Everyone can have a great laugh whilst pushing themselves to the next level of words challenge! 

# gifted in exchange for review 

Where to buy this: 

Leisure Learning (Australia) 

Enjoy the video!