Well, the kids are imminently about to go back to school so thoughts are turning back to learning and homework. For the past few weeks, Juliette's been easing herself back in gently - not to mention having a lot of fun - playing with the Reception Words Write & Spell wipeclean book that Zoobookoo kindly sent through for us to review.
As soon as I showed it to her, she sat down and started copying the words and we didn't hear a peep out of her for over half an hour ! Then she shyly (not to mention proudly) came over to show us all her hard work. I was actually very impressed by how neatly she'd copied all the words (first going over the dots to form the letters, then copying them freehand) because the rather thick whiteboard markers usually make handwriting very wobbly.
The books give you 50 high frequency first words over eight double sided pages, held together with a plastic loop. The only thing that is missing is a place to attach the pen. I tried hanging it off the plastic loop but it falls off so it's always a pain trying to keep the book and marker together. The rigid plastic backing sheet makes it easy to write on without having to find something to lean on.
Unlike some wipe-clean books, the pages are really easy to clean with no streaks or stubborn black marks that are hard to remove. I was also surprised to see Juliette's hands didn't get covered in ink, as they often do with wipeclean books.
We received the Reception Words book, suitable for 4-6 year olds, but there is also a Year 1 & 2 book for ages 5-7. These books are part of the Secret Scholars range that you can buy at ZooBooKoo which have some other fantastic-looking titles for older kids : Mental Maths, Super Science, Fantastic French, Funky Flags and Body Bits. The blurb on the website explains : "The 'magic' is the 'hidden answers' which are revealed by rubbing the 'magic boxes'. Then after 4 minutes, the answers disappear again. A fun, educational resource for multiplication times tables, handwriting, science, French... which the children will use again and again. Secret Scholars is a growing range within our educational toys and games products." How cool is the magic answers bit ?! I'll definitely have a closer look at the whole range for Sophie.
star rating : 4.5/5
RRP : £6.50
for more information : http://www.zoobookoo.com/category/secret-scholars
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Thank you for this review I am going to buy one of these now. We have something similar with numbers and letters which my son loves but I have been thinking for a while that he is ready for the next stage so I am glad to have found it!
ReplyDeletethis looks good - interesting to see that the black pen didnt get all over your daughters hands - that is always the problem i find!
ReplyDeleteThese look great, I think my son would benefit from something like this, he's nearly 4 aqnd loves his letters, this is a fab idea!
ReplyDeleteMy son has just started in Reception and these are a great homework idea
ReplyDelete