Imagine Toys Review #2 ~ a to z Magnatab

by Carrie Wells, Ed.D.
I'm so excited to be doing another review for Imagine Toys, an awesome website that features amazing pretend play, arts & crafts, and educational toys for children of all ages.  This time, I was sent the a to z Magnatab.

This learning toy comes in uppercase and lowercase letters. We were sent the lowercase letter Magnatab. This is a very unique toy. It comes with a stylus that has a magnetic tip and a board that is about the size of a sheet of paper. As you can see, the board contains all the letters of the alphabet written in light blue with arrows along the letters to show children how the letters should be formed. Each letter has small holes with magnetic balls inside. When you use the stylus to trace the letters, the small balls pop into each hole with a light clicking movement/sound.

The best feature of this product is that it provides a great tactile cue to your child, indicating that he/she is forming the letter correctly. If you go outside the "magnetic zone" and mis-form the letters, you do not hear or feel that click of the magnet going into the small hole.

This product is recommended for children age 3+. Whether the Magnatab is used at home or at school, children ages 2 to 5 should be able to use it correctly with adult modeling and guidance. When I initially gave it to my daughter without any instructions, she just wanted to "scribble" with the stylus to hear the clicking sound and to feel the small magnets moving around.

Once I showed her what to do, she tried to hold the stylus correctly and guide it over the letters. She is very interested in letters and numbers recently, so this is a fun way to motivate her to learn more. This shows us writing together hand-over-hand.

BUY IT! Interested in purchasing an a to z Magnatab for your child? It's just $24.99 at Imagine Toys! Imagine Toys offers many other awesome learning toys, like the Super Sorting Pie for $27.95 and Telly the Teaching Time Clock for $25.95.

You can also 'like' Imagine Toys on Facebook and 'follow' Imagine Toys on Twitter, where they host fun Twitter parties with great giveaways.

  * I received the aforementioned product for free to review. The opinions expressed are honest and provided without monetary compensation.