Under the Christmas Tree: Toys--Educational and, Well, Not!

There's nothing we give children more valuable than literacy. Literacy begins with learning the sounds of the alphabet, and the LeapFrog Fridge Phonics® Magnetic Set is a inexpensive toy that really delivers the goods.

The set comes with colorful alphabet letters designed for toddler hands and a solid letter reader, batteries included, into which the letters fit easily. When a letter is placed into the reader, it plays a brief, pleasant jingle which gives the name of the letter and the sound or sounds of the letter all included in a "phonics song." Letters are color coded, with all vowels in red and consonants in yellow, blue, and green.

The letter reader and letters have strong magnets which attach and stay put when placed on a refrigerator or other ferrous surface and they are actually rather attractive accessories for the kitchen if your family is into kid decor. The reader has an Off/Soft/Loud volume control, a great feature that not all electronic toys offer.

For even more bang for a few more bucks, there's the LeapFrog Word Whammer™ Fridge Phonics,® Set which not only names and sounds out the individual letters, but sounds out and spells 325 three-letter words. This set can take the child through Kindergarten age and right up to the Hop on Pop stage of early reading. LeapFrog also provides the LeapFrog Fridge Phonics Lowercase Letters Expansion Pack for the child who is ready to learn the little letters.

I know this a great toy. My younger granddaughter got the letter set for her first birthday and loved it. Her older brother, who was almost three at the time and already the alphabetmeister, took over the product demonstration and arranged the letters into words he could recognize.

For a super gift, pair one of these sets with Bruce and Audrey Wood's Alphabet Adventure or Alphabet Mystery or Alphabet Rescue books, reviewed earlier here.


Now, for a silly toy with no redeeming social value--except, of course, fun--how about the famous Marshmallow Shooter, Marshmallow Blower, and Marshmallow Shooter: Bow and Mallow. Mini-marshmallows are the softest, safest ammunition you can wish for. Heck, you can shoot them into your brother's mouth or provide the propelled topping for Dad's festive sweet potato casserole.

For serious shooters, the toy is available in the Marshmallow Camo Shooter and even comes with Laser Sight for Marshmallow Shooter. Reusable red soft pellets are also available for low-calorie archers.