Test Drive: Counting Cat and Phonics Firefly Children's educational aids

Counting Cat and Phonics Firefly

Children's educational aids

Kidology: a division of Educational Insights
2206 Oakland Parkway
Columbia, TN 38401.
www.educationalinsights.com
1-800-995-4436.
$19.95 and $34.95, respectively.

Interested in giving kids an early start? Two new products from Kidology, Counting Cat and Phonics Firefly , may help pre-K and older students master some important reading and math concepts.

Counting Cat helps students learn to count to ten and to master simple addition and subtraction. Set the selector switch to "Count," and Counting Cat will count aloud as sliding blocks are moved from right to left. Slide two blocks at a time and it counts by twos. Next, slide the blocks from left to right and Counting Cat counts backwards from ten. Set the selector switch to "Add & Subtract" and it starts adding and subtracting the sliding blocks. The kinesthetic movement and sound reinforce the math relationships, and the sound quality is good, especially for such an inexpensive unit. One caveat: students don't always find the left-right framework intuitive when adding or subtracting.

Phonics Firefly deals with basic letter-sound associations. Students turn a dial to choose one of seven alphabet activities. All the options for letter recognition and letter-sound association are perfect for early first grade or younger students. For example, Phonics Firefly will announce a letter's name or a letter's sound when a key is pressed, and students must look for the letter on the keypad. Flashing lights beneath the letters help students associate the letter they see and the sound they hear. The lights also help them distinguish between similar sounding letters pronounced by Phonics Firefly , such as M and N or T and P.

Both Counting Cat and Phonics Firefly are reasonably priced and will find a welcome home in primary classrooms, elementary media centers, day care centers, or after-school programs for young children. Their curriculum relevance is obvious; both focus on a specific set of skills, which they attempt to teach and reinforce. However, neither Counting Cat nor Phonics Firefly has the flexibility and curriculum of Launch Pad, reviewed in SLJ's July 2001 Test Drive column.