Hot Dots Jr.

Ace the dog will help you play Hot Dots Jr.

In the box: 4 books, ace the dog, lesson guide

Hot Dots Jr. has a large range of products. This one is a junior edition and the box says that it has 160 interactive lessons. A lesson turns out to be one page in any of the books, because there are 160 pages total across four books. The name comes from the fact that each possible answer on a page has a big black dot next to it. Touch the dot with the tip of Ace the taking/teaching dog to find out if you are correct. The books are spiral bound and laminated. Most pages have between three and six problems. The four book titles, with some of the lessons in each, are as follows:

• Book 1 - Shapes
• Find the circles (or triangles or squares, etc.), Find the shape that matches the first shape, which shapes are the same, and find the shape that finishes the pattern
• Book 2 - Colors & Patterns
• Find the color that is the same as the first one, choose the pictures that are the same color as the color of the crayon, choose the colors that match the picture, and find the matching color word.
• Book 3 - Let's Learn Numbers
• Which are the same and how many?
• Book 4 - Learning the Alphabet
• Choose the letters that are the same as the first one, match the uppercase and lowercase letters, Find each box with a matching uppercase and lowercase letter

Book and tool in play.

Above is an image of Ace the teaching/talking electronic dog pen. He is electronic and takes 2 AAA batteries. He is not easy to grip like a pencil, as you can see. The blue part of the dog is top-heavy, and if you try to hold it by grasping the black part, you will feel the weight pulling back. You can set it so that your feedback from the dog will be in either speech, sound effects, or a mix of both. You can also set the volume to low, medium and high. The dog has 23 phrases and if your answer is correct a green light will come on across his eyes and he will say something like good job, barking, woof, way to go, you got it, yes and terrific. If your answer is incorrect, a red light will glow where the eyes are and you will hear sorry, incorrect, nope, a dog whining and that's not right. 

The lesson guide has 24 pages and consists of ideas of things that you can do in addition to using this activity to teach. It suggests things like singing the ABC song, making crafts, making touchable letters, and using counters. None of those materials are included, just ideas.

I believe you can use the dog pen with any of the other sets they sell. Some of the other topics are phonics, money skills, vocabulary, and multiplication.

To see a list of games with money, click here.

Try this:

• Keep the book folded in half and cover other sections you are not working on with white paper if the individual is not able to focus in on the problem due to all the other unnecessary background shapes and colors. 
• Work on visual discrimination, eye-hand coordination, figure ground, visual memory, sequencing, counting, letter recognition, turning pages, grasp, tool use, manual dexterity, executive functioning skills, process skills 
  

Mr. & Mrs. Potato Head

Mr. & Mrs. Potato Head - Teach body awareness with a potato.

Mrs. Potato Head

Mr. Potato Head has been on the market since 1952 and was the first toy advertised on TV. Still popular today, Mr. Potato Head has come in many forms - Play-doh, seasonal, popular characters, small to quite large, stuffed - and there is also a Mrs. Potato Head. 

Mr. Potato Head is basically a potato that you add body parts to, so a fun place to start building body awareness. The potato itself is a hard, smooth plastic and many of the bigger ones have a door that pulls open in the back where you can store the pieces. Because the potato is wide and smooth, you might want to start with a smaller version for small hands to grasp. There are eight holes and one slot in the larger version that I own. The holes are for arms, eyes (one piece), ears, mouth/teeth, mustaches, hats/hair, and the slot in the bottom is for the feet (one piece). The small head has only four holes and two slots. There are only two holes on the face as the eyes and nose are one piece, and only one hole on each side of the head, for ears OR arms. The two slots are top and bottom for feet and hat. 

A drawback if you are teaching body parts with this toy is that it doesn't have legs, only feet. Once the feet are in place it will stand on its own. Different sets have different variations of pieces (I have also seen earrings), so you can have quite a collection if you have two or three sets. I have a police officer's hat and a fire fighter's helmet, and can incorporate these into play about community helpers. It doesn't take much strength to push the pieces in, but they still stay in place. A good two-handed activity because you must hold the body while you are adding the pieces. 

Try this:

• Use it to teach five senses: touch, taste, hearing, seeing, smelling.
• Build 3D models from 2D models. Dress him up in different ways and take a picture of each. Present the pictures one at a time and let the individual build each one.
• Call out each body part to add.
• Let the child point to a hole and tell you which body part goes there. Then you pass him a piece to place.
• Use a big blob of Play-doh for the body to add a different sensory component and more of a strength component (for molding and pushing in pieces).
• Play a game. Make a chart showing or naming each body piece corresponding to a number that can be thrown with dice - use either 1-6 or 1-12. Throw the dice and then add that part. If you already have it either skip a turn or keep throwing until you get something you need. Don't forget to cup the hand before adding the dice.
• Use several different plastic containers and sort - Arms in one, ears in another, etc.
• Allow the individual to build in whatever sequence he wants, but ask him to name each body part as it picks it up.
• Use positional and spatial terms, such as what goes on the bottom, put on the left arm, what is in the middle between the eyes and the mouth.
• Work on visual discrimination, figure ground, spatial relations, eye-hand coordination, palmar arch development, strength, fine motor precision, coordinated use of both hands, body awareness, parts of the body, executive functioning skills, process skills, play and leisure exploration and participation 

In the case: Potato, 2 pairs of eyes, 3 noses, 6 arms, 6 ears, 2 hats, 4 mustaches, 4 mouths, 2 tongues, 1 pair of pants with shoes, 2 pairs of eyeglasses, 1 earring, and 1 microphone

If you are interested in purchasing this or just want more information, click on the image below.