Educational Insights Getting Ready for School Hot Dots Jr.

Always says incorrect no matter if right or wrong. Very misleading for kids who want to do it independently

The pen answers that everything is correct! Even when a adult is using it and answering wrong on purpose. Really disappointed! Otherwise it is really cute and the kids liked it.

So I bought this as my toddler's school remains closed from COVID19 and I just needed something for her to do that feels educational. We have another hot dot set but wanted something with more guidance and school like feel, and it does do that. This definitely meets my standards but there was a learning curve for her to do so independently, around 4 or 5 uses. The cards are solidly constructed so she can't destroy them but it really ins't super independent for her. She is for sure learning and incorporating what she is learning in the lessons/cards, and there is a guidebook that is easy to understand and to help me know what to do next and track her progress. Overall I'd recommend it to people who ask but know it isn't a super independent activity, at least not for my kid.

My preschooler absolutely loves this. We have this set and another set that is in wire book form. I like this set because it uses individual cards, so I can split them between my two children. As other reviewers have said, the pen that it comes with doesn't work the best, so I give that one to my younger who knows no different. I bought the other pen that is sold, and it works much better. My kids love the sounds and phrases the pen says. They want to play and learn more just because of this. I like that there are a variety of activities and concepts to practice. Overall, I am really happy with my purchase!

This is a fun and interactive way for kids to learn. My 3 yo son went to daycare but because of Covid is now at home. It's a perfect tool for at home learning. He loves the dog pen, it provides instant feedback for him when the pen lights up and speaks. There is also a nice range of content. My 2 yo also dabs into the easier pages. Highly recommend this for preschoolers!

My 4 year old daughter loves practicing her shapes and letters with this! She loves Ace, I love that he interacts with her and helps her with saying wether it's correct or not. I help her doing this but tbh I can be doing chores and she can be doing it on her own as Ace can identify whether the shape was wrong. Definitely recommend!!

This is a fantastic learning tool for preschoolers. My 4 year old, who went to daycare on a daily basis before COVID-19, has now been home for the past few months. This is a great addition to the home schooling she's been doing. She loves the interactive dog pen and feels so proud each time she gets the correct answers. I love that this consists of individual cards, instead of a booklet. My 2 year old also wants to get involved, so the different cards allow them to do the activities simultaneously. I did order an extra pen so it worked out perfectly - no fighting! My 4 year old is able to do most of the letters, numbers, and colors on her own. My 2 year old needs more guidance but she's happy to be able to use the pen because it feels like a game to her. Overall, I'm happy that this educational toy has allowed my children to stay away from screen time and have fun while learning.

My 5 year old daughter loved doing these learning exercises with the pen because it felt like a game to her. She loved the dog pen and the activity cards progressively get more challenging which is good because some of the cards were too easy for her. I really liked the interactive piece of this for learning. My only negative is the pen didn't always work correctly. However, I did get another pen from the same company and it worked perfectly.

Ok, I love this so much. I have a 3.75 year old who's been struggling so much with letter recognition. I have finally found something with no screen involved, that is interactive and simple at the same time. He loves the silly dog pen and is enjoying working on the cards. He feels so proud to be "doing school" from home just like his big sister. It's so nice to have something concrete I can work on every day with him. It helps work on important skills, without being overwhelming or discouraging. I also really love the lesson guide that comes with it; it's filled with lots of helpful reminders that sometimes we might forget as parents. I'm excited for this school year.

If the Pup pen actually worked it would be a fun toy. Great concept, bright colors fun pup light up pen, but when it says Sorry, Incorrect and try again when they do it right that is not good, I sat with them to make sure they were doing it right it started out missing 1 in 5 now it doesn't do anything right put new batteries several times hoping that would fit it. and left them out thinking it could re boot it somehow, but nothing worked. I still have 4 year olds that would love to play this Cute idea but needs work on the pup pen

I love the idea of this and was really excited to try it with my children. My son gets very frustrated with the pen because it isn't always right. I watch my son pick the right answers and the pen says he's wrong all the time. The whole point of this is to be a fun way to learn and by not working correctly, it kind of defeats the purpose of it. I still use the cards to teach without the pen, so there's that, I guess.

We homeschool and lately the 3 year old (3-1/2 really) has been wanting to do school, but with the busyness of Christmas, his "school" has kind of fallen off the radar. Instead of just reading to him, we've been doing these a few mornings and week and he has been loving it. He absorbs a lot just interacting with his sisters. These have been a perfect way to do some focused learning, just with him, without having to coordinate things or spend a bunch of time planning. This kit has 5 sets of cards. The Colors and patterns set has activities like, what is the same, what should it be, identifying word names (worthless IMO--I don't agree with sight word stuff) and what colors are in the picture. The Shapes set has activities like which shapes are the same, which matches the first, which are in the picture, and which is next in the pattern. Learning the alphabet includes matching letters to the first item (both upper and lower) and then picking all items that match the Ul combo at the beginning of the row. Let's Learn Numbers has you identifying the numeral through a series of which are the same and then counting exercises. The uppercase/lowercase set has things like giving you the upper and selecting the lower from a choice of two. As it gets more advanced, you pick from a larger list or find the box with the correctly paired set. These are perfect for us right now. He has great success with many things he already knows and there are several things for us to work on together. I like the succession of information (for the most part). The only thing I DON'T like is that the cards are sequential in content, but they are all loose cards. A book or a bound set of cards would be much easier (and frankly, make less of a mess!). All in all, though, I really like these and would recommend them.

We love this product. It works as a refresher for my eldest who is in Kindergarten and my youngest who is just beginning to become interested in learning. The only thing that I wish that came with it was something to hold all the cards and maybe another reader other than Ace. We have about ten of him with every Hot Dots package we get.

My 5 year old really enjoyed these cards, it is cute product and covers a lot of information. There are 80 double sided cards and they get jumbled up and scattered all over the table- I wish they were in a spiral bound folder or something. Other than that, it was a big hit and everything worked perfectly! My child can't read yet, so I had to be there to provide prompts and read choices, but it was a great way to review and learn skills.

Great learning tool for my 4 year old son who will be starting kindergarten soon!

My 3 year old loved it but did not want to go along with what it said. He just wanted to push the dots. The older kids had fun with it once and then it got put aside.

The Hot Dots Jr. "Getting Ready for School" set was perfect for my daughter (age 5) and for my students entering Kindergarten. The talking pen allows the child to select his/her answer to the question and hear a sound or phrase to indicate whether their response was correct or incorrect. The cards cover a variety of topics like alphabet, colors, and more! This is also a great toy to have in the car.

Ace only says "that's incorrect" even when the answer is.

My son received this as a gift and was very excited about it. Unfortunately, ACE is wrong most of the time. We have tried helping him and use the pen ourselves but most of the time he says answers are wrong when they are not. It is very confusing for our son, so I am going to keep the cards but am throwing out ACE. Very disappointed!

My 3 year old loved this but is very advanced and just went right through it. He just turned 4 and we're on to Hot Docs and have left the Jr. version behind but it was definitely fun for him to use... We have since passed it on to a friends 2 year old and he loves it !! Great product !!