Customer Reviews

Vtech - Alphabet Apple

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

My grandson is 5 and has autism. Teaching children with developmental delays is challenging, to say the least. One must get their attention, then keep it, then make the best use of it. This "laptop" does all this and more. My grandson has owned and loved his Alphabet Apple for a couple of years and he is the only child in his class who can tell you the sound of all the letters in the alphabet. So if you ask him, "what does man (house, canary, apple, anything-at-all) start with?" he can tell you in about one-fourth of a second - even words he's never heard before, so this is not memorization! His teacher is always calling him "smart boy" - music to my ears! To be fair, he has a lot of laptops that gloss over the letter sounds, but this is the one that he plays with the most. He doesn't use all the features, or even use some of them properly, but it is teaching him something and doing a good job of it. I'm sure a neurotypical child would get even more out of it. We don't let this one get lost in the closet because he is always asking for his Alphabet Apple. Worth it at twice the price.

Very good toy so far. My 2 1/2 year old son loves it. The only thing I'd change on it is the volume control. They didn't make it quite low enough.

This is a great learning toy. It has 8 different activities to choose from. It teaches about telling time, animals, letters, spelling, and more. It has a music mode with 26 different songs. This is a great toy all around.

This is all my 2 1/2 year old daughter wanted from Santa and she was so happy to get it! It is a really fun, interactive game. Lots of lights, tons of different songs and fun games to play. It really occupies her and is great for travel as well. One thing I didn't like is that the game asks the child to find a certain animal and blinks that key while it's asking. Instead of giving them the chance to find it on their own first which would obviously be much more fun and educational than giving away the answer! But on other games it does not have this feature so there is more of a challenge. There are many settings and lots to do. I highly recommend this toy!

My Son is 2. We let him pick out toys from time to time. We were in the market for a new educational toy. After looking at all of the other ones available at our local store, he picked this one.

He loves it! He has learned so much from it. This has helped him to strenthen his skills and improved his vocabulary. He has had it for about 3 months now and still plays with it. That is saying something for a 2 year old.

My son has absolutely gone bonkers over this toy, and we really like the educational values it is instilling. He's a somewhat precocious 2 year old in that he knows his letters well, the sounds they make, etc (not bragging! just giving some context), and we wanted a toy that would ease him into other letter related skills. The spelling bee mode of this toy is particularly great, and it has provided him with hours of fun. He's learned about many new animals, and he can identify their sounds and little facts about them, but really, we bought this tool for him to begin the reading process, and it has exceeded expectations in that regard. Highly recommended.

My 18 month old loved to push the buttons. He can tote it around and I don't worry about it breaking. My three year old enjoys practicing his letters and other academic skills. It is really fun!

This is a toy that has never gotten old to my three year old. It has grown with him. There are many different modes. Letters, spelling, sounds, music. It is a great toy.

I bought this for my son's 2nd birthday. I know 2 is earlier than it's recommended ages but it was a very smart bet. Here are the little things product descriptions don't tell you.

Two volume control slider on the back. Low and High. The high is not so high you hear nothing but the Apple but it is also good enough on low for most situations. The stem of the apple has 5 speaker slots. You could easily place tape over them if you think it is still too loud but we have never had to.

Modes
Super Sounds: "Let's learn letter sounds. Which letter makes this sound? *insert letter phonics here*" If you get it wrong it will tell you the sound of the wrong answer, tell you to keep looking, and repeat the question. This time it blinks the answer. If you ignore it it will ask you again.
ABC It!: "Let's learn out letters. Which letter comes before W?" It blinks the letter it asked about, not the answer. It plays music while it waits.
Fun Facts: "Let's learn about the animals. Press any button to start." You press a button, it gives you an animal sound and a fact. Sometimes it is the letter it starts with.
Spelling Bee: "Let's learn to spell newt. Newt is spelled N E W T. Press the letters to spell newt." The letters light up as the word is spelled. If you ignore it for a while the letter you need will start blinking.
Find It: "Will you help me find the whale?" It blinks the correct animal a few times.
Clock Quiz:"Please turn the clock to 7 o'clock." Then it tells you it is time to feed an animal.
Question Time: "Let's learn about the animals. Who has feathers? The alligator, the bat, the elephant, or the goose." It lights up the choices and plays a tune while it waits for you to guess. It asks 5 times or so. If you get it wrong it give you 2 more tries.
Music: This plays not only classical kids tunes (instrumental) but also some classics like the Can Can and Ode to Joy

ABCs: A- alligator, B- bat, C- camel, D- dolphin, E- elephant, F- frog, G- goose, H- horse, I- iguana, J- jellyfish, K- kangaroo, L- lion, M- monkey, N- newt, O- owl, P- porcupine, Q- quail, R- rabbit, S- snake, T- turtle, U- urchin, V- vulture, W- whale, X- x-ray fish, Y- yak, Z- zebra

The last button has a starting motor sound, a horn, and clapping with "YAY! It's time for an adventure." Then it starts which ever mode you are on. I've used it as a reward when I use the apple for my own quizzes. Like asking my son to press the newt or urchin (my 2 favourite buttons) and he gets it right. You press that and he gets clapping.

The apple turns it's self off if you ignore it for too long. It's a pretty long time so expect your kids to leave it be just to hear the music till it turns off. It does have an on and off button for the parent's convenience. I wouldn't expect your kids to use it much.

My 2 year old has had this nearly a year now. He plays with it constantly and we have yet to replace the buttons. He has learned his ABCs pretty well. He has learned some of the phonics as well. Not all. I admit I do not drill him on it as I was never taught phonics. We do play other learning games with him but the apple has helped.

Tip: If your kid likes the newt facts be sure to pay attention. It says "the newt likes to eat insects" and you might not understand when the kid repeats. We heard "the newt likes sex" more than once before we figured it out.

We kept this in the crib with our one year old at night after he received it as a Birthday present. When he started finally really talking, it was to point out the letters on our shirt. "V" "A" etc. We were completely blown away. Here we were worried our slow talker was having difficulties, but he proved us wrong by learning his letters miles ahead of any of our friend's children.