Monday, 6 November 2017

Learning Resources Alphabet Acorn Set - Review and Giveaway

It is nearly Christmas and so we are all starting to think about what toys we could get our children. One thing I always like to think about as well as having fun is learning. So when Learning Resources offered a Alphabet Acorn set to review, I thought this would be a great opportunity to tell all you about a learning toy that would be a perfect buy for Christmas. 

The Alphabet Acorn Set comes with 24 acorns. One for each letter of the Alphabet. Each acorn has a colour and a uppercase letter on the front. But thats not all! The acorns have an element of surprise with a object hidden inside each one. As you lift the lid you will find the object that corresponds to the letter. So for example A for apple. As well as that, if you turn the lid and look at the inside of it, it has a lowercase example of the letter. 


The acorns are laid out into the box so then they can easily be stored that way. I am always glad of toys where you can use the box for the storage of the toy. Especially ones like this where there are many pieces to it. All the little objects that go inside the acorns come in separate little bags so you have to match them all up and put them inside before giving them to your little one. There was so much suspense and excitement while Lily waited to see what was going to happen with these acorns as I wouldn't let her look. 


When I introduced them to her she was super excited to see them and really curious too. I shook one and she heard that there was something inside and so she opened one up. As she took out the object she told me what it was and I repeated "yes, a for apple". We went through each of the acorns and repeated the letters and words and Lily would say it after me. This is a really great way to an early understanding of letters and how to pronounce them. 

Repetition is a really good way of helping children learn letters and sounds and so by doing this it will really help Lily start to learn how to say each letter. Eventually she should be able to recognise which letters go to which object. Though this isn't something that happens quickly often. 



There are other ways that you can use this toy. 

You could let them play with it alone and let them explore. This way they will start to familiarise themselves with the pieces and the letters. You could also use the acorns to learn the ABC by placing them in order. You could even sing the song as you point to each letter. 
You can try and get the child to match the object to the correct letter. The colour system also helps them with this. You could also get them to find the letter you ask for, which is testing their new learnt knowledge of the alphabet. You can also make words out of some of the letters by placing the acorns next to each other or stacking them up. This toy has so many ways to help your child learn but always in a fun way. 

This toy helps build a lot of early key skills such as - 

Alphabet Awareness
Upper and Lowercase Letter Recognition 
Early Vocabulary 
Phonics
Colour Recognition
Sorting
Matching

Also the lifting of the lids can help with fine motor skills and hand and eye co-ordination. This toy really does have a lot to offer when it comes to learning.


The thing that Lily loved the most about this toy was the element of surprise. She got so excited when she started to recognise what was inside some of the acorns and would tell me what it was. I thought that the toy was really easy to use and the lids came off and went on really easily so Lily could do it herself. 

One thing I did notice about the toy though was that she got confused at what some of the objects were, and before I read the little activity guide, so did I.

For example, Lily thought that the van was a bus and the koala a bear. I also thought the grasshopper was going to be for the letter B, for Bug. I think some of the items were a little confusing to which letter they went along side with and some clearer items like a Vase, Violin, Gate, Kettle which you couldn't confuse may have been better. 


I did think the toy was of a really good quality and the little objects are all made of a really strong material and you can tell that these will last a long time. They were all really colourful and the letters were printed on nicely. I did find that the purple colour didn't stand out too well against the brown and was a little hard to see compared to the other colours. 


Overall I am really happy and impressed with this toy and it is a must buy if you are currently trying to encourage your little one to learn the alphabet. 

You can buy this toy from the Learning Resource website for £29.15. Head here to buy yours now. 

If you love the sound of this toy. You can enter to WIN one by filling out the Gleam app below. Good luck! 


*Ends 06/12*

Win a Learning Resources Alphabet Acorns Set

121 comments:

  1. Megan would love to spell things, she loves spelling her friends names, and writing them little notes, Mollie would love to eat them as she's 8 months and teething 😉 xXx

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  2. This looks brilliant I've got three boys who would love to play and learn with these. Xx

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  3. Learning made fun
    Creativity for enquiring young minds

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  4. Be great for my son with additional needs x

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  5. I love the fact that they are different and innovative way to learn the alphabet, Elliana would love opening the acorns to see what was inside

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  6. The sorting and matching, it looks like a lot of fun.

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  7. My children would love the bright colours and that they would be able to lift the lids and check what is inside

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  8. The matching and sorting activities!

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  9. My nephew would like the matching and sorting

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  10. I would use them at school for letter recognition and alphabet ordering. The kids love any hands on activities.

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  11. Great learning activity for my granddaughter Mollie would be absolutely wonderful thank you 😍

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  12. She would really enjoy opening them up for the surprise inside, I think this is a great way to introduce the alphabet

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  13. The size,our Granddaughter would be able to hold these perfectly ,not too small and not too big ,easy to grasp.

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  14. Watching my granddaughter playing with them

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  15. My daughter would like the matching

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  16. My granddaughter would love how bright and fun they are

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  17. My son would love naming the toys inside!

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  18. Opening and closing them, the toy would be a bonus.

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  19. my niece would like matching and sorting them

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  20. Guessing what was inside x

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  21. My son just loves anything to do with the alphabet

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  22. My daughter loves our feedback when she guesses letters correctly.

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  23. Having just grasped reading in Reception our 4 yr old is reading everything and anything she can get her little hands on she would love spelling out words with these and playing with all the tiny toys.

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  24. The youngest like toys they can hold in their little hands, especially those with bright colours and interesting shapes.

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  25. my girls would love the little surprises inside, fun way to learn!!

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  26. My daughter would love opening them and finding what is inside.

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  27. matching and sorting activities

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  28. They’d enjoy stacking them

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  29. definitely lining up the acorns in the right order

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  30. Both my little ones would love to stack these my daughter would love to count them

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  31. My little one would love stacking the alphabet

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  32. My son would love how colourful it is and now many pieces there are to it

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  33. This would make learning fun for my nephew

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  34. My grandson would like to see what is inside the acorns.

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  35. The little bits inside of the acorns.

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  36. has to be finding and nameing all the toys inside it, fab giveaway tyvm x

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  37. The alphabet I can see them looking for letters all day

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  38. I would like to win these for the nursery attached to the school I work at....they would obviously be great for early education

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  39. My daughter would like opening them up and finding the toys inside

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  40. looks like Lily had lots of fun, I would love these for my niece Kirsty, she would definitely have fun trying to spell words and we can help get her ready for Primary 1 next year! x

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  41. The little suprise inside is very sweet, my neice would love this

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  42. I would love to win this for my little boy and d he would love the matching game

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  43. My daughter would love the sorting and matching activities!

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  44. i think these are very different, he might like the shape x

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  45. Definitely the surprise inside

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  46. my daughter is learning the alphabet at the moment, so she would enjoy using this as a fun way to learn

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  47. My sons would enjoy the surprise of finding the toys inside and matching them up. Shared on Facebook.x

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  48. I like that the toy is so educational & fun also, a great balance between the two

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  49. These are just lovely! My son would love matching the letters to the correct objects.

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  50. I think my granddaughter would enjoy the sorting and matching and this is perfect for little hands.

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  51. Definitely learning to spell his name

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  52. My twins love using their hands. They love learning to spell things especially their names which are quite long. I think they'd love this the best.

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  53. Love the fact you can pop things in the pots. These would be great fun for my mindees. @joysoftoys on twitter.

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  54. The fact that they are both fun and educational at the same time.

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  55. The bright colours, the texture of toy & learning too which make these a fabulous toy in my eyes

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  56. Playing with mum, whatever we're doing!!

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  57. My daughter and son would love playing these together and having competitions to find the letters

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  58. I love these. not only do they have letters on them, there is a wee surprise inside.

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  59. My niece loves writing and copying letters and spends ages writing notes to the family

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  60. My youngest son would love how hands on and playful the learning is.

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  61. What a great toy, would love this for my great nephew

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  62. My daughter will enjoy the recognition of the object with the letter.

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  63. We'd have to wait a couple of years for my nephew but I think exploring what's inside would fascinate him.

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  64. Sorting the objects into alphabetical order.

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  65. My daughter would honestly enjoy seeing just how much she could fit into the acorns.

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  66. My son would love the matching element of this and sounding out the letters.

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  67. My Granson enjoys praise when he is doing well so he would enjoy having fun whilst learning and being praised for his good work

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  68. ordering sorting and spelling fab for us as we home educate x

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  69. The matching and trying to recognise letters.

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  70. My grandson would love the matching and sorting but as het gets older it'd be great for learning to spell

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  71. She would love the learning part of it

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  72. Learning to line them up in right order

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  73. I have a 2 1/2 and a 4 1/2 year old daughters that would really benefit from these! Love it!

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  74. lily is spelling crazy at the mo, she writes the class register with all her friends names, she would really make use of these x

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  75. I think she would simply enjoy hiding things inside of the acorns.

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  76. Hidden things inside she has a thing for surprises in eggs on YouTube she would find opening them fun x

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  77. my little one would love the matching and sorting activity

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  78. my daughter would love looking at the little items inside and i could help teach her the letter of each item xxxx

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  79. My daughter would love lining them up & sorting them by colour!

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  80. My daughter would love to sort these out by colour

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  81. I think they would enjoy putting the letters in the correct order.

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  82. Taking the lids off the acorns and putting toy inside and then opening again to see what is in there

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  83. I think my granddaughter would love sorting them into the right order. They are perfect for small hands

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  84. my daughter would like the matching and sorting x

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  85. My daughter would enjoy finding all the tiny toys

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  86. Sorting them into her favourite colours

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  87. Fraser would love to explore all the different toys inside

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  88. Finding the toys inside and matching the colours x

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  89. She's enjoy finding the toys inside the acorns

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  90. Sorting them by the colour :)

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  91. playing with them, finding the toys inside and re hiding them

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  92. My niece loves colour matching, so she would love matching these up

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  93. Being able to find something hidden in each one x

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  94. It's a learning acivity but it's fun!

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  95. I think my son would love the colours and finding things inside.

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  96. Mylah would love the colours and the hiding part of the prize. It's lovely and so well thought out too.

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  97. She would love to find things inside

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  98. Learning his letters in a fun way!

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  99. learning letters is great for the kids to learn xx

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  100. My little niece is just at the age where these would be useful.

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  101. this looks like a fun learning activity

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