Excited to play and review: Count with Peppa and Peppa's Laugh & Learn Alphaphonics

Learn with Peppa Toys from Trends UK

This toy would make a great present for a 2nd birthday or a Christmas gift for a 2 or just turned 3 year old because it helps teach the numbers 1 to 10 as well as 10 different colours. If children aren't quite ready to learn these skills then they will still enjoy the 3 songs she sings and pushing the coins into the purse.

Getting all the coins out of Count With Peppa

There are 10 discs (or coins) in different colours which have a Peppa Pig character and a number on one side and the corresponding number of something on the other eg number 2 is orange and as well as having a 2 on each side has a picture of Zoe Zebra on one and 2 aeroplanes on the other side. Each coin has different ridges on the edge so Peppa knows which one has been pushed into the purse.

There are two modes: colours (position C) and numbers (position N). When you post the coins into the purse it will either tell you the colour of the coin or count how many you have put in. If you press the left hand yellow button at the top of her purse she gives you instructions about which coin to post in (either based on colour or number) e.g. "can you find the yellow coin?", "can you find a coin with 8 blackbirds on it?", "let's count to 4, push 4 coins into my purse", "can you find the number 10?", "can you find a coin with 3 flags on it?". You can open the purse and get all the coins out again whenever you like and all the coins can be stored inside when not playing with them so they don’t get lost.

Count with Peppa is recommended for children aged 2 and up. Children will benefit most by having Count With Peppa from when they are starting to recognise colours and it will see them through to when they confidently know the numbers 1 to 10. Before they are able to follow Peppa's instructions to find the right coin they will still enjoy the songs and pushing the coins into the purse. Smaller hands than 2 might struggle to push the coins in though as some are a bit tight. The details on the plastic coins are on paper stickers so I would say children much younger than 2 are unlikely to be able to appreciate the toy (and based on my experience) would probably damage the coins.

Count With Peppa uses 2 AAA batteries which are handily included. There are 2 volume levels as well as an off switch.

Suitable for age 3 upwards this toy is exactly at the right development age for my 3 1/2 year old at the moment. She is starting to recognise letters and the sounds they make and this toy gives her a number of activities to help build on that. It is great seeing the concentration on her face as she sits and plays. I like that there are a good range of activities to keep her interested and learning. 

Thinking carefully about which letter to press on the Peppa Pig Alphaphonic toy

What Does Peppa’s Laugh & Learn Alphaphonics Do?

It is basically a keyboard with a number of activities which help with early recognition of letters and their sounds. The keyboard is easy to hold and carry around thanks to 2 handles and most of the keyboard is covered in letter buttons in alphabetical order.  Each button has the letter on in both capital and lower case, a picture of an object beginning with the phonic sound and the name of the object.

At the top of the keyboard screen there are pictures indicating the 7 different activities which can be chosen by moving a slider across and underneath there are 3 buttons which when pressed: say the alphabet phonetically, play a number of tunes or repeats the last thing that was said.

The 7 activities range from one which just makes noises to some which ask children to match noises or images through to one which talks about the letter sounds. There are no activities which relies on the child just recognising the sound of the letter. It is great for early letter and word recognition as well as getting them to sit and focus on an activity for a short period.

The phonetic sounds are all British (what else would you expect when it sounds like Peppa is talking to them?) and I like that it has both the capital and lowercase letters. Children are encouraged to learn lowercase first in educational settings, but I think it is useful for them to see the relationship between the two versions of the same letter. 

There are 7 different activities to choose from with Peppa's Laugh & Learn Alphaphonics toy

Playing with Peppa's Laugh & Learn Alphaphonics game

Activities you can play on Peppa’s Laugh & Learn Alphaphonics

Activity 1: (Butterfly image) press a letter button and it makes the sound of the object shown and says what it is eg "grrr, this is a tiger".

Activity 2: (Image of George) press a letter and it tells you the letter, the sound of the letter and an example eg "letter "l" sounds like l as in ladybird".

Activity 3: (Image of Peppa) Peppa instructs you to find an object eg "find the monkey" and when you press a button correctly says "that’s great" or "keep trying" if you get it wrong (all activities give you 3 chances to follow the instruction correctly).

Activity 4: (Image of Suzy Sheep) Peppa asks you to find a letter that a word begins with eg "what’s the first letter of the word volcano?", if you press the wrong button she says: "y, keep trying" or "v, that’s great".

Activity 5: (Image of Candy Cat) Peppa asks you to find a letter eg "where is the letter o as in octopus?? responding with "keep trying" or "that’s great".

Activity 6: (Image says "copy me") the keyboard makes a noise e.g. a roar and they have to quickly press the button with the object that makes that noise.

Activity 7: (Image of notes) When you press a button it makes the sounds of the object on it. 

Peppa’s Laugh & Learn Alphaphonics requires 3 AAA batteries and frustratingly there isn’t an off switch (when you stop playing it will keep making noises for a minute or so before it plays a short tune, says "bye bye" and goes to sleep), but fortunately it does have volume control at the bottom of the keyboard. The button area of the keyboard is flat and made by a large shiny sticker so it could get scratched over time and will get damaged by water (as would the rest of it as it’s electronic) you can wipe clean with a slightly damp cloth though.

You might find it helpful to know that a copy of the instructions are available online, I discovered this after my 9 month old ate ours when I went to put batteries in the toy.

Learn With Peppa Pig Giveaway

Trends UK are offering a Count with Peppa toy to one lucky reader of my blog. Just enter via the Rafflecopter widget below before midnight 3rd November 2019. UK entry only and I really appreciate any sharing of the giveaway.

Giveaway Prize: Count With Peppa