What we love…
ability to use a multisensory approach to learning letters which includes apps and physical letters placed on the playset to form words; included parental dashboard to track your kids progress
What we’d love to see…
ability to customize words in all apps, a mobile friendly version of the Square Panda Playground website
Summary
The Square Panda Phonics Playset is a great demonstration of how you can use your iPad and integrated playset to provide learning both on the screen and using tactile letters to complete a goal – I can’t wait to see what else this company will bring.
Our Rating
The Square Panda Phonics Playset by Square Panda which features a bluetooth enabled playset to engage kids in learning a variety of activities from learning letters, spelling, letter sounds, rhymes, learning new vocabulary words and more. The set consists of 45 Smart Letters, a Playset box which you pair to your iPad and holds your device while in use, access to the Square Panda Playground where you can manage a parent account, see information about your child’s progress and additional learning opportunities as well as 4 AA Batteries. The Square Panda Playset requires either iPad 3, iPad 4, iPad Mini, iPad Air 2 or iPad Pro in order to run and you must be running iOS 8.x and above. The Square Panda Phonics Playset provides a multisensory tactile learning experience which combines content on your iPad with letters and visuals within the app. It includes 14 levels of phonics play as well as an integrated dashboard to track progress.
Setup is quick and easy. First, you set up an account on Square Panda with your email and other information. That gives you access to the parental dashboard. After that you can unpack the Phonics Playset, install the 4 included AA batteries, download the apps and be using them within 10 or less minutes. I spent some time in the Square Panda Playground website because I wanted to check out the features there. There are so many great things! You can add your own custom words including your child’s name – and for me when I last had my son use the playset I included words from his spelling list that week! When you enter custom words they are put into your child’s games and you can even upload a picture to go with them! Words must be between 1-8 characters, so more complex spelling words won’t work here, however, it’s a great way to practice. The Square Panda Playground also lets you choose words for specific types of situations like bathroom and body anatomy as well as even excluding a specific letter if you misplaced it from the playset. You can also block specific types of words if you wish which gives you a great level of customization.
The playset includes 45 smart letters. Vowels are yellow and consonants are yellow to make for easier differentiation between the letter types. These all stored inside the playset case when not in use. You can have up to three players per playset, and the content dynamically changes depending on which user is selected so with my 2 year old we are simply working on even identifying letters while with my 8 year old he is working on spelling words and earning badges. The Square Panda Playset includes access to two apps, and one of the two apps Square Panda Lagoon allows you to use the custom words that you have created. Square Panda Bowling (above) has you bowl with your finger to knock down the pins and spell out words. It combines a multi-sensory approach where you do an activity, get a letter with your finger on your iPad and then properly place it in the try to spell the word. Kids are taught to spell words correctly from left to right which is the way that The National Reading Panel recommends as well as the way that reading is taught in school.
First of all – this is not the plastic letters that I grew up with! Many of us may remember growing up and having the magnetized letters that we used to spell things on our refrigerator. I loved that the app required letters to be correct before allowing you to move on. Letters are placed individually in a white box at the bottom of the playset. The must be positioned correctly and placed on the playset in the correct order. The photo above is from Square Panda Lagoon and includes a photo as well as the word below to reinforce learning.
It isn’t often as a mom that I find a toy that both my 2 year old and 8 year old can use. One of my favorite things about the Square Panda Playset is the level of customization that is included especially with the Square Panda Lagoon. I can see it is a great way to practice “trick words” or words my son might be having challenges with at school and having a great way to keep track of what he is learning in terms of letters. With my 2 year old, we can work on understanding letters and teaching him that my iPad is a learning device. I also liked that we could store the letters inside the playset which meant that they were not misplaced the next time we went to use it. I use a Griffin Survivor case on my iPad Mini because even though it’s “mom’s iPad” my kids use it a lot and I loved that we could leave on the protective case even when it was in use with the Square Panda Playset, this isn’t always the case with other products on the market. I really liked the Square Panda Playground where I could keep track of what my kids were doing with the apps – I knew what my 2 year old was doing because we were playing together but with my older son I usually help him learn how to use something and then let him try and figure it out on his own. I liked seeing the badges of the items he accomplished as well as the ability to add in the custom words for his spelling list that week!
In terms of enhancements, I wish that both of the apps included the ability to use custom words, my son enjoyed rolling the bowling ball in Square Panda Bowling more than the Square Panda Lagoon game – I’m not sure why he preferred it more other than he enjoys bowling, so having the two app options was great. Square Panda is planning to add more apps Letter Lab. I hope that they include the ability to use custom words in this app. I’d also like to see a mobile friendly version of the Square Panda Playground – I don’t often get time to sit down at my computer so I was trying to look at it on my iPad and it wasn’t as user friendly as I would have liked.
The Square Panda Phonics Playset is a great demonstration of how you can use your iPad and integrated playset to provide learning both on the screen and using tactile letters to complete a goal – I can’t wait to see what else this company will bring. The Square Panda Phonics Playset retails for $119 USD and includes a standard one year parts and labor if the letters malfunction or the product itself malfunctions. It can be purchased from Square Panda for $119 USD.
This is not your mom’s letter playset. This is a fun and interactive toy which can be used by younger and older children and can customize and provide data about what your child is learning. It is a true demonstration of what the iPad can do versus other tablets on the market.
Apps
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Square Panda Lagoon
by Square Panda Inc
Price: $FREE A goofy chameleon with a love for dancing introduces children to letter sounds and phonics in a fun way as kids learn to spell independently. This game tracks individual spelling progress and adapts the. |
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Square Panda Bowling
by Square Panda Inc
Price: $FREE STRIKE! Letters meet their match in a bowling alley on a faraway island! With every roll of the coconut ball, your child learns the relationships between letters, sounds, and words. Compatible with the. |
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Square Panda Farming
by Square Panda Inc
Price: $FREE Help Old MilkDonald plant, grow, and harvest fruits and vegetables in Square Panda Farming! |
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Square Panda Space Cows
by Square Panda Inc
Price: $FREE It's a bird, it's a plane it's... alien UFOs beaming up cows! Compatible with the Square Panda Phonics Playset, children place smart letters in the tray to learn the alphabet, explore letter sounds, and. |
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Square Panda Fishing
by Square Panda Inc
Price: $FREE What's the best catch in the icy arctic lake? Learning about letters! In Square Panda Fishing, children reel in their fishing line for a chance to catch letter fish! With each fish that they catch, they. |
Video demonstration
NOTE: A product was supplied by the company for review purposes, no other form of compensation was received, all opinions stated in the review are those of the author and have been offered honestly.
Giveaway
If you would like to win a Square Panda Phonics playset , please enter via the widget below. Winners will be emailed and must contact The iMums within 48 hours to claim their prize. This giveaway is open to to those with a valid US mailing address, and an iTunes account is required to claim the prize. Please ensure you have read and understand our Terms & Conditions. Good luck!
The home edition is currently $99.95. Here is a link for 15% off the price!
http://squarepanda.refr.cc/15percentoff
This is fabulous for the little ones
This looks like a new and fun way to help children learn to read. I would enjoy helping my grand daughters use this when I watch them.
Would love to win for my non verbal daughter. Still working on spelling for her, this looks like it could be a great aid paired up with her iPad for speech.
I would love to win this for my autistic son. He is speech, occupational, and ABA therapy right now. I believe this would be not only a great toy but a tool for us to help him progress.
For my son. It looks like a fun learning set.
I would love to win this for my daughter who is autistic and has trouble reading.
freebiegoddess03@aol.com
I’d love to win this for my kiddoes!
For my kids
This is such a unique toy for kids to start building themselves. It’s awesome that something like this exists!
I would love to win this because I am about to have my first child and this would be great.
my niece could really learn from it/
For my cousin’s baby!
I have wonderful grand baby who needs this!
This would be amazing to have!
This prize would be great for my Kindergarten classroom!
My daughter would love this!
My three year old grandson is speech delayed and I think he would benefit from this playset
This would be great to use with my SLS students to address phonic skills.
I would love to win this awesome Panda playset for my son who is an autistic kid. It would help him to learn about the phonic skills
Thank You for the chance
I would love to win this to use with my students!
This would be an AWESOME resource to use in my Autism classroom! My students would greatly benefit from the multi-modal approach to improve their spelling, vocabulary, and phonic skills.
I think this would be beneficial in helping my grandsons learn to read and spell and therefore be able to communicate.
I would use this in my classroom!
I would like to win this for my nieces.
This would be great for homeschool use.
My kids could use this. One is nonverbal and learning to spell and use an ipad to communicate.
Would love to win this for my 4 year old and my 7 year old twins.
FYI – Square Panda is also available from Barnes & Noble!
Right now there’s a coupon code for 20% off, and free shipping. (You can even get 10% more off if you’re a Barnes and Noble member!) http://www.barnesandnoble.com/h/coupons-deals