Review + Giveaway | Learning Resources Counting Cows + Alphabet Building Blocks

Toby has been learning a lot more about numbers and letters recently, and Teddy has been trying to join in too! So in a bid to keep the ball rolling and the kids interested, when Learning Resources contacted me to ask if I’d like to review any of their new toys, I opted for something that I thought would help.

Learning Resources Snap-n-Learn Counting Cows

Suitable for ages 2-6 this pull apart set of 10 cows is really fun to play with. The heads consist of a physical number and the tails have the correlating amount of patches on so that they need to be matched up. However, one problem I found with this is that the cows have different colours on them and Toby kind of cheats because he will match the colours, rather than the numbers to the amount of spots. So to stop that we get him to look at the number, and then count the spots one by one to see if it matches. If they don’t match, or he gets it wrong, then we don’t let him snap them together.

Having said that, colour recognition is one of the games you can play with these cows if numbers are bit too advanced, and there are 10 different colours in total. These snap-n-learn cows not only develop numbers and vocabulary but also fine motor skills – which is especially good for Teddy at the moment.

These cows can also be used for imaginative play. We like to pretend we’re on a farm and the cows come along with lots of other animals which prompts further discussions about other topics.

This set comes in a handy storage bucket, which is great as you don’t have to buy anything separate and are a wonderful addition to the Learning Resources range. Toby is always excited to get these out and do some counting and they’re pretty robust too so they won’t break easily, if at all!

Learning Resources Alphabet Building Blocks

Toby’s interest in letters has stemmed from his desire to write his own name. The team at his nursery have been helping Toby to do lots of tracing, especially over his name, which he loves. The alphabet building blocks set is designed to engage young children into some early stages literacy activities.

The letters are plastic and can be used for a range of things. I started by seeing if Toby could recognise any of the letters that were in his name and then went from there. We did eventually spell it out together while making all the sounds, and we progressed into other peoples’ names too.

The letters are a good size for small children to handle and the set includes 36 letters in total and are super colourful. All the vowels are in red so they’re easily identifiable which is really good. Toby’s favourite thing to do with the letters was stack them. They’ve been slightly squashed so they all have flat surfaces which allow them to be put on top of each other to build a tower which helps develop their fine motor skills too.

The backs of the letters are open to allow for stamping and any other creative play. Use them to stamp in Playdoh, sand and bubbles. They’d also be great for playing with in the water, so get them outdoors or throw them in the bath – they won’t get mouldy inside because they’re all open. Tracing around them would be good if you wanted to get a bit more arty with them. The letters come with a storage bag (hallelujah!) as otherwise I’d not know how to store them.

These Alphabet Blocks are an endless resource of learning, especially when it comes to kids who Toby’s age and it seems even more important to get him learning these things as he starts school in September!

So if you’re looking for some new toys ahead of the new school year in September or simply want to do something educational and fun at home, give these a go! You can see what else is new in the range here or you can win yourself an Alphabet Building Blocks set! Just enter below.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Terms and Conditions

• This competition will open on 13th March and will close on 2nd April at 11.59pm
• One winner will be selected at random
• One winner will receive a Learning Resources Alphabet Building Blocks set
• No cash alternative will be offered
• The winner will be announced on Raising the Rings social media outlets, not the blog
• The winner will have 28 days to respond to their winner’s email

*I was sent these products in return for a review. All views and opinions are my own.