Want to teach your child to have fun with the letters of the alphabet? Look no further than Leaping Letters from Leap Frog. Perfect for 6 – 8 year olds (5 years if your child is advanced). Children must place all 26 letters of the alphabet in the correct spaces before the timer stops. When it does, the board shivers and shakes, knocking the letters out of their places. That’s what makes this alphabet game so much fun – mastering how to match at speed! The adjustable timer on the playing board means you can set the challenge to suit the child.

Like all Leap Frog products, Leaping Letters is a high quality game. It comes with 26 colourful plastic letter pieces and a sturdy plastic playing board which a stop/start timer feature with three challenge levels:

  • Great Challenge: Try with any two colours of letters (get your child to sort the letters into colour groups before they begin)
  • Good Challenge: Try with any three colours of letters (sort beforehand once again)
  • Fun Challenge. Try with all the letters.

While your child is finding their feet in the beginning I would suggest not using the timer which might make them anxious. Another idea to extend the game is to roll out playdough and get your child to push the letters into the dough creating letter impressions. This will strengthen the muscles of the hands and fingers at the same time.

How to play

  • Place all letters in front of your child (for younger children you can start with them in order so they don’t get too confused and you build up their confidence, while for older children you can muddle all the letters up increasing the level of difficulty)
  • Push down the purple tray so that it locks into place.
  • Choose your challenge level on the timer.
  • Turn on the timer and let the fun begin.
  • There is a bonus game in this product called Word Builder:
    • There is a Word Building List consisting of 56 three letter words and a Word Building Card
    • Place the Word Building Card in the centre of the playing tray in the slot provided
    • Get your child to build the words with the letters on the Word Building Card (copying skills)
    • Use the timer to see how many words can be built in the allotted time

What your child will learn

  • Visual discrimination – telling difference between letters and colour
  • Sorting and categorising – get them to group all the letters in their various colours
  • Matching – matching the correct letter to the space and getting it right
  • Problem solving – if the match is not correct the have to find the correct space
  • Spatial planning – your child will have to turn the letters in the right direction to fit the space
  • Fine motor control – this game encourages manual dexterity in the hands
  • Eye-hand co-ordination – the eyes and hands need to work together to bring the correct solution onto the board which sits in the midline
  • Sequencing – learning how to put the letters in the correct sequence is very important for word building
  • Learning to work under pressure – against the clock
  • Concentration
  • Task completion

Leaping Letters was reviewed by Nikki Bush for www.toytalk.co.za. It was selected for Nikki’s hot list of highly recommended games and toys for Toy Talk 2016.

Age category: 6 – 8 years

Price: Approx. R500.00

Brand: Leap Frog

Distributor: Prima Toys

Retail outlets: Independent toy stores and Toy Kingdom