Fundanoodle by Carolina Pad

  LOVE! LOVE! LOVE our new products sent to us from Carolina Pads "Fundanoodle".  We were so excited to get the box in the mail and Dodson had a blast tearing into his package of learning fun!  Little did he know that the boxes were full of valuable lessons!  Carolina Pad has done a fantastic job developing an educational pre-writing learning system which is fantastic for parents, teachers AND kids!  Pediatric occupational therapists developed it after years of clinical experience, and apparently these ladies aren't just book smart, they know lots about F-U-N, too!
  Their systems are broken down by age group, and each group focuses on skills necessary and developmentally appropriate for that specific group. Since Dodson is 4, we received Pre-K products.  They also offer kits that are targeted to 3 year olds, as well as Kindergarten and First Grades.  The company is so great because they even have an education blog and youtube videos on how best to use their products, and why the skills are so important to acquire.
Their website lists the key benefits of a fundanoodle system as:

"- Helps with fine and gross motor coordination.
- Improves strength, control, and endurance with writing tools.
- Promotes correct top to bottom formation of strokes.
- Uses fun action terms like buzz around and zip down to teach your child proper lower and upper case  
  letter formation. 
- Encourages touch and visual exploration. 
- Promotes problem solving, discovery, and self-esteem. 
- Encourages self expression and creativity.
- Challenges and rewards kids with a sticker-based reward system, keeping your child eager to keep
  learning.
- Gives parents tips for helping kids develop proper posture, paper stabilization, and pencil grasp techniques. "

 We started with the Fundanoodle Muscle Movers, which can be found HERE.  These awesome cards promote:
-  Manual dexterity
-  Motor planning
-  Visual perceptual skills
-  Social skills
-  Balance and coordination
-  Letter sequencing  

-  Language skills

Guess what?  They are also so much fun!  We lined them up in order, first.  Then my son picked a letter, flipped it over, sounded out the words or used deductive reasoning skills to decipher what action he was to take, and then did that action!  His favorites were to "squeeze like an octopus" and to "waddle like a penguin".  After taking action, he would sit back down and trace the letters using the dry erase pen.  The cards were thick and great quality, as well.  Each letter has the green guideline at the top and the red guideline at the bottom for reading and writing readiness.  

The ring that holds each of the cards together, also promotes dexterity and works those fine motor skills, as it took work to open and close the toggle, and place each card on the ring.  He really enjoyed keeping them in order and organized.  

 Here he is "squeezing like an octopus"!

Our sets included a couple of different writing tablets, including "I can write upper case" "I can write numbers" and "max and alphie's adventures: activity book 2 (his favorite)".  The skills are fun and appropriate.  Each of these workbooks has a great reward sticker system.  The stickers match the specific activity completed, which he liked.  The rewards gave him the motivation to do the work. Even the reward system builds fine motor skills, by exercising the pincher grasp.

 The "I can build upper case letters" Activity Kit was FULL OF FUN!  It is a big sturdy box, that includes storage spots as well as a handle for carrying.  It comes with the "I can write upper case" tablet, the magnastix, magnetic dry erase board, dry erase pen, and 6 muscle mover cards!

 

Dodson loved using the magnastix.  These are some heavy duty products that really worked his muscles!  It is like a puzzle, so lots of fun for the kids to find the right pieces needed to build each letter.  The guide inside tells which color magnastix and how many of each color needed to build a specific letter.  It is a challenge that is fun and rewarding!  


We were thrilled that Fundanoodle asked us to review their products, and we are happy to have them as a part of our learning library!  I feel that they are high quality, and effective and engaging tools that are a great help to building those pre-reading and writing skills.  Children cannot read until they can recognize and form the letters themselves, so these skills are critical!  Fundanoodle takes care of all of the needed skills, delivers a big punch of fun, AND is very reasonably priced.  Thanks Fundanoodle for letting Pajama Projects in on the FUN!  
Find more of their products by going to their website www.fundanoodle.com  by clicking HERE.  
~Jenny