The Bear Can Read Subscription Box.

Product Tested By Doran Noreen – Malika 6 Years

Doran Awarded The Bear Can Read Subscription Box 5/5

It looked really good my little one got really excited. I think it’s really good as it’s very eye catching for little ones. Instruction clear and easy to follow.  The phonics books were great and fun to read and my daughter liked them. This certainly really helped my daughter learn and it helped with the learning. The worksheets were great and very helpful and my daughter really enjoyed completing them. I think flash cards were really fun to read together. The reward chart and the stickers part is the best my daughter really did enjoy this aspect and happily received the sticker. I think about 2 weeks later and after receiving this I noticed an improvement in my child’s reading also it made my child more confident. We tried to read almost every day as it was so much fun and my daughter wanted to read every day. I really like the idea of using the basic words and fun stuff to actually help the my daughter to  learn so my favourite were the easy worksheets which are good. My daughter really loved the flash cards. I think it’s good price and it does great job so worth the price. The quality of this subscription box is great. I would order this as it is fun yet good for children and they can learn. I will definitely recommend this to anyone looking to help their child learn as it really helps. Top marks from us. I think my and my daughter really enjoyed reading and we had so much fun together thank you so much. Doran Noreen – Malika 6 Years

Product Tested By Gemma Monaghan – Isaac 4 Years 4 Months

Gemma Awarded The Bear Can Read Subscription Box 4.3/5

Really well presented and it was very exciting opening the box to find lots of different ‘presents’ inside. Isaac particularly loved his own pencil, bookmark, and his new teddy, and we kept finding different things to keep him engaged, with the backs of the sheets and also the drawing board on the cardboard itself. I was impressed with the quality of the products inside. I think it’s a great concept. Kids of that age get really excited about receiving things through the post and combining fun and education to support reading and literacy development is fantastic. It provides structure where perhaps a parent may not have ideas. I think it would be a good idea to have a welcome letter for the parent/carer and one for the recipient that can be read out to them before the box is opened. Once it was opened in our house, it was a bit of a free for all and I would have liked to read a little more about what was inside before delving in. I really loved the book where there was an adult page for reading and a child’s page, and that there were questions embedded within the book. It helped my LO think more about the story and the people/feelings involved, rather than just firing through lots of stories. Definitely a way of having a more thought-provoking reading session. We received some books on ‘blending’ phonics to read words, which is a bit beyond his capability. He remembers aspects of a story and can suggest other endings etc., but he found the blending concept quite difficult. I’d agree that they have supported us on a reading journey, particularly in exploring stories further and asking questions about the characters / stories. While Isaac could ‘blend’ the phonics as some of the books were trying to encourage, he did enjoy doing the phonics and can now recognise a few of the words from memory. Isaac isn’t in school (deferred entry in Scotland), so there isn’t a reinforcement of the phonics / blending in his nursery setting at his level. However, he really enjoyed the worksheets he could complete and still engaged with the concept of working on the sheet – I think the colours / quality of the product help with this engagement. I think the custom-made spotlight and flash cards are very good quality. At Isaac’s level, we were practicing the different phonics and he’s now able to say all the letters. He enjoyed having a ‘special bag’ to keep them all in, and he now will put pages where he has written letters in beside them. Having the cards as a way to practice the way to write the letter, rather than be solely a letter for phonics, is a great idea! Isaac just wanted to use all the stickers for a picture all at once! The concept of ‘reward charts’ has never resonated with him though. I think what’s been key for Isaac is we have read to him every single night as a baby. What I think would be a good idea is creating a ‘reading timeline / calendar’ so that little ones can complete when they will get to read stories / learn to help them visualise their environment and then get excited about it, rather than ‘rewarding’ reading. I’m more of the opinion that it should be normalised, rather than celebrated. Isaac learned the phonics within the box very quickly (after a few sessions), but he still hasn’t grasped the concept of blending. As it’s the first time he (and we as his parents) have come across this concept to learn to read, a little more information about how to use the blending books would have been helpful for the adults. The books were read in a big book rotation we have, but typically every 2-3 nights. We left the activity sheets and stickers on a shelf accessible by him, and he used these every weekend for colouring, doing the mazes. I liked the variety of the contents (sheets, books, teddy, bookmark) and the quality. My son definitely like the variety of the contents and the adult/child reading book. He looked forward to his page of words. I think £19.99 is a lot for a monthly subscription; I would be more inclined to do this every 2-3 months for that price. Also, as you provide so much in it, I think it takes some time to go through all the activity sheets, flash cards, stories etc. and getting one every month would (for our family anyway, mean that some stuff built up over time). We have a monthly activity subscription that is £13.95 and I’m more comfortable at that price point. The detail on the activities, the quality of the card/paper/drawings etc. – I couldn’t fault this in any way! I would purchase if there was an option to do it every other month/every 3 months at this price and because of our son’s current reading level. However, I wouldn’t subscribe at £20 per month. You could give people options on the website for the regularity, or if it continued to be a monthly thing reduce the volume of contents and price accordingly. Currently, not at the price point and not for children just aged 4. I would be more inclined to recommend if there were subscription options and perhaps in 6 months. I think some small tweaks to the instructions and level of activities given for certain ages would make a big difference! I cannot fault the presentation of everything or the quality. Gemma Monaghan – Isaac 4 Years 4 Months

Product Tested By Stella Bacon – Harper 4 Years

Stella Awarded The Bear Xan Read Subscription Box 4.4/5

I loved how it fitted through the letter box and that the box was personalised with my child’s name, this made her really excited to open it. You can really tell that lots of thought has gone into making the packaging appealing to the child recipient. For us it gave variation from the learning which is sent via school and is repetitive. It follows the concepts that are instilled in the classroom. Harper asked to do the tasks in the box. The instructions were written in a way parents can easily understand and explain to their child. The phonics books were great but we did find it a little short compared to the length of books which Harper brings home from school. Harper is a very confident reader, once you are able to sit down and pay attention to the book. With this kit it made her excited and want to read as she felt like it was a gift for her. The worksheets were helpful and again Harper wanted to do them, it would have been good to have access to more via email or the web to print off. These were a new concept for us having not used flashcards before. Harper got bored with them easily. Sticker charts always work well for my child we have used them since potty training. This one is hard to answer as I am seeing a constant improvement as she has commenced full time school, I cannot say how much is attributed to the pack. We would use this 2-3 times per week. I love how it is tailored to my child’s age and personalised with her name. This encouraged my child to want to do more than read she loved the activities and was learning more without realising. I do think this is good value but given the current cost of living crisis I think it is a luxury that families will struggle to afford. The books were also used by my toddler and was durable to her not so sensitive touch. I would buy this as I think it would complement the learning Harper is doing at school, she gets bored of school books that are only changed every week and we read at least once a day. I would recommend as I think it gives structured variety to home learning. The only current negative is the price point given the cost of living. Harper enjoyed the product, the tasks gave us focus and structure for our learning and I would not hesitate to recommend to others. Stella Bacon – Harper 4 Years