Kid O Learn to Write Cursive Magnatab (Upper Case)

The Magnatab we purchased is for a 10 year old still struggling with handwriting. This is a very stress free way for him to practice the movements without feeling pressure or being upset if he makes a mistake. There are no pencil marks to earse, you just swipe your hand or the side of the pen across the Magnatab and it resets the little magnetic balls. This is great for Montessori type education, homeschooling, and traditional schooling as well. I could also see this being used by an occupational therapist.

Kids really like this activity; they stay focused on letter formation and holding the stylus.Eleanor Liebson, OTR

I purchased these (both the upper and lower case cursive hand writing alphabet ones) for my children (5 1/2, 8 and 10 year olds) and for my daycare (2 1/2-5 year olds). They love the magnetic aspect and their interest is held for quite some time (they’ll practice on these for anywhere from a 1/2 hour to an hour just for fun)! My only critique is that the directional numbers and arrows could be more detailed on these, but even then, they are highly effective in encouraging and establishing pre-cursive writing skills, basic fine motor skills and refining existing writing skills, at each stage of development for the age groups I’ve mentioned above. I wish I’d had these when I was overseeing the preschool and lower school curriculum for two private schools for five years prior to starting my daycare/homeschool co-op. I’ve had another set (upper and lower case alphabet handwriting ones) for a number of years (before making this purchase as well) they are a favorite amongst the children I care for and they still look practically new. My youngest has been writing (handwriting) all the letters of the alphabet since she was 3 1/2, greatly due to these products, in conjunction with handwriting work sheets and “write and wipe” products, after her introduction to handwriting using these products (the same goes for the children in my care). She’s already writing cursive letters of her own volition after using these cursive ones for only a few days, with no other cursive writing practice sources. I highly recommend these!

The kids like it but we lost the pen the second day and when I finally found it I rigged up a rope with packing tape and a ribbon. I highly recommend adding a rope to the pen. Also, I did not realize that it was "bumpy" cursive writing should flow smoothly and the directional numbers are confusing to me even. So I am not sure how useful it is as a teaching tool but the kids are enjoying it for now.

As a Special Education Teacher and grandmother, I fully endorse this product. I have collected the entire line of Kid O Magnatab writing implements. This is not a captivating "toy" but rather a kinesthetic learning tool that is highly successful if an adult sits and encourages the child how to properly use this appealing tablet. Cursive handwriting and print is no longer part of the academic curriculum in many school districts. These Magnatabs are a sound support for teaching a child a basic functional life skill.

I thought these would at least have grooves for kids to trace in, but it's just a flat surface they can rub the magnetic pen over randomly to get the tiny BB balls to pop up. It won't do anything to teach a child how to properly form cursive letters. I was hoping that after teaching my son to write the letters a few times this would be an activity he could do on his own without using up hundreds of sheets of paper--kind of an intermediate practice between me coaching him & him practicing on his own on paper, but all I had to do was look at it and I knew that I'd have to sit there & correct him constantly which defeats one of the purposes of having such a thing. Definitely didn't meet my needs. I can't imagine what it would be good for--novelty I guess. The designer should have at least recessed the letters making grooves to be written in. One good thing was that the letters themselves look to be the standard Zaner-Bloser (sp?) that I learned growing up.

Awkward to use

This is my 3rd purchase from this company. The magnetic tracing work is clear enough for my child to use independently after a little direction, and my original purchase is still in good shape almost 4 years later. We now own the print and cursive lowercase as well as the cursive capital letters.