Fireman Sam Alphabet Rescue Review

We were lucky enough to be sent Fireman Sam Alphabet Rescue by the nice people at InspirationWorks and from the minute Ben got his hands on it, it is safe to say, it has been a big hit. It is a simple, easy to use toy that is designed to help children aged 3+ learn their ABC's, sounds and phonics in a fun and effective way. 

As soon as it arrived Ben wanted to play with it and wouldn't even wait for it to come out of the packaging!

It is shaped like Jupiter, Fireman Sam's trusty fire engine and has buttons for all the letters of the alphabet and numbers from zero to nine. There are five game modes to choose from along the bottom which include the following. 

• Discovery - you are asked to select any button and then you hear Fireman Sam say "This is the letter A, A says 'ah' (the correct phonics pronunciation) as in axe".
• Find the letter or number - you are asked "Can you find the number 4?".
• Find the first letter -  asks if you "Can you find the first letter of the word idea?", which is great for kids that are learning to spell.
• Before and after - you are asked "Can you find the letter that comes after C?".
•  Music - you are asked to "Press a key to hear music and sounds" and various music and sounds from Fireman Sam are played. 

Fireman Sam fans will love the fact that all the games feature his voice and as an added incentive to get the answers right the sirens will sound and the lights flash when questions are answered correctly.
Ben has been playing with Fireman Sam Alphabet Rescue for a few weeks now and it is one of those toys that he goes and picks up unprompted to play with. It is definitely helping to reinforce his ABC knowledge and phonics. He is a bit young yet for the Find the first letter mode but once I tell him what letter to choose he selects it. The Music and Sounds mode is a favorite with him as he loves all the fire engine sounds and little tunes. 
I really like this toy, it is fantastic for teaching phonics and fun too which keeps Ben engaged. The only thing that I would like to see different is a volume settings button to switch it to either low volume or high as in some situations this would come in useful such as when Ben brings it in the car. On the whole though, I think this is a great toy and I would happily recommend it to other parents who are looking for something to help their kids learn their ABC's, sounds and phonics. 

Fireman Sam Alphabet Rescue

Fireman Sam is available to purchase from a  many retailers including Amazon, Play and Argos and is priced around £18.99.
 * Disclaimer: I was sent Fireman Sam Alphabet Rescue free to review but this has in no way biased my opinion - it's a great toy!