Can you use the box with more than one child?
If you’re educating a couple of primary aged children, you can certainly go through the activities together. Many of the games are for two players, others involve taking turns. If you are educating more than a few children, it might be easier to have separate sessions, so that you can give each child plenty of attention and they don’t have to wait too long for their turn. The box isn’t designed to be used with a whole class at a time.
Is the Box for Home Educated children, or children who attend school?
The Frogotter Box would make a fantastic foundation for home educators. But, it’s equally suited to children who attend school. The activities can be enjoyed at the weekend, in the holidays, and if your child has to isolate. Because the Frogotter Box is linked to the National Curriculum it will reinforce what your children learn at school. It’s also the perfect way to avoid ‘Summer Slide’ – where children forget what they’ve learned over the holidays.
Is the Box suitable for children with SEN?
There is a huge range of SEN. All children will benefit from the Frogotter Style: Relax, Relate, Repeat. It will be especially useful for children with SEN, since building the relationship will mean the adult is more aware of how best to support that child. Children with dyslexia will particularly benefit from using foam letters to build words (as in the Beginning to Read activities) and practising blending with Talk like a Tortoise. Children with dyscalculia will particularly benefit from using the Frog Scales and from the Speed Counting activities to improve concept of number. Children with ADHD will find the manipulatives helpful and benefit from the way the activities have been broken into short steps. Autistic children and children with anxiety or attachment difficulties will find it helpful that everything is stored in one box, so learning time is clearly defined. They may also particularly enjoy repeating activities, and find the pattern reassuring. However, the most important resource will be the responsive adult working with the child. The Frogotter Box aims to capitalise on the huge importance of the relationship between the adult and child.
Is it suitable for older or more able children?
If you are using the Box with older or more able children, they may find more of the activities easy. We’d still recommend that you start at the beginning; it’s the best way to ensure there are no knowledge gaps. Besides, easy activities can still be fun!
How long does each activity take?
In short, it depends! The activities are broken up into steps, so you can stop as soon as your child needs to. Usually, that would be because the activity had reached a stage where it was too much of a challenge to be fun. But, sometimes that might be because it’s time to move on with your day. Some activities will be easy for your child, and these will probably be quicker to complete. We would recommend somewhere between ten and thirty minutes before taking a break.
Have you tested the box on real children?
Yes! And you can see some of the results on our YouTube channel.