Review: Cars Tractor Tipping for the Tag Reading System

Written on Nov 13, 2008 by Brian and filed under LeapFrog, News, Reviews

Cars Tractor Tipping for the Tag Reading System recounts the scene from the Cars movie where Lightning and Mater head out for a night of mischief in the fields. The book also includes four learning games with a focus on phonics skills and vocabulary.

The story holds true to the movie, Mater induces Lightning to go tractor tipping with him and they end up fleeing the scene with Frank hot on their tails. This scene is of course a turning point for McQueen and is definitely a favorite with my son, an avid Cars fan.

While they didn’t use the actor’s voices for this story, the representations are pretty good and the sound effects and music are dead on. The sounds as the tractors tip gave our test readers a giggle every time.

Within the story there are three reading comprehension games and four educational games at the end. The Learning Path activities focus on spelling, compound words, word building and consonant blends. There’s also a game that works on automotive vocabulary like spoiler, fender and grille. The book is designed for kids age 4-6, but even younger Cars fans will enjoy the story and the easy-level games will resonate with those learning letters.

Game Summary

The first game is pretty basic, focusing on lower-case letter recognition for t, b, m, v, a, e, g, n and d. The advanced levels work on word identification of tag, ten, beg, van, bag, tan, bed and mad. This game is suitable for younger kids who are learning lower-case letters.

Game two features McQueen pulling Bessie and works on consonant blends. There are only four, but they’re common and great for younger readers to get used to. Wh, sh, th and ch are the sounds that are featured and the games connect those sounds to the related words at the bottom of the page.

The third game works on compound words. The basic level talks about what compound words are, the advanced level had kids building their own with objects in the boxes at the bottom of the page.

The last game works on ten automotive related vocabulary words. It’s a little light on content but fun for kids who want to learn about special features on the cars like Snot Rod’s supercharger.

Bottom Line

Any Tag Reading System owner who likes Cars will find a surefire winner with this book. The story is done well and the learning games at the end are varied and perfect for kindergarten and first grade levels.

LeapFrog Tag Reading System Review

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