Melissa and Doug Upper & Lower Case Alphabet

This puzzle can be made the traditional way or it can be used as a moveable alphabet. A moveable alphabet is a name for little letters that kids can manipulate on their own. Moveable alphabets are used in Montessori schools and other schools. After buying an expensive moveable alphabet of only lowercase letters (that is all that is available from that other manufacturer) I realized I could have bought multiple sets of this puzzle and use them in the same way. A moveable alphabet is used in freeform activities with your child to teach letter recognition. It is a tactile exercise as the child is holding the letter and moving it, rather than it being a little mark of ink on a page. You or the child can also form words with the letters and sound them out and read them as a way to supplement teaching reading. (Multiple puzzles would be needed so that there are more than one letter each.) My children hold up the letters and ask me which it is and we play games like that, that either they or I invent.

This puzzle is very durable as are all the other wood puzzles from this company.

The only downside is that organization is key if you want to not lose any of the pieces. This is too large for the puzzle holder that this company sells. Also beware the L's and I's are quite small and definately are choking hazard sized..so if you have little ones, take care to keep this out of their reach.

I think this is an inexpensive learning tool that every child should own. Please buy this for your child or give it as a gift to other children.

The puzzle doesn't have fancy graphics or bells and whistles to entertain. Games could be made up by the parent working alongside the child to make this interesting.


Puzzle fun for everyone   May 24, 2001
13 out of 15 found this review helpful

In a nutshell, this is a *fantastic* puzzle, that will help your child learn upper and lower-case letters very quickly. We gave this puzzle to our daughter just before her second birthday (well, because daddy has issues dealing with waiting to give his little girl gifts...), primarily to encourage her problem-solving and spatial-relation skills (which girls, especially, need encouragement it), but also to teach her the difference between upper and lower case.

Since she already recognized upper-case letters, we had hoped that over time, she would relate the letter pairings. We had not counted on 5 minutes, which is what it took for her to make the connection. Every letter became "big , baby ." I believe that the puzzle helped her recognize the pattern, not so much the actual lower case letters. With all of the letter pairs in one place, it helped my daughter make this connection very quickly -- something individual letter-pair cards cannot do. Other children that have played with the puzzle have learned within minutes as well.

Like the other LC&I puzzles, it is a well-made wooden puzzle; however, due to the number and size of the pieces, the edges of the color on the pieces will show some wear relatively quickly (especially when given to a Basset Hound to play with).


great learning tool   October 11, 2000
9 out of 10 found this review helpful

We purchased this puzzle for our daughter 4 months before her third birthday. At first I thought it would be way over her head. Instead, she was very interested in the colors, letters and pictures. Now, 8 months later, she can assemble it completely by herself and knows all her letters, even the lower case letters. She loves this puzzle and wants to play with it all the time. The only drawback is that her little sister has chewed some of the color off of the letters.


Great language toy   January 20, 2002
Mother of Bright Two Year Old (Iowa USA)
9 out of 9 found this review helpful

My son was around 21 months when he knew his capital letters really well. At about two, I bought this puzzle, so he could learn the lowercase as well. Much to my surprise, he not only learned the lowercase letters quickly after playing the puzzle, but he quickly learned how to say all the pictures below the pieces, and says those words when he is doing another alphabet puzzle I have which has no pictures on it. He'll go to put the A in the non-picture puzzle, and say airplane or apple, which comes from the 'picture beneath' puzzle, like the one shown here. Obviously, he is learning language and letters all in one with this puzzle, or he wouldnt be associating the letters with words that start with that letter without seeing those pictures on the puzzle. I guess its a great memory aide, as well, for him to remember the pictures from the other puzzle that were associated with the letter. Great puzzle, and it IS his favorite, no doubt. The others he has enjoyed are the Alphabet Train and Number Train as well, made by the same company, and have the pictures below and on the puzzle piece. Well worth the price I paid for the hours we have played with them over the last month.


Best toy ever to learn ABCs   May 8, 2005
veena (CA., U.S.A.)
7 out of 7 found this review helpful

I bought this puzzle for my son when he was 2 and half. Although it takes more time for them to complete, this is the best toy to learn upper and lower case. My son learnt it immediately and now he is 3 yrs and keeps spelling all the letters in his little books, even spells the names of grocery stores.
Without this toy I wouldn't have taught him. This is one toy you can buy it without 2nd thought. It is very sturdy and no sharp edges. Even though some lower case letters look similar, it's not difficult for little ones to make out the differences. The letters i and l are very small, so, keep an eye on little children not to put in their mouth. But don't avoid buying it and teaching them.
After seeing this puzzle, many of my friends bought this for their children too and all are satisfied. no regrets.