Sunday, July 17, 2011

Hot Dots!


When I was at ISTE at the end of June, the technology that I was asked the most questions about was my "Hot Dots" pen.  These pens have been around for a very long time, but they are still a good way for the children to practice skills independently. 
In a nutshell, when children select the correct answer on a card the green light flashes and a happy sound is heard; the wrong answer yields a red light and a cranky buzz.  The children always seem to like the "wrong" sounds better when they are first using the pens :) There are commercially available card sets, OR (my favorite) you can get extra "hot" and "cold" dots to make your own so that your children are practicing the skills that you know they need.
I did some quick (ha!) searching online and found the pens and dots are still available.  The best prices I found were at Amazon and Education Insights.

http://educationalinsightscatalog.com/hot_dotsreg_extra_dots-p-21819.html (dots $5.99)
http://www.amazon.com/Educational-Insights-Talking-Hot-Dots/dp/B000GZAD24  (pen $8.05)

2 comments:

  1. Do you know, can you use the Hot Dot pen with the Jr set of cards or do you need to get the Jr pen?

    I just found these for my daughter and she loves them.

    Thanks,
    Angie

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  2. Angie,
    I don't think there is any difference in how the Hot Dot and Hot Dot Jr. pens work, so they should be interchangeable.
    Janie

    ReplyDelete