The best Alphablocks toys to make learning fun

Alphablocks Toys on Alphabet Background

by Piper Huxley |
Updated on

Making learning fun is no easy feat, especially when you're competing against a range of other toddler activities, including chasing after the family dog or smearing crayons on your perfectly white walls. Thankfully, CBeebies' animated TV series, Alphablocks, has come to the rescue repeatedly. They keep our little ones entertained while teaching them a thing or two. So, we've rounded up the best Alphablocks toys to make learning fun.

After all, adding educational toys to your little one's toybox is a great idea.

Through various songs and adventures, the adorable Alphablocks characters help little ones practise their phonics skills and how to form words. Aside from the TV show, there are also a variety of Alphablocks games and toys that your little one can get involved with. The best way to learn is through play.

What are the Alphablocks?

Alphablocks is a cartoon TV show that aired on CBeebies until February. It taught children to spell with the use of four families of animated blocks known as Alphablocks. It helps with recognising letters and words. Here, your little one can learn all the letters of the alphabet, a few words and more. This is a great show to help before preschool begins.

You can catch up on every episode on BBC iPlayer. The episodes are always under five minutes, too. Bitesize!

From blocks to colouring books, we've listed the best Alphablocks toys for Christmas gifting. Our top picks are below.

Best Alphablocks Toys - UK 2022

My First Numbers & Letters Wipe-Clean Books & Pens Set

Rrp: £79.90

Price: £48.48

The Alphablocks and Numberblocks wipe-clean book set feature four fun wipe-clean books for early learners to practise recognising and writing letters and simple phonics-friendly words. This book contains number learning, too, so your little one can brush up on their maths while they're at it.

Review: "My 5-year-old son has autism, so it is hard to get him to concentrate on anything for more than 5 minutes. He started school last September, and I recently bought these books to help him with his writing and what a difference it's made!

He's gone from not even wanting to hold a pen/pencil 6 months ago to being able to write most of his alphabet and numbers and shapes! His teacher is so impressed with how well he's come along, and I think it's because of these books! He uses them all the time! Very happy!"

Including 24 ready-to-colour pages, your little one will enjoy getting out their favourite crayons and colouring in shapes, letters and numbers. The Alphablocks colouring book includes many high-quality pictures from the family-favourite Alphablocks series and will help with learning to read aloud, learning phonics, new vocabulary and improving language skills.

Review: "My son loved this book. He likes watching Alphablocks on iPlayer, so we tried this – and it was a success."

Your little learner will enjoy matching the Alphablocks character to the letter and forming all kinds of words. With a little help from mum or dad with learning to sound out each word, your tot's phonic skills will improve in no time, all the while having a whale of a time.

Review: "Amazing quality. Have the number blocks from this company. These are literally my 3-year-olds' favourite toys! I am really pleased. These arrived as described, and they are sturdy and long-lasting! Love them!"

A gift set containing foam letters and activity cards is a great way to start your kiddo's Alphablocks collection. Each set of activity cards is for different teaching purposes, such as sounding letters, learning new vocabulary, and letter identification, promising a thorough yet fun learning experience.

Review: "Excellent product. We have been using them to teach my 3-year-old, non-verbal granddaughter to read (after teaching her the alphabet), with amazing results in that she is now beginning to speak. We can't claim all the glory, the Alphablocks TV programme really helped too."

Why not try this official lift-the-flap board book for Alphablocks? This fun lift-the-flap book helps young children to recognise letters A to Z, use phonics skills to blend letters and build words and match letters to sounds.

FAQs

What is phonics, and why is it beneficial?

Alphablocks are just one of many ways your child can learn phonics. Phonics is a way of teaching your child the different sounds of letters or groups of letters and linking them together – known as synthesising – to help you read.
Phonics helps children to break down every word into separate letters or groups of letters, sound it out and work out what it is. It's now a popular method that is taught in most pre- and primary schools. Children will start learning phonics at preschool, but you can help your little one along before then if you want.
Read more advice on phonics in our guide.

Are there any other TV shows that are fun and educational?

Alphablocks isn't the only educational programme for little ones. In fact, most of CBeebies' programming is education-based. We are well aware of the importance of managing your toddler's screen time, as too much isn't great and can even the development of their social skills. But on the flip side, some TV shows and apps are educational and fun.
From Peppa Pig to the Octonauts, you've got plenty of shows to choose from.
In fact, why not check out our guide to toddler TV.

How we test and choose recommended products

Our product recommendations are based on a combination of real-world testing from our burgeoning army of mum testers and the extensive knowledge of our experienced editorial team and product specialists. Where we can, we also consult experts who specialise in that field to ensure you get the right advice along with the right product, and we listen to what you say as well.

Our thriving mum community on our Facebook group #mumtribe consistently provides great insights into which products mums like best and why, helping us highlight the products that will meet your needs.

For essential products, our annual Mother&Baby Awards shortlist the top products tested. Full reviews from our mum testers can be found on our product pages. The winners and runners-up for each category will also appear in our top picks article for that product, along with other products that were rated highly by our team.

Just so you know, we may receive a commission or other compensation from the links on this website - read why you should trust us
How we write our articles and reviews
Mother & Baby is dedicated to ensuring our information is always valuable and trustworthy, which is why we only use reputable resources such as the NHS, reviewed medical papers, or the advice of a credible doctor, GP, midwife, psychotherapist, gynaecologist or other medical professionals. Where possible, our articles are medically reviewed or contain expert advice. Our writers are all kept up to date on the latest safety advice for all the products we recommend and follow strict reporting guidelines to ensure our content comes from credible sources. Remember to always consult a medical professional if you have any worries. Our articles are not intended to replace professional advice from your GP or midwife.