I vaguely remember a friend saying to me around 4 years ago that she was doing some user testing for a new company and that she had kept her subscription on for her son because, well, it was fantastic. At the time Kerry told me to get the app for myself, but one thing rolled into the next and I never bothered. Oh how I wish I had!
At the end of the year, Reuben had really come on in leaps and bounds for his reading, but he still needed to work on handwriting and spelling. Everything helps so we have been really trying to think of funs ways to get him to learn more, practice more (without the whinging and jumping up and down that seems to accompany most things nowadays) and fun things for him to do that can bring him up to the level he needs to be at for when he goes into his new class. From transformer writing sheets to English comprehension books, we’ve started to make a bit of head way with the writing side of things, but we’ve also been using the aforementioned app to help bring on his reading further.
Enter, centre stage, Reading Eggs.
Reading eggs is a fun and interactive app that has over 120 reading lessons spread across 12 maps. If you have kids like mine that love to game, love to explore realities then you are on to a winner (but an educational one!) here. This isn’t specific for one age range either, Toby and Reuben have both been using the app and working their way through the programme – with Toby slightly more excited about the puzzles and his avatar and Reuben preferring the driving lessons.
The app works on the simple basis of repetition, which most parents will already know works a treat – it’s why we have to ask approx. 290578 times before the kids will put their shoes on. Mmm-hmm. Through repeating the phonetic sounds the app helps your child learn, it is both visual and audio, which means even Edith has picked some of it up!
In the same way that most “games” work, Reading eggs has played on the idea of “earning” credits – or in this case golden eggs – in order to give the child a free pass to arcade style games. Naturally this was Toby’s fave part because he is a natural gamer, given half the chance it is all he would do, whereas Reuben is a solver. The concept of earning the reward worked really well for the boys and as they have to earn “golden time” at school to be allowed a free pass on a Friday afternoon to do what they like around the room, this fitted in well with their current learning patterns.
Another thing I really loved is that this is self contained – I’ll hold my hands up, with a toddler, a busy career and 2 demanding boys I find it extremely hard to sit down and do Reuben’s work with him. It’s often left late or rushed, but this is something that he can do in his own time and at his leisure.
I would absolutely 100% recommend trying reading eggs. We were given a trial for the purpose of this review, but I think it’s something we will extend for a long time to come.
H x
