When Reading Eggs contacted us about their online reading programme I decided that it would be a good idea to ‘try’ and teach my 3.5year old to read! Here’s how I got on…
I had two reasons for doing this….the 1st , because she is really interested in looking at books and sharing stories. As a teacher I know these are some of the signs that she is ‘ready’, so with the free trial offered to Days Out With Kids followers it it seemed like a good time.
The 2nd, more selfish reason…….because wouldn’t it be lovely if she could just sometimes read her own bedtime story!!!!
Once you have logged into the programme you are able to access the different stages of the Reading Eggs programme and also the ‘mathseeds’ one, for this review I will focus on the Reading Programme. However I will say that the ‘mathseeds’ programme is set up in a similar way and we are enjoying working through it.
So back to reading; We started at the earliest stage, however there is a little test they can do to work out where to start if you are not sure.
The approach is a combination of introducing whole words (frequently used words) alongside letters. There are some cute characters who introduce the games which my daughter really liked.
The games themselves increase in difficulty and there is quite a lot of repetition within them which makes it feel a bit slow to an adult but gave my daughter time to get to grips with it.
The programme works like a ‘game’ in that once you complete a section you can access the next level. A little ‘avatar’ bird jumps along a path each time you complete a section. You earn eggs along the way and you can use these to ‘buy’ features for your avatar.
If at any point you want to repeat a game you have already done you can do this at any time once it has been ‘unlocked’. We did this quite a lot because my daughter would forget letters/ words quite quickly until she had seen them numerous times.
There are various other features on the program that you can engage with, such as further games in the ‘playroom’ and there are some nice books in the ‘library’ for children to read. These can be chosen according you your child’s level.
I found my daughter enjoyed the games far more on a tablet rather than PC/ laptop as she was able to swipe, select etc herself rather than me having to help her.
The verdict:
Well….she’s not reading her own bedtime stories just yet but Reading Eggs have not made claims about the length of time it will take to teach your child and I really think it depends on your child and how often you do the games.
If you are keen to get your child reading but not sure where to start then this is a great programme because everything is well thought out and structured for you. Children love using computers so this approach, alongside the characters and games make this very appealing and children will feel like they are playing a game rather than ‘learning’. The majority of the games are fun and simple enough for children to access willingly. The key with any reading programme is to follow it through ….practise makes perfect as they say! That is exactly what we will be doing!
