gurgle.com Mum's panel review: Reading Eggs
With interactive animations, fun games, great songs and lots of rewards, Reading Eggs is a great place to learn to read. Children are highly motivated to return again and again. At Reading Eggs, learning to read is enjoyable as well as very rewarding. Every lesson ends with a new book and a new critter to add to your growing collection. Reading Eggs is suitable for children age 3 – 7 years old. We gave Reading Eggs to five gurgle mum testers to see what they thought…
The testers:
Mum and gurgle.com editor Nifa and daughter Ivy, aged 5 and Poppy aged 3
Mum Sian and daughter Millie, 4
Mum Victoria and son Finley, 6
Mum Emily and daughter Lisa, 4
Mum Laura and William, 5
The reviews:
How straightforward was it to set up an account for you and your child?
Sian: Very straight forward although tried first on an ipad and it didn't work- needed flash player to work.
Emily: It was a very easy process and only took me about 5 minutes.
How did you find the level of the program for the age of your child?
Nifa: At first Ivy found some of the questions hard a
nd I thought she would give up but then she got a few right and started to really enjoy the spellings. The little ant Sam helped her to feel like it was for children rather than me making her do homework! I also got my three year daughter Poppy to have a go to see whether she’d like it and although she was only at the very basic first level, it was good in teaching her individual letters and she loved that there were songs and things she could laugh at whilst learning.Laura: The programme found William’s level easily, but it took us a while to understand how to play each game. Once we worked it out it was fine, but he needed me there to help him. This isn’t something you could leave a child to get on with – perhaps when they are six or seven but William definitely needed me around.
How did your child find the program? Were they keen to use it?
Victoria: Once we had completed the test to ascertain Finley’s reading level I think the programme started at around the right point for him – reading isn’t his strongest skill, but everything was explained clearly and he picked it up very quickly.
Nifa: Ivy was very keen to use it, she initially thought it was a game and was a bit disappointed when she realised it was going to require some brain work, but once she got into it she really enjoyed it and was eager to move on to the next level. She was of course frustrated when she got some spellings wrong, but this is part of learning to read and hopefully she’ll learn from her mistakes!
What did you think of the site as an educational tool?
Sian: Very good as an educational tool. I am a teacher and will be using the 6-7 year old reading part as part of my lesson!
Victoria: I really liked the site although we struggled for a few moments to begin with as our PC speakers weren’t plugged in, and the site didn’t make it clear that sound was a requirement for using it. Once we had that sorted though I thought the site was brilliant – both educational and fun.
Did you find the site kept your child motivated to learn and did they want to return?
Emily: Lisa really enjoyed the session and liked the Ant that spoke and has asked me a few times when she can play with the Ant on the computer again.
Laura: William has a very short attention span and loves nothing more than running around outside so I was dubious about how long he would sit and do this for, but he actually enjoyed it. Obviously he liked the ‘playroom’ part better than the spelling games, but I said after each level he could play in the ‘playroom’ and he accepted that and completed the levels quite quickly.
In the time you spent using it, how effective do you feel the techniques used, lesson layout and program set up were in aiding your child's progression?
Emily: The technique was good and a very effective way of teaching the letter sounds. Lisa kept coming out with the ‘m’ words all day after the lesson we did. The only time during the lesson that she lost a bit of concentration on the ‘m’ sound was when she saw the monkey with the banana and then kept going on about the banana until I got her back on track on the ‘m’ sound/ letter.
Nifa: I thought the techniques were good because they combined fun with education. Both Ivy and I found the map a little confusing at first. There was a lot going on and Ivy tried to move the little chicken on to the next step but it wouldn’t move.
Did you realise there were areas on the site additional to the lessons? Within My World there are the lessons, a music cafe, Story Factory, Reggie’s shop, My House, Driving Tests, Puzzle Park and the Arcade which are a series of rewards and motivational elements to keep learning fun.
Sian: Within My World there are the lessons, a music cafe, Story Factory, Reggie’s shop, My House, Driving Tests, Puzzle Park and the Arcade which are a series of rewards and motivational elements to keep learning funI did realise but only after I had investigated first and navigated through the left hand bar. It might be an idea to suggest parents have a go first (perhaps a parents taster session) so you know what to expect.
Nifa: Yes I did realise this and Ivy really liked the playroom where she loved painting, making music and at one point she loved the little kitchen where she could put all the toppings on a pizza! I thought this was fantastic because when her concentration dipped slightly when she’s been spelling for a while we were able to play some games before going back to the spellings.
Would you use Reading Eggs in the future to support your child's learning at school?
Nifa: Yes I definitely would. I would also recommend it to parents who want to prepare their children for school so the children get a little taster of what it is going to be like when they start learning in the classroom. I think it’s also useful for parents to see how their children are progressing through the levels and also if there is anything they keep getting stuck on. Then they can give their child extra support in this area or mention it to the teacher when they start school.
Laura: I would definitely use this to support William’s reading in the future, especially since this is one of the only educational ‘aids’ he seems to have shown any interest in. He doesn’t seem that into books, but really loved the little stories on Reading Eggs so we’ll definitely use it in the future.
Victoria: Definitely. We both enjoyed it, and I think his interest in reading and his ability have definitely improved.
Emily: I would definitely consider it.
Sian: Millie loved Reading Eggs- yes, I will be using this again in the future. My 2 year old son also had a look at Millie doing the lessons and was happy to watch- he laughed everytime the caterpillar talked. I think there needs to be a small parents explanation on exactly how to use Reading Eggs on the home page so it's very clear to parents when they first use it.
Why not give Reading Eggs a go with your child? Simply click here to sign up to your FREE trial to see if it's the kind of thing your child enjoys.
To read the full Reading Eggs reviews Click here.
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