Last year my eldest started school in the sense he went to into the preschool class attached to the school he would attend. However going for five days a week in full school uniform definitely felt to me like my baby was in “real school”. And big school a that. Over the year we’ve been trying out different tools in order to help him do the best he can at school, and one tool we’ve been trialling over the summer is Reading Eggs, we’ve had so much fun and he has learnt a lot with this tool over the past few weeks which I will explain in more detail. If you wanted to skip the review and head straight to the 5 week free trial then simply click here. If you want to see how my four year old got on then read on!
Now, I am not a pushy parent, nor does my child go to a pushy school. The school focuses on learning through play, especially for the babies, and our only homework set through the year was to introduce colouring each day to improve his fine motor skills and concentration levels.
Which we did, and gladly.
The fastest thing on two legs…
Ah yes, my little tearaway is taking after his mother in more ways than one. At school I was known as the fastest thing on two legs by my primary school teachers. Concentration wasn’t my strong point. And it’s not my four year olds either.
Which caused somewhat of a dilemma for us. How am I meant to encourage him in his learning if he won’t sit still long enough for us to help him?
Books, books, books
When I was little it was a love of books and a desire to absorb every word that allowed me to sit long enough to learn.
Those same books encourage quiet time for both my boys
Books filled with words, wonder, imagination and possibilities.
Words to be read over and over again.
Letters joining together to spark imagination.
At my four year olds school they are taught phonics as the building blocks of learning to read. Cue lots of ah-ah-ah-AH-pple from me.
But what else could we do?
Enter Reading Eggs
Well we could combine modern technology with a desire to read. And so we embarked on our Reading Eggs journey.
An interactive introduction to the alphabet and blending sounds, the app makes learning fun as you progress through the levels one by one.
Aimed at children from 3-7 there is an interactive test at the beginning to gauge where your child sits on the Reading Eggs scale. Having never read before and only knowing the alphabet we skipped this stage and just started simply at lesson 1.
With a Reading age not set he began to work through the lessons.
Introducing letters to him phonically and repeteadly in different scenarios showing that he could recognize them.
Moving forward onto short words, “at” “an” and bringing in the phonics of blending.
C – at
M – at
F – an
We began to use Reading Eggs about six weeks ago after giving him chance to have a rest from a full year of school. From that point until now he’s moved up from lesson one to lesson fifteen. With a test taken (and passed) at level ten to unlock the next screen. Whilst he hasn’t played every day when he does play he really enjoys it, shown by the fact that he’s sped through the lessons.
And in doing so has moved up to an approximate reading age of 4.75 years. Which is pretty much his age so I’m really pleased with this, especially as it’s jumped up in the past two weeks from 4.5 years.
Overall I’m very impressed with Reading Eggs, it’s a learning tool to be used alongside books. More than that it’s a learning tool that he doesn’t realize is a learning tool, he just thinks it a cool game on the iPad
Your free Reading Eggs trial
Reading Eggs are offering you the chance to trial this for your little readers; Reading Eggs FREE Five Week Trial.
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I’ve been looking at these for my son – he’s 3 and a half and loves to point out all the letters, and can even write his name (well, I can read it, that counts, right?!), but he’s struggling with the sounds and phonics side of it. I think I might give the trial a go, this could be great for him!
Oh my this looks like a great app, I think I’ll download it for my little lady. Perfect way to prepare for school!
I’ve wondered about this programme for my twin boys. They are affectionately suscribes as “live wires” and I am a bit worried they will never stay still long enough to learn to read. Thank you for the trial I’m going to try it out!
We used a similar app when lily was smaller. She loves to read now and is such a confident reader! I’ve always encouraged reading and we all read in our house- it’s so important!
We reviewed the Reading Eggs App & found it very good for all 3 of my kids. It was a good boost for the over the summer to keep their minds sharp. That’s great your son enjoys the lessons & games!
This looks fantastic. My four and seven year olds would really love it. Will sign up for the free tria for sure!
This looks exactly what I need for my eldest daughter. She loves to read and I’m keen to get her more into using a tablet as well, as she doesn’t currently use one. It looks like he has done a great job over the summer. x
Sounds like a really clever programme that lots of children could learn from. Reading and blending sounds together can be so tricky to start with so it’s great that kids can get a head start from a younger age 🙂
We love Reading Eggs here. We tried it and it made such a difference to my daughter’s reading. She enjoyed working on the activities.
Sounds like a great app. My eldest starts school this week so the trial might be a good idea to help.
We have been using Reading Eggs over the summer too and it’s such a great site! We’ve really enjoyed it and I think it has definitely helped the children get a head start on literacy come the new term.
I have never heard of this app before but its sounds fab, my daughter loves books and copying words 9shes 19 months). I will definitely look into getting it once shes a little bit older.
Your blog popped up in my news feed and I was browsing it when I came across this post. I’m not a parent (yet) but I am a teacher and I would strongly discourage kids from spending time on programs like this. Kids aren’t developmentally ready for reading at such a young age, even if it looks like it. There’s no advantage to teaching reading skills before 6 or 7 (first grade). Pre reading skills – looking at books, phonics songs, singing the alphabet, hearing lots of rhymes, are more than enough!