A Parent Review of ABCmouse: Keeping Our Brains Working Through Summer
Like most moms, I TRY to keep my children from letting all of their knowledge fall out over the summer.
Any “book learnin'” my four boys accomplish over the summer is typically solely because I forced them to do it. Maybe your kids aren’t like mine, I don’t know, but my children never ASK me to do workbook pages and catch up on their reading logs.
When I was a little girl, I LOVED doing workbooks, but that is not my kids. I can’t even fathom that.
Have we read this summer? Yes, tons. Have I recorded half of those books on the required reading logs? Um, no. Like I don’t have enough things to remember to do.
So at the end of the summer, I’ll basically stand there with the boys, wracking my brain, while begging them to think back, to remember what all they read this summer so we can fill out that bless-ed log.
Reading is the perfect start to keeping our minds active all summer long, but there are other skills to focus on in school too, and for that I have been looking for a good phone app that I can put my younger boys on!
After years of hearing of ABCmouse.com, I finally decided to download it and let my younger boys (ages 6 and 4) try it out.
I am happy to tell you it is everything I had hoped for, which means that they cover both letters, numbers, and other topics, and they can even play it unassisted.
You do need to help them at first, so they know where to find all the different things the app or website can do.
Actually, if your child is new to iPad games or is preschool age, I would help them the whole first week that they use it, just so you can guide them to less frustration and point them to the games that they could benefit the most from.
John David is 4, and I sit down and basically just watch him use it, and say things like, “Great job!” as he zips through a map (which is like 6 mini-lesson activities). After that, I turn him loose on it, and he can play with it however he chooses.
It’s a big deal to him that we do it together, and he cuddles in my lap while he works on his activities.
Daniel is 6, and he requires no supervision on the app at all.
My favorite thing about it is the sight word games. I also appreciate that each lesson is age appropriate. Too often, game makers over-estimate the finger dexterity or involvement of the parents.
Daniel’s favorite thing: Getting to play games on my phone
John David’s favorite part: Puzzles!!!
I went through today’s lessons for John David and Daniel and screen-shotted to show you what to expect with this app, a sneak peek if you will.
Actually, I should clarify that ABCmouse.com is not just an app. This entire program can be done on a mobile device or on a computer.
What to Expect
This puzzle sentence was on a K4 lesson. John David had no trouble dragging and dropping the words into place.
This is found on the initial preschool/kindergarten screen. Once you past this puzzle, you get a new one. We focused on puzzles because they were JD’s favorite.
Both of my boys love an app where you can color.
I forget what section this game was under, but Daniel had to choose the starting letter of each picture to spell the word.
There are many books in this app, which they read to your child. As the story is read, they highlight words as they go. This particular one was a lesson on the letter b.
In this sight word game, you get to smash the bugs with the correct sight word. I thought this one was so fun that I could have played it myself. Not even kidding.
An important lesson!
Choosing Your Kids’ Level
I goofed when I signed Daniel up, and I started him on Kindergarten lessons. When he opened it up to a lesson on “Aa”, he got insulted and put it down, so be careful what level you choose! Haha!! He is in 1st grade now, so I switched it to the 1st grade level.
It was very simple to sign in as the parent and switch his level up one, and then he had better lessons.
John David, on the other hand, is not accustomed to playing games on an iPad, so I put him on K3 so it would be super easy while he learned how to use the app. Once he got used to it, I upped him to K4 lessons.
John David LOVES these games. He’s already amassed hundreds of tickets, which he can use to buy all sorts of little digital things for his ABCmouse avatar and room. He was even excited to earn his avatar a pair of blue pants. “Oooooh! Blue pants. I wike blue pants!”
I know you’re wondering, and I was too! How much does this cost???
The first month is FREE. Afterwards, it’s $7.95/per month. Nice!
me and my little scholars
“Mom, can I pway dat game on your phone?” Batman is quite a fan of ABCmouse!
I wish had discovered this website years ago because I feel like it’s truly going to help the boys to keep ahead this summer!
Now, y’all, if you decide to try it out too, PLEASE click on my links in this post or on my website to take you to the ABCmouse.com website because I do earn a small fee for each referral I send them who signs up.
Let me know if you try it and what you thought! Feel free to ask me any questions in the comments!!
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Awww, fun learning! What’s better than that?
I have heard of it but I’ve never used it. All of the reviews I have heard are positive. With one starting kindergarten, learning is fast on my mind
ABCmouse is similar to an app we used to use for our kids to learn English. Whats good about it, is that they feel they are playing a game on the iPad whereas if we gave them a textbook, they feel like its work. Now my kids have grown out it since they are free readers, but we still use an app for teaching Maths. They are well ahead of their age for both subjects.
Why have I never used ABC Mouse before?! my 4 year old needs this 🙂
Yes!! I’ve enjoyed watching my 4 year old plAy.
My parents always signed us up for summer book clubs 6 to 8 books in 2 months, what’s not to love 🙂 Keeping your kids learning is super important and sparks a love of learning in your kids, but I can see you already know that! 🙂 Of course, I’ve never heard of ABC mouse, but I don’t have kids so that’s my excuse.
I do hate to stereotype, but I think girls are much better about school work in the summer, even just reading. You have awesome parents. I love how you talk about them.
I am a huge fan of ABC Mouse! My twins are almost 5 and can navigate the site about 75% of the time unassisted. Like you, I remain close to avoid any of the sudden exclamations of “I can’t do this!” My daughter in particular has taken to this program and loves buying new clothes and toys with her tickets. My son goes berserk when he gets to a 20 point bonus present! We started with the easy stuff for SURE.
I also would recommend ABC Mouse to anyone with young kids.
#happynowlinkup
Oh yay! I love that the 5 year olds do it by themselves too. That gives me hope for John David. He will get there soon!