There’s one thing we can’t avoid in this world and its the fact that technology is going to play a big part in our kids lives. While we do not allow any real screen time apart from a small bit of Netflix on days when I need a dig out and a virtual babysitter, I have been looking for ways to get the girls au fait with technology in a way that works for us, and that way is via learning. The big lady is only one year into her formal education and it constantly blows my mind how much she has learned in the past year. She has learned to read and she has started using the computers in school so between that and her reading I wanted her to try and maintain some of the momentum that she had during the school year while she was off on holidays. I’ve been offered many opportunities to try out apps and websites for kids, the only other one I accepted was a subscription to Twinkl which was excellent and a huge resource for parents and teachers. After looking through the Reading Eggs website I decided this was one that would be perfect to pass the time on the summer holidays.
What I loved about this was that I was able to sit the small lady down in front of the laptop and she was able to navigate the webiste herself. When you are logged in there is a portal which is a nice mixture of pictures and text so it is straightforward for a child to use. In terms of learning there are so many different challenges, the big lady loved the spelling tests which were a nice mixture of easy and hard and the word is verbalised and then contextualised for the child so it’s good and clear. She also loved the ones where you picked out a word based on a riddle, so for example ‘what comes after twelve and before fourteen’ and there are four answers to choose from.
Once she had done enough lessons and challenges, completed correctly, they gather eggs and they can use the eggs then to play games. My lady loved the racing game and there was a game similar to tetris which she liked too.
Aside from challenges and games there are books to read, which actually were my least favourite thing as some of them were a little silly, that said I think they were written and submitted by users of the website but either way many of them didn’t make much sense to either me or my five year old. All in all I thought this was a really good website, it was a lovely mixture of learning and playing and all the while getting a child up to speed with how to use a mousepad and how to type. Something I think we will use for a long time to come, the small lady asks me repeatedly to use it and really enjoys the challenges set out. So it’s a thumbs up for Readings Eggs from both me and my daughter!
And what’s best is that I have a 5 week free trial for everyone – follow this link and try it out for your self!