I like that the games are fun, even though you’re learning. ~ Ella, 7.
I like feeding the little fish and creating a boy that looks like me. ~ Ezra, 4.
Play ABCmouse.com! ~ Kai, 2.
We started our ABCmouse review at ABCmouse.com by creating a profile for each one of our children. Although my daughter is beyond Kindergarten, she wanted to participate with her brothers. The kids appreciated the program visually and I liked that it was well-organized and relatively easy to navigate. Once we set each child up with their own avatar, teacher, and guinea pig, they were ready to explore.
Each child is assigned an age-appropriate learning path to help them progress through different lessons and concepts and each account can have up to three profiles. Basic knowledge of using a mouse and navigation is required, which proved no issue for my two older children. This is definitely a program you can engage in alongside your children, but mine loved navigating together and taking turns. They usually selected one avatar per session and simply alternated playing games.
ABCmouse.com offers three ways to experience the website, including a Step-by-Step Learning Path, Guided Learning, and Independent Learning. My older children preferred to play independently, skipping primarily between puzzles, art activities, and games. The zoo proved a big draw, where they could play animal games and learn different facts. I could frequently hear them laughing and enthusiastically selecting the next option. They argued at times, but generally worked cooperatively.
My youngest is two and, while very interested in the program, struggled with using the mouse to navigate and enjoy the games. ABCmouse does offer a mouse and pointer tutorial, which was a bit of a challenge to locate on the site. Kai tried following the tutorial, but never had the attention span or patience to master the mouse. I really believe the experience could be greatly improved for children if it could be used with a touch screen. Kai wanted to play the games independently, but often sat with his siblings and engaged alongside their play.
Tickets proved to be the most popular aspect of ABCmouse.com for all three of my children. As children play different games, they earn tickets they can use in a variety of stores. My kids especially loved going to the pet shop and the furniture store. Their main frustration, according to Ella, was that “It takes too long to get enough tickets to buy the things I really want.” This a lesson in itself – buy a fish for instant gratification now or hold out to buy a puppy?
ABCmouse.com is currently offering a First Month Free Subscription Offer for families to try and explore the site. A subscription is $10 a month or $79 a year and definitely a worthwhile investment, in my opinion. I would definitely recommend this to families and think it would be the perfect gift suggestion for relatives or friends looking for something unique and educational.
Giveaway Closed
ABCmouse.com has generously offered one The Inquisitive Mom reader a year’s subscription to their site. To enter, simply use the Giveaway Tools form below. Good luck!
my kids love playing on tablets, and my oldest can sometimes use a mouse, since we have laptops at home, it’s harder to teach them how to use a mouse when they’re used to ‘touch’ instead. 😛
I would love this, but never can figure to shell out the money for it– what can I say, I’m cheap! I rely on free resources for the most part–but have heard about this software and how much people really like it.
My kids love pbs (even the 2 year old has recently started paying attention when the TV is on).. and plays simple games, although I’m not sure she could follow an actual game on a site yet…
I’m doing some fake homeschooling AKA teaching my kid to sit still and WORK on something currently, as she has a year to go until kindergarten. Having a computer resource that doesn’t become an instant TV (hello PBS app on the tablet) instead of a learning resource would be great! I could leave her with a learning program and figure she’s actually LEARNING from it and not watching a TV show–thereby allowing me to concentrate on other things!
Giving my little man a head start
I’d love to try this with my little girl.
I think my almost 5 year old would love to do “school” on the computer 🙂
letting my child choose the pace and tempo of learning, I like the reading and puzzles for preschoolers.
I’ve actually used ABCMouse.com. I love that it has activities for pre-schoolers and kindergartners. Children really can have fun learning with this service.
I like the reward system.
Thanks for the chance.
I’ve tried abcmouse in the past my girls like it they ask me to put the “games” for them often.
Giving my son a head start before he starts Kindergarten 😀
I would love to start a subscription – my husband and I decided just this weekend that he’s going to be staying home full-time with our 3-year-old and 6-month-old (starting in just a few weeks!) It’s going to be a big shift and I want to ensure that the 3-year-old continues to thrive and learn, and I’m glad to pay for good tools to enable that!
I like that it has different options to use the website instead of just one order for lessons. My son would love to play the games.
As an educator, I’d like to see what all the hype is about. As the mom to an extremely precocious 2 year old, my main interest is seeing if it lives up to its claims of being both engaging and informative!
As an educator, I’d like to see what all the hype is about. As the mom to an extremely precocious 2 year old, my main interest is seeing if it lives up to its claims of being both engaging and informative!
I’d love this for my 6 year old little guy, especially the reading activities. I can see all my kids enjoying this, but I think e would benefit from this the most.
Very energetic post, I loved that bit. Will there be a part 2?