Since my children view most of their TV time from PBS, they were very familiar with ABCmouse.com. It sponsors some of the channel programming and so they were very excited to try the program firsthand. ABCmouse.com is an online curriculum for children roughly preschool to kindergarten age. It includes more than 450 lessons spread over six levels and has more than 5,000 individual learning activities! ABCmouse.com if free of advertising, pop-up ads, and external links so you can feel safe when your child uses this online program. I think it is great to start with ABCmouse.com during the summer. It has been documented that a child’s academic skills can drop during the summer months when children are out of school, the “summer slide” as it is sometimes referenced. This can cause the child to drop off as much as three grade levels from where they left off before summer break! Granted, these are a younger age group that would benefit from ABCmouse.com and not all are school age, but early education is still extremely important.
After you have decided upon a subscription plan for your child, the parent would then input some basic information, like child’s first name, gender, and birth date. Then the child’s avatar may be personalized. There is a multitude of choices for the avatar that are easy to navigate through.
As the child goes through the online games and activities, ABCmouse.com will provide them with virtual tickets, which can then be redeemed for changes to their avatar, like a new outfit, or even purchasing a pet. My children are attracted to the incentive of getting tickets for work done on ABCmouse.com and the opportunity to buy things virtually as a reward with them.
Each child starts off with a fish in a virtual fish tank and a virtual hamster in a maze. More pets and accessories may be purchased, but the child does have to keep up some maintenance on them, like providing food or water or cleaning the fish tank. Some of the pets use tickets that your child has accumulated from completing activities, others do not. It gives the child a small taste of what it would be like to take care of a pet.
The numerous activities feature reading, math, arts and colors, the world around us, music and songs, a library of books, and games. I haven’t tried it yet, but there’s the option to “record a book”. I’m not sure yet if this is for the child to record or the parent. A level has been selected in regard to the child’s date of birth for these activities, but if they seem too easy are hard, the opportunity to adjust is there with a simple click of the mouse.
Here is one of the math games – Seahorse Racing. The seahorses are on a race to see who can reach the finish line first. The child is to find the correct shapes along the way. Correct answers will provide them a speed boost during the race.
There is also a farm and zoo to explore outside of the classroom portion of the program where your child can learn about animals.
And there are educational games built-in with these components too. So much to see a do!
I think ABCmouse.com offers variety and fun for children accessible with the click of a mouse. It doesn’t replace needing to learn how to tie shoes, scissor cutting, or the importance of other hands on essentials. If you sit down with your child and discover ABCmouse.com together, it will be a wonderful way to enhance learning the ABCs, counting, and so much more! ABCmouse.com does have the option to try one month for free. You will need to enter a method of payment and will not be charged anything until your first month has ended. The subscription fee is $7.95 a month and right now you can enroll up to three children under one membership. To learn more about ABCmouse.com, please visit their website. ABCmouse.com on Facebook. ABCmouse.com on Twitter ABCmouse.com on Pinterest Disclosure: I received a one year membership to ABCmouse.com to review this program. No other compensation was received. The thoughts and feelings expressed are my own.
