I am so excited to be an ambassador for a fantastic educational app!
Lucy is already 5 years old, and I am having difficulty adjusting to my baby girl being old enough to read. She’s the youngest, and soaks up every last drop of being our baby. With Lizzie, I pushed reading as soon as she could talk. With David, I did kinda. And now with Lucy, she is in preschool, and I am like, “Oh no! Kindergarten is next year, and I don’t know what she can read yet!”
She’s definitely the baby of the family.
And as the baby, I don’t really want to fight with her to teach her to read. I want the process to be natural, smooth, and fun for her. Naturally, that means letting her learn to read by playing on my phone.
Ooka Island is an early reading app for iPhones and Androids. Educational professionals and fantastic illustrators and designers developed it.
So not only does it teach children how to read effectively, but they have no idea they are “learning” because it is so fun and well made!
As a mom tech blogger, I’ve let my kids play and try out a bunch of educational apps. Some are really fun, but they don’t learn a whole lot. Others are super educational, but my children get bored/annoyed because the graphics are cheesy or the characters are boring.
Ooka Island is entertaining for Lucy and incredibly educational – it really does teach early reading concepts effectively!
Lucy loves Ooka Island! She plays as often as she can and is learning letter combination sounds right now. She asks me to play it – and when she is challenged, she is afraid she can’t beat the level. Then she does and she cheers!
The self-confidence she receives from learning new concepts and continuing to advance to more cannot be given a price.
How Does Ooka Island Teach Reading?
First, you really need to take a minute and tour the Island. You will see all the different ways it teaches reading. It keeps Lucy’s attention because there are so many different “mini” games.
Then, at the end of the week, you receive a progress report on your child’s strengths as they cruise through the different reading levels on the app.
So you really can just hand over the app, let them play, and relax knowing they are learning how to read!
How Long Does It Take?
Really, you should aim for 30 minutes on the app, 3 times a week. (What child doesn’t get that much app time anyways?)
The Research
I was thrilled to become an ambassador for this app because it is backed by so much research. Check out these amazing stats:
- Based on the concepts ranked #1 for reading comprehension by the Institute of Education Sciences.
- The app uses combined 25 years of research and scientifically-proven methods to teach reading
In my next post I will share how much Lucy has learned! I can’t wait! Right now, she is loving Ooka Island – her favorite part is the cave of sounds.
We will have to check out this app. We are working on my son’s reading skills, and it looks like he would really find this fun.
I love how many educational app options there are these days. Technology has come so far and it can be so helpful with teaching kids basic skills like reading.
This app sounds perfect for pre-readers. I may purchase it as a gift for friend’s kids.
My youngest loves educational apps! I love that he is learning things with out much of a fight from me and he is having fun at the same time!
Awww…Such a cutie. It looks like she is really enjoying her Ooka Island early reading app. I wish this would have been around when my children were younger. Looks awesome. I’m going to share with my cousin who has younger children.
my son is an excellent reader, he started reading chapter books last year at the age of 6yrs old… I have a daughter who I’d love to get started on Ooka, I’ll have to look into it, thanks!
We’re not really educational app people, big surprise right? My kids would rather create the app. However I’ll still happily spread the word! It sounds fantastic.
Lee
I will have to check this out. I’ve actually heard great things! 🙂 My daughter is the right age!
I know a lot of people think badly about too much screen time, but I believe screen time has taught my kids so much! It’s less a matter of the time spent online and more a matter of how the time is spent. I try to keep most of the apps they use educational to some degree, so that I know they are having fun, but learning too!
This sounds like a good app.
Although there is a cost, my mother-in-law would always say, it’s not a waste of money if you learn something.
I am going to have to check out this website for my little one.
She’s just learning how to read so this would be perfect for her.
This sounds really great. I will be checking it out for sure. I have 6 kids and i find the more educational apps and websites I can find the better. So helpful.
This looks like such a fun app! My son would love it.
I haven’t heard of this one. You’re right that it is hard to find the perfect balance of educational and fun with apps. Seems like you found it with Ooka Island.
Very cool game. Learning to read can be so fun for kids if you use the right tools.