The more you read, the more you will know...

On the way home from dance yesterday, Honey told me that she was the best teacher in our whole house. After a slight panic that I was going to be out of a job, I observed her giving Ace a phonics lesson and I have to agree that she’s pretty good! Learning to read has been such a revelation for Honey, she is chuffed to bits every time she finishes a book, reads a story in her comic or a deciphers a sign while we're out, and feeling confident with phonics has been instrumental in her reading journey.

We were asked to try out the Read with Phonics app a few weeks ago and Honey has been working to complete it at her own pace ever since. For context, Honey is now in year 1 and already has a solid grounding in phonics, so much of the app acted as revision for her, which is no bad thing at all based on the ‘use it or lose it’ school of thought!

Yesterday, Honey showed Ace how to navigate the different islands and recognised that he would need to start with the most basic sounds. The app is arranged in the same order that your child will start to learn their sounds during the EYFS, beginning with satpin and moving cohesively through the rest of the sounds, finishing with digraphs and split digraphs. Children can gain points by completing the games and activities and can level up, which Honey found really motivational and exciting.

The app is intuitive, therefore easy for children to use without lots of support and it provides a range of engaging games and activities which Honey explained to Ace and then helped him to try. At 2 1/2, we are not actively teaching Ace phonics, but he does get roped into being Honey’s pupil fairly often, so it’s lovely for him to have such a visually appealing app to navigate under her guidance.

Honey says... I think that this app is good for anyone in Reception class or older children who might find phonics a little bit tricky. I give the app 5 stars because it is very colourful and the games are fun! 

You can download the app from App Store, Google Play, Amazon or you can play online.

* Although we were lucky enough to have the in app purchases unlocked free of charge for the purposes of this review, all thoughts and opinions expressed are our own.

Honey wears... Rainbow jumper dress by Next

Just to appdate you...

Honey is still at the age where a turn on Mummy's iPad is a real treat. She absolutely loves iPlayer Kids and is a pro at exploring CBeebies Playtime Island, so when KidoLand got in touch to offer her a 6 month subscription, her answer was a resounding (and very polite) WOW, YES PLEASE! 

I downloaded the app and sorted out the settings (3-4 age group selected,repetitive background music = OFF) then handed the iPad to Honey. She immediately started to navigate her way around the user friendly interface, exploring different sections and excitedly showing us what she had found. There are countless nursery rhymes and educational songs, games to help little ones practise their colours, shapes, letter formation and more, as well as stories which the children can either read to themselves or hear read aloud by a narrator.

Mummy likes...

• Age appropriate content for 1-5 years. Content can be narrowed down for younger children.
• Well organised content, making it easy for children to navigate between games, stories and songs independently. 
• No ads so I don't hear "please get this off Mummy" every 5 minutes. 
• Playlist creator to keep all Honey's favourites together.
• Downloadable content for car journeys, camping trips or other non wifi situations (no wifi, whoooo?) 

Mummy says...

• The music over the top off the 'read to me' stories is a bit loud. Having said that, this didn't bother Honey.
• This is an American app so some of the vocabulary and the accent used reflects this.

The app itself is free, but you can choose from a menu of subscriptions which gives you access to the full content. Download the app from the Apple, Google or Amazon app stores and get in touch if you'd like Honey to give you a tutorial!

* Although we were kindly gifted a 6 month KidoLand subscription for the purposes of this review, all thoughts and opinions are my own.

Honey wears... Flamingo jumpsuit by Next