Teach Your Monster to Read

When my 4 year old daughter began using this game she loved it and didn't want to put it down. When she started she knew all the letters of her alphabet and many sounds. Within the first two months she was reading simple words (CVC). By the fourth month she was reading simple sentences. By 9 months she had completed finished all three levels of the game and could read proficiently at a 2nd grade level (about 550 lexile). I combined this game with Usborne Books & More's Very First Reading Set, which progresses using the same sounds/words as each part of the game. The only downsides of this game are: as an American some of our pronunciations are different than how they are taught in the game (just a few words, but I enjoy hearing the accents of the narrator and characters), and single sounds/parts of the game cannot be focused on for further practice; the entire level has to be repeated. With my daughter I made up flash cards to practice her sounds and tricky words, but being able to select a letter/letter combination/word to repeat would be a nice feature. Overall, though, I give this game 5 stars for being FUN and very EFFECTIVE. I recommend this to everybody!

There really isn’t any better app out there. My little one taught himself letters early and quick. This app helped so much as it does not through sight/high frequency words at kids early. Trickies are actual sight words that do not follow phonics rules. They don’t come in until the second stage of the game. My son just turned 4 a month ago and had started level 3 about a week before. The additions and fixes on the app just make it better and better. The early flower run and other course runs are not the best mini games. Timing is too big a part and you can win eventually doing nothing though it will show in your score. I love love love that we went from letters to words and now those very phonics rules and words he uses to read the directions. Usborne you are sitting on a gold mine! Can we get some printed early readers?? We love alphablocks and I’m sure the characters here could make great quick readers!

We have been using this app for a couple of weeks and we love it. My daughter struggles with reading, and her progress with TYMtR has been incredible. She enjoys all the games and is motivated to play. My only complaint is that the “Stat” feature is not working for her profile. On my account I made two student profiles one called “Mom” so I could test the app out to see if it was worth letting my daughter try it, and one in my daughter’s name. I have no problems accessing the Stats for the “Mom” profile, but for about a week, I have not been able to access my daughter’s stats. I would like to be able to use those stats to help her work on problem areas and to determine if she is progressing too fast through the levels. I emailed tech support, but was told that it may be a server issue with the influx of users and to try at different times of day, but no matter the day or time, the Stats are not available for my daughter’s profile but work fine on the other profile. Fixing this issue would make this app a solid 5 star review.

This app is “almost” the perfect phonetics game! Loves: -My kids want to play it ALL the time. -It had 3 levels so it adapts to each kids’ ability. -It is fun, interactive, and very educational. -My autistic (almost)4yr old is an early reader but late speaker, his pronunciation is getting better after just a few days. -My 6yr old is now recognizing more blended letters when reading his homework. He was already one of the top readers in his class, he is now blowing me away by home much he is picking up in just a few days of playing. Cons: -The British accent is sometimes hard for my American kids to understand what they are being asked to do. -The volume is not quite right. The main narrator and the music/sound effects are really loud if you want to actually hear the “word speakers”. Example: I the narrator says “to save the bear find the word”, and then someone else says “turn”. The person saying “turn” is so quiet that we have the tablet volume almost all the way up. Then it’s way too loud when the narrator speaks again. -There are a few instances, in different games, where I wish you could touch letters and they would make the phonetic sound again for kids who have a hard time remembering their task. Overall we are absolutely in love with this game and I highly recommend it for anyone who wants a good phonetics game!

Wow. That is the word I would use to describe this amazing game. I have played a lot of different games over my past years of living (My job is living so I do it quite a bit). The clothing outfits are fascinating. I love how you can dress up as whatever you want! The progression behind the game is great as well. The more activities you complete, the faster you can build your spaceship to get home. The plot is a little shaky though. You crash land on this planet and your ship explodes, yet you come out with no injuries what so ever. I think if the game showed a little blood and showed the children how to bandage and clean a wound, that would be a great survival skill to learn. You never know when your spaceship will crash land and you’ll be stuck on a planet with kings that have you learn letters to rebuild your ship. Overall, this game is a pretty good game but it could be better.