Reading Eggs Reviews: Learn to Read Program for 2-7-Year-Olds

In this article, we’ll cover:

Reading Eggs is an online learn-to-read program that makes reading fun because it has many engaging games for kids. Perhaps it is so enticing because it hooks children as it looks very much like the addicting game Candy Crush.

The program is published by the Australian Broadcasting Company (ABC), a business that the government funds yet is supposed to be independent.

It is now used in many schools around Australia and sold in many places, with even ALDI putting Reading Eggs products out in June 2021.

This literature program is also gaining popularity with the international community as a great online reading option for preschool and school-aged kids.

Reading Eggs also has a version for children aged 7-14 called Reading Eggspress. It has a math section called Mathseeds, which parents can purchase in conjunction with Reading Eggs.

The cost of a one-year subscription is $85 or $99 if purchased in conjunction with Mathseeds. Many parents on review forums say it’s worth the money.

What Ages Does Reading Eggs Cater For?

• 2-4-years-old – the Junior Reading Eggs program. This is also called the ‘First Steps’ stage.
• 3-5-years-old – the ‘Ready for School’ stage.
• 6-7-years-old – the ‘Practice makes Perfect’ stage.

The App

The Reading Eggs program comes with an app that children can use on the iPad. This allows parents to let the app teach their children while they’re on the go. This is what its creators said about the app:

The ABC Reading Eggs Learn To Read app lets you access the award‑winning reading program on your iPad. If you have an existing Reading Eggs account, download the app for free and use your current login details. [Reading Eggs App Page]

ABC also has other apps by ABC that are similar to Reading Eggs, including:

• Eggy Times Tables – games that teach children aged 5-10 their multiplication tables
• Eggy Phonics – a learn-to-read phonics program with multisensory games that teach phonics to children 3-years-old and up.
• MathSeeds Play and Learn – a math section for 3-9-year-olds that teach them core math concepts

ABC Reading develops programs for various reading ages, including pre-school age.

Cost, Pricing, and Subscriptions

If you love this program, you can get a subscription to it. A subscription gives you access to all areas, including ABC Reading Eggs Junior and ABC Reading Eggspress.

In this case, you have a few options as of February 2019, namely, buying a:

• 6-month subscription for $59.95 or
• 12-month subscription for $79.95

Unfortunately, there is no monthly option available, although you can get a free trial for two weeks if you want to try it out.

Reading Eggs plus Mathseed Bundle

If you’d prefer a monthly option, you can do this if you get the bundle of Reading Eggs plus Mathseeds. As of February 2019, here your options are:

• one-month subscription for $13.99 cancel anytime
• 12-month subscription for $109.99
• 12-month subscription to Mathseeds ONLY $59.95

Of course, if you prefer to do things offline, there are plenty of Reading Eggs books available in the online shop.

The ABC Math Program

The Reading Eggs math program is called Mathseeds Play and Learn. This program is designed for children aged 3-9. It teaches them core math skills using highly structured lessons. However, it’s still fun and light, so children are engaged the whole time.

Like Reading Eggs, you can get the app and play it anywhere. This is another reason it has been so popular and lauded on Mathseeds reviews around the internet.

Like Reading Eggs, you can get Mathseeds on a two-week trial to see if you like it. If you don’t, you can cancel anytime and not pay a cent.

Reading Egg Reviews: What People Say About it.

When I research a program, I try to go into it as if I’m a new homeschooling mom trying to find out information on a topic. To compile this article, I looked at 20+ Reading Egg reviews from around the web. I compiled a pros and cons list from these.

Essentially, people were very happy with this program and, although I list the disadvantages here, I think you’ll find many people didn’t find all the disadvantages relevant. To give you an idea, Verified Reviews had over 3,700 reviews, of which 90% were positive, 7% neutral, and 3% negative.

Advantages

Some of the advantages of Reading Eggs include:

• games that teach your children to read so they have fun plus learn to read
• varied lessons including fun games and other formats
• visually attractive with bright cartoon characters doing a lot of the teaching
• students learn plenty of words that are used in everyday language

This program seems like a great way to get kids into reading if they’re not very interested in the idea. It appears to be especially good for children with special needs like autism or dyslexia as it is so engaging.

Disadvantages

Some of the disadvantages of Reading Eggs include:

• children may lose interest in the program after they learn to read properly (perhaps this is just a job well done, though!)
• a couple of parents mentioned their children were bored with it as they found it too easy. (The ABC representative questioned whether they had taken placement tests and were placed in the correct grade for their understanding, though.)
• it’s addictive. Kids get hooked on technology, and it can be a battle to get them off the iPad.
• some animals are only really found in Australia, so children from other countries might not be familiar with them.

It seems like the main complaint arose when a child was put in the program at the wrong stage for their development – but this doesn’t seem to be a legitimate problem with the Reading Eggs itself…just an incorrect placement problem.

Other Points

Some other things parents noted in their reviews include:

• The accent is an Australian accent. Australians would love this as most online programs have an American accent. However, Americans may find this frustrating as things might not be pronounced correctly.
• Putting your two-year-old in front of an iPad for a long time has its own problems. See this article for more.

If You Want To Read More Reviews

Besides asking other parents on Facebook, these are some of the pages I found helpful when looking into this program:

• Verified Reviews
• Essential Kids

Other programs that are pretty similar to Reading Eggs include:

If you don’t want to pay a hefty annual subscription, you can use a free alternative; namely, the Starfall learn-to-read program. You can try it out directly at this link. It also comes with a handy app version that you can use on the go.

If you’re interested in knowing more about this free alternative, this is the description of Starfall on their homepage:

Starfall.com® opened in September 2002 as a free public service to teach children to read. Since then, it has expanded to include language arts and mathematics for preschool, kindergarten, first grade, second grade, and third grade. Starfall’s emphasis on phonemic awareness, systematic sequential phonics, and common sight words in conjunction with audiovisual interactivity has proven effective in teaching emergent readers. Starfall activities are research-based and align with Individual and Common Core State Standards in English language arts and mathematics.

Starfall also has a low-cost, paid version with extra bells and whistles if you love it.

Another alternative to the Reading Eggs App that many parents investigate is Youtube. The only problem I found with this was that the first ‘Learn to Read’ video (which went for 1 hour plus) had 20 advertisements in it!!!

This would drive me crazy, and, as a parent, I don’t think it’s right to put that many advertisements in front of a child who’s learning to read.

When I clicked into the Youtube video, a Samsung advertisement that heavily promoted divisive political values arose. As a parent, I want my child to enjoy their youth instead of getting caught up in politics before they can even read!

That’s why I wouldn’t recommend using Youtube to learn to read.

There is no doubt that Reading Eggs is a highly popular, engaging, and outstanding program. Now used in many schools, this program appears to be an effective learn-to-read program that teaches children to read using animation, which rivals Candy Crush. While the cost is decent, many testify that it’s worth it. Reviews also show evidence of how popular this program is among early readers. While homeschooling parents with Christian affiliations may find the Phonics Museum or Hooked on Phonics more to their liking, parents with secular leanings will prefer this ABC program.