ABC Mouse Review- Is It Worth It?

Hi Friends! Let’s talk learning! This summer we took a more virtual approach to learning and invested in the program ABC Mouse for Isaiah to do during his time at home. Below is my personal and honest review about ABC Mouse. I do want to mention that my son Isaiah is considered a special needs child and my experience with how he responded to the program is from a special needs parent perspective.

I’ve heard so much about abc mouse before we pulled the trigger on it back during the spring. Usually I take about an hour or so with Isaiah to do specific learning activities on my off days but knowing we had a busy summer approaching I needed help in keeping his mind sharp. I was considering a few different home learning programs but ultimately settled on abc mouse due to catching an awesome deal on it. We paid $45 of our own money for a year of ABC mouse. Price wise I feel like it’s extremely affordable and they have specials all the time with discount codes floating around the internet at all times. Setup was simple and we have the program downloaded on Isaiah’s Kindle Fire 8, it’s also available for iPads!

I loved the idea of creating an avatar and letting your child be creative in the fish tank and my room feature; it allows kiddos to decorate their own special spaces and can even earn virtual decor items with the more activities they do. Kids can even adopt and take care of their own pet and the animals in the zoo, super cute! With that being said if you have a younger child it does take a lot of parent involvement to make sure they are clicking the correct games and activities for their age. You could easily toggle between age groups even after you set your child’s age through their profile. For older kids I feel like abc mouse is perfect because it is pretty self explanatory but for toddlers, especially special needs toddlers I had to physically sit with Isaiah to make sure he was clicking on the right thing. Oh how I wish it was self directed. I would also love a lock feature because on our tablet Isaiah could easily click off of the program and he did that often!

We love the music videos the most! The animation is so cute and they have tons of videos to choose from. The songs (non music videos) are ok but I noticed Isaiah does get bored with no visual stimulation. He also is not a fan of the books and letter sound chants in the program. I do feel for the preschool aged curriculum the games are a bit redundant with lots of coloring sheets and puzzles. I don’t mind to much though because I know repetition is important for kids his age. There are a set number of lessons in each age group and your child starts where there age is and can advance from there. I do like that when your child completes all the activities in their age group they automatically move on and they don’t limit you! You can move as fast or slow as you want. There are printables, a classroom feature and lots of things to explore but again for younger ones they need a ton of direction, the games verbally say how to play but for my child he needs to be shown and gets frustrated pretty quick that he doesn’t know how to play. I’m hoping Isaiah will grow into it and can start doing it on his own soon, I’m open to trying another year or two out before Isaiah starts kindergarten and will do an updated review for you all! For $45 I’m pleased and overall my toddler seems to enjoy it! You can add more children to your account so that’ definitely a plus, abc mouse is recommended for children 2-5!

Have you tried ABC mouse? Let me know your thoughts below!