Edurino Phonics Review
DISCLOSURE – THIS ITEM WAS GIFTED TO THE REVIEWER FOR THE PURPOSES OF WRITING THE REVIEW. ALL THOUGHTS AND OPINIONS ARE THE REVIEWER’S OWN.
Reviewed by Lisa
Edurino partners with teachers to design and develop digital learning games for children aged 4-8. We already had a starter set with the Robin figurine, which focuses on helping learn numbers 1-10 and different shapes. My son loved this one so much it made sense for us to move on to the next digital learning device focussing on phonics.
The box comes with a QR code to scan to quickly download the app which means that you don’t need to start searching through your app store to find the right one. When you place the figurine on the starter symbol on the screen it knows which set you have and loads the relevant games. You can design your character in the app to look like your child and add their name and date of birth so that it starts at the right level for them. There is an ergonomic ‘pen’ that comes in the set to play the games with which has a wavy grip to help them learn how to hold it correctly, which I hope will really help when holding pencils and crayons too.
I found the app itself very simple to use, but my frustration with this product is that it won’t work on my tablet. I have tried this on 2 different Samsung tablets and an amazon fire one but still no luck, so we are having to use it on my phone where the screen is not as big. This is a shame as the app is so impressive with how easy it is to use once loaded. My 4 year old has been enjoying ‘Mika’, and it is helping him learn his sounds. So far he has played a few games including putting certain sounds in to his mixing bowl to make cakes and using a torch to find other sounds in the dark! It is very clever how the company use fun games to teach letters and there are bright colours and pictures that keeps him keen to learn more. Each activity needs completing in order to unlock the next so it helps stay at the right stage for them until they fully understand it. Alongside the learning games there are also some for free play that can be accessed at any point.
Edurino is aimed at ages 4-8, but we have only used this with a child at younger end of that range and I would think it would be too easy for the average 8 year old. It seems well targeted for our son though. One thing I particularly like about the company is that while there are other kits you can also buy (including coding skills and word games), once you have paid for one set, it is cheaper to buy the others as you already have the app and pen – you simply need a different figurine to show which set you’re playing. These can be purchased for £24.99, and my son loves having the figurines to upload the programs! The company also have bundle offers and you can buy another pen if something happens to yours, rather than having to purchase the whole set again. The company have won many awards and I would definitely recommend this product, only marking my rating down slightly because of the issue logging in on a tablet.
Rating: 4/5
RRP: £44.99
You can find out more and purchase it here: https://www.edurino.co.uk/pages/mikas-double-fun-with-edurino?