You can leave the kids alone to mess around by themselves, or you can work through it together. There are little Sesame Street– esque vignettes to introduce literacy concepts, there’s a variety of games and tasks to play with each lesson. This is a slick, highly interactive experience. I clicked over to give it a second shot and was thoroughly thrilled. I had forgotten about Starfall until my Dad Blogger group started sharing apps for readers. My guys have no idea how to use a keyboard and mouse, but leave them alone with a tablet for enough time and they’ll figure out any game even when they can’t read the instructions. Websites don’t work for kids anymore, apps do. A keyboard experience is not how my kids and I spend our computer time.
My brother used the site to help my niece read, but I couldn’t get past the Windows 95 layout. So bad, in fact, I clicked away after my first visit.
The Starfall website has long been a great resource for parents trying to help their kids with literacy skills, but it’s a terribly designed website.
Starfall Learn To Read, Starfall Education
