Reading Eggs – Review

Last Updated on 3 February 2025 by Colette

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Chloe is just about to start Year 2 – her final year in the Infants before moving over to the Junior site.  A year in which she will face her second lot of statutory testing at just six years old.  Chloe is a confident reader and keen to learn.  She aced her Phonics Screening Check with full marks (though I wouldn’t have cared if she hadn’t as it’s such a ridiculous test anyway but that’s another post entirely) and is developing a real love of reading which of course I’m keen to foster.

Reading Eggs reinforces reading skills outside of books

Reading Eggs offers a way of reinforcing reading skills outside of books – of course we all know that sitting down and reading with our children on a daily basis is a top priority and as a teacher I would say this is the single most important thing you can do to help your child succeed at school, however sometimes it’s nice to approach things from a different angle isn’t it?  Not all reading is about the book in your hand.  Our children will all read in different ways and for different reasons.  Reading Eggs taps into children’s love of technology and makes learning to read fun.

Reading Eggs is a comprehensive programme of online games and activities

This isn’t just an app on your tablet that you’re going to tap away on for twenty minutes and claim you’ve practised your phonics or high frequency words.  Reading Eggs is a comprehensive programme of online reading games and activities which has been developed by a team of experienced teachers to focus on core reading skills and strategies.  No, it’s not going to take the place of books but as a tool to support what your children are learning at school, it’s a winner.

There are three levels to Reading Eggs to suit ages 2 to 13

There are three levels to Reading Eggs – Reading Eggs Junior (ages 2-4), Reading Eggs (ages 3-7) and Reading Express (age 7 – 13).  Of course the ages are just guidelines and the initial assessment activities your child completes will guide them to the right lessons for their current reading level.  In Chloe’s case, at 6 years and 1 month old, her Reading Eggs reading assessment showed her to have an estimated reading age of 6 and started her around lesson 80 however after completing the first lesson we realised it was far too easy for her and she re-did the initial assessment boosting her up to lesson 111 with a reading age of 6.75 years old.  I think it’s worth keeping an eye on this and redoing the placement test every now and again.  I know in Chloe’s case she had made mistakes based on not listening to the instructions properly or not being familiar with my laptop & mouse!  (Some of the activities require some quite precise work with the mouse eg clicking and dragging.)

Reading Eggs helps you to monitor your child’s progress

The Reading Eggs Family Dashboard allows to you to monitor the progress of each of your children (there is a 50% discount on the subscription fee for additional sibling) – with an overview of their estimated reading age, phonic skills and the number of sight words they can read.  In addition to this you can check out their recent activity and overall achievements with detailed progress reports.  You can even share this information with your child’s school if they use Reading Eggs too.

Although the Reading Eggs app is available on Apple and Android devices, Chloe’s tablet isn’t listed as one of the supported devices and she finds it easier to access Reading Eggs using my laptop.  (Of course there’s a certain amount of novelty value there too as she’s not normally allowed to use it!)

When we realised that Chloe’s Reading Eggs level had been set a little low we did try out the Reading Eggspress activities but quickly realised that whilst she is certainly ahead of the expected reading level for her age, Reading Eggspress was a step too far for her so we dropped back to the standard Reading Eggs section which, after redoing her placement test, seemed to suit her better.  I’ve noticed she has a tendency to rush through without listening to the instructions properly and then ask me what she needs to do so I’ve had to encourage her to slow down.  Whilst she’s perfectly capable of using Reading Eggs independently, it’s definitely worth keeping an eye on her to make sure she’s getting the most out of her subscription.

A personalised dashboard allows your child to choose from a range of reading activities

Chloe’s personal dashboard for her programme allows her to choose from a range of activities: Lessons, Spelling, Driving Test, My Avatar (she loved being able to personalise her own avatar as I’m sure you can imagine!) & My Books to Read.

Each lesson builds on the previous one and consists of a range of activities focusing on phonics, sight words, vocabulary, fluency and comprehension.  The lessons feature colourful animation and fun characters – though Chloe did make me laugh by telling me she thought the claps and cheers sounded a little sarcastic!!  Each activity is interactive to help keep your child focused and although there is plenty of repetition there, they don’t go on for too long.  Although the lessons follow on from one another, children can repeat lessons as many times as you or they feel is necessary to reinforce their learning.  There is no point moving on through the programme too quickly if the learning before is not secure.

Try out Reading Eggs with a free trial

Since we started our Reading Eggs subscription, Chloe has asked to “do her work” each day.  Mostly I leave her to it to pick whether she wants do to a lesson or work on her spellings etc. but I do check on her to make sure she’s not just faffing about.  There’s so much to explore on the Reading Eggs website and it certainly keeps her occupied:

As I mentioned at the start of the post, Chloe’s Reading Eggs subscription by no means takes the place of sitting down together and reading – but rather it complements the work we’re already doing at home and school.  If you’d like to sign up for a five week free trial of Reading Eggs this September then click through here.